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Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Pouring Demonstration - Sue's Rose

This is the final painting. I used the paint I had prepared for pouring to finish the painting, this way you have the paint on hand and already prepared. I basically left the original pouring for the flower and only painted in the shadows and some accents and detailing. I did use some alizarin crimson for the center of the flower.
I mixed up a cup of blue-violet and painted around and inside the image using negative painting techniques. I used a #8 round for this task. When I do this, I use a 1 1/2 " flat wash brush to wet the area clear to the edge of the paper and lay in the paint next to the image and gradually diminish the color towards the edge. I always keep the paper wet with clear water to eliminate hard edges.

After allowing some time for the painting to dry a little, I began to lift out some areas of light with a damp paint brush. Then I left the painting to dry well overnight.

This is the final pour...you can see that the colors have spread out and some new colors have formed...fortunately I was still able to retain the focal point in the center of the rose. At this point, I removed the painting from the plexiglass and layed it on the towel to dry a little.

This is the first pour - you can see that the paper is very wet and I occasionally spray it with water to move the paint around. I also try to get rid of the water around the edges to prevent blooms. I use a paper towel for this. I poured the indian yellow in the center and the quinacridone red-violet around that. I used an eye-dropper to drop in the sap green for the leaves. I pour all my colors at one time. Some painters do it one color at the time allowing each color to dry. I prefer to do it together because I like the mix of colors I get this way.

This photo shows the supplies I use for pouring: a piece of plexiglass larger than the painting; the paint mixed up in small plastic cups for pouring (indian yellow, quinacridone red-violet, and sap green; a spray bottle of water and a large bath towel to catch the run off. A sponge can also be helpful at this time to wet down the plexiglass and both sides of the paper. The paper sticks to the plexiglass and this keeps the paper from drying out too quickly.


I was asked to do a pouring demonstration for the Yahoo group Watercolor Lessons by Cia. I decided to do a rose from a photograph by Sue Drennan, one of the group. This photo is the line drawing I prepared for the demo - it is 1/4 sheet of 140 lb. Arches cold-pressed watercolor paper.

11 comments:

Autumn Leaves said...

What a beautiful result! I'm glad you are in my blog list so that I can come back to this when I'm able to give it a try. I love the softness of wet on wet application...Definitely something for me to experiment with...How wet do you get the paper initially for it to stick to the plexiglass?

Unknown said...

This is wondeful! How gererous of you to provide the lesson. Thnaks to Sue to provide the muse! Love your work!

Unknown said...

I must have been half asleep when I wrote my comment(a few minutes ago.) I can spell generous and thanks...teehee

Ginny Stiles said...

Barb...splendid as usual.
I am assuming before the final pour, that you rewet the entire painting with clear water. Am I right? This would seem to make sense to me. AND I see that you didn't mask anything in this kind of pouring painting. I have seen some pour ones where that is also effective but then you'd lose those wonderful soft edges! Thanks so much for the step by step like this...it is SO helpful. Can't wait to try it.

Nancy Eaton said...

Barb - this is absolutely stunning! I wish I could see it done in person - I seem to learn better that way. Anyway, incredible painting - thanks for sharing!

Barb Sailor said...

AutumnLeaves...I just wet it well on both sides as well as the plexiglass and there is no trouble making it stick...it is almost like a suction and when I am finished I peel it off of the glass.
Norena and Nancy...Thanks so much for your comments. Nancy - I learn better from watching also.
Ginny... you are correct...there is no masking in this. I have used it, but prefer to try to retain my whites or lift paint after pouring because as you mentioned, I do not care for the hard lines from masking. Stephen Blackburn uses mask and his paintings are beautiful - I haven't been able to achieve his effect with it.

Watercolors by Susan Roper said...

Wow Barb! This is a spectacular demo and one which I will have to try. I have lots of those little cups and need to work on my negative painting techniques, so this demo should be made for me! Wonder how this would work for a cactus flower?

Arti said...

Thanks for sharing your technique..its a beautiful rose!

Barb Sailor said...

Susan...A cactus flower would be perfect for this technique...I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Arti...thanks for the compliment and for visiting my blog. I enjoy your web site.

jgr said...

Yes, I am going to try this too! Thank you for the step-by-step-it's so helpful.

Barb Sailor said...

JGR...Thank you for visiting my blog. I went to your website - love your cards...very beautiful work.