"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friday, March 4, 2011

Bringing Back the Whites

Lifting color to Bring Back White...I first did a thumbnail of my idea and then layed in washes in burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and ultramarine blue and various mixtures of the three colors.  Beam recommends that you use a foam brush to lift color, but since I didn't have one, I used an inch flat watercolor brush and proceeded to lift out areas including my leaf shapes.  After it dried, I added paint to define and tweek the composition using the same colors I used for the initial washes.  Except for the final application, which gives you hard edges, this lifting technique gives you a gentle, soft effect.  This painting is 6" x 12" and is painted on Canson Tientes 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper.

4 comments:

Autumn Leaves said...

There is something vaguely Egyptian art to this one. I love it Barb!

Christine's Arts said...

Thanks for telling us your process. This is truly a lovely painting.

Barb Sailor said...

Thanks,AutumnLeaves - I can see the Egyptian influence here, although that isn't what I had in mind. Who knows what is in my mind! teehee!

Barb Sailor said...

Thanks,Christine - it is my pleasure - all of these processes are in the book "Celebrate Your Creative Self" by Mary Todd Beam.