A great message and a fabulous lesson tonight. I had trouble with the graduation of color but I do like my wick and flame. I think I may try this one again. I used Strathmore black mixed media and my HIMI gouache (the good stuff is on my wishlist) so I had to play around with the colors.
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Nice job Lisa @HarleysMom
I’m planning on doing this one tomorrow. I’ve got the drawing part done and paints pulled out.
Terri
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I can’t wait to see, Terri. Thank you for your encouraging words- I appreciate them. I enjoy every lesson and even though I hesitate to call any of this “work,” we know that it is. I try very hard to improve a little every day!
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Wow! This is great. Love it.
Hi Lisa @HarleysMom
A huge hats off to you for doing this one not just once, but twice. I think you will agree that this Gettin Sketchy was much harder than most.
I saw Matt struggling with it but knew that he wasn’t feeling well and maybe that’s why he was having a hard time. I enjoy working with watercolors and liked the reference photo. I was looking forward to doing this because I had never tried using the black watercolor paper. Well now I’ve tried it and will never use this paper again with watercolors.
I worked on mine all day Thursday. Spent 4 hours on my 1st attempt with the black paper and hated how all my efforts were being spent on fighting that black paper. And it wasn’t turning out very well. I stopped with it unfinished because I learned that while the gouache will go over black paper, it completely ignores how watercolors are supposed to work as a media (and that includes Gouache). I spent another 4 hours on my 2nd attempt, but this time on white paper. I’ll post my resulting drawings now.
Terri
Hi again Lisa @HarleysMom and my other forum friends,
I’m wondering if you and I are the only ones who have done this Gettin’ Sketchy painting. As I mentioned in my reply to your 2nd attempt, I also did mine twice. Once (partially finished) on the black paper, and then again on white watercolor paper.
I scanned both of mine side by side so that the two have equal coloration as documented / compared here.
I found that by starting with black paper so that the artist doesn’t have to spend time on the background, it ended up not saving time at all. I worked and worked on the candle and hated the results. When doing it again on white I spent the same amount of time, finished the painting and like it a lot more. The candle seems to glow on this version. As it turns out the black background that I had to paint on the white paper is much richer and more interesting because there are multiple colors and layers used to create it, including dark reds, purple and then lots and lots of Paynes grey.
Terri (with 2 r’s)
Both of these used the exact same paint, Windsor & Newton - Designers Gouache. Both paintings are 5x7. The black paper is Stonehenge Aqua Coldpress - black heavy and is 300 lbs. The white paper is Arches 300# Hotpress watercolor paper.
Hi, Terri @robichon-
How interesting! My experience was the opposite, I was thinking- “I want to do all my gouache paintings on black paper!” I really did like the immediate contrast and it helped me to see how the gouache behaved more easily. Using more than one layer was crucial in covering the black, and once I had the patience to let one layer dry and go back, my candle started looking better. I had to abandon letting the image “fade” into the black, I could not get that gradation smooth enough for my liking, I imagine that is a matter of experience with gouache, but the the black paper did make that part more difficult for me. I did not consider trying this on white paper- if anything I would do it one more time on black to see if I can smooth out the bottom, but honestly I’m so happy with my second effort, I think that one is in the books as finished.
I can see that you also had some difficulty fading the bottom of the candle on black, and there is better gradation in the one on the painted black background. I do like your second candle better, but then just by doing it twice it is bound to improve, at least that’s why I did mine more than once. (I also realize you say your first one is unfinished, but it doesn’t look unfinished to me!) My first one took about an hour and fifteen, the second one a little longer because I was enjoying working on the candlestick.
As always, your work is exemplary, thank you for sharing it, and your thoughts about the process. I always learn something from you.
Lisa
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I like the glowing aspect of your candle. I look forward to trying this one but all my art supplies are at home while I’m visiting family for the next three weeks. Family is worth it but I am getting excited about pulling out the supplies.
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