Yesterday I displayed the underpainting for today’s final abstract. For convenience, I reproduce it here:

Today’s watercolor experiment:

I took yesterday’s underpainting, (composed of lemon yellow at the center with a dab of gamboge, surrounded by the pinkish opera rose in turn enveloped by cobalt blue) and soaked it with clear water. I washed lemon yellow on half the frame and more cobalt blue on the other.

In the final incarnation of this abstract, I did more of the same. My paper-towel dabbing didn’t do much good, since the underlying colors were very well bonded to the paper and resisted being absorbed. If I really tried to remove the lower layers, I could have used my elephant ear sponge and scrubbed it away.

Lesson to be learned from this: Do my blotting on the first layer of the underpainting so it shows through subsequent washings.

To finish off this study, I used opera rose to reinforce the same color that I laid down in the underpainting. Doing this left a pleasing rosy-orange look to the top portion of the study. Although it is hard to see from the reproduction above, the lower half of this study has an almost iridescent look. The rough texture of the paper worked very well in separating the darker pigments from the lighter ones.

Comment:

I was ever so tempted to make this into a sunset. I could have drawn a horizon line to remove all doubt of this intention. However, it doesn’t have to be a sunset or a sunrise. It could be a planet shrouded in exotic gasses or just a mix of pleasing colors.