Today’s watercolor experiment:

Yesterday I experimented by painting a close up of a portion of one of the succulent plants I have (Hockey Brush). I used mixed media paper (a smooth, Bristol-like finish) and a 1″ hake brush. I originally said the brush was 1/2″, that was incorrect. I liked the composition, but the colors all lay on the surface of the paper.

Today I used the same model as with yesterday’s composition, but used 12″x16″ watercolor paper. I used the 1″ hake brush directly on the paper, without a preliminary sketch.  As with the previous composition, I began outside (plein air, I believe is the term) to get the first splotches of leaves in place. It was warm and the paint dried very quickly.

I continued indoors (after my eyes adjusted to the light) when I had the initial composition complete. I resorted to smaller brushes (#12 and #16 rounds) for shading. Even though I didn’t intend for this study to be representational, I did want to have some differentiation among the patches.

I used a range of oranges as before (cadmium and perinone), reds (cadmium and alizarine crimson) and yellows (lemon, English, aureolin), to get the same range of  shading as in the subject plant. Hooker green mixed with cadmium red provided the tint for the broad leaves. Neutral tint together with Van Dyke brown surrounds the orange petals and leaves at the bottom of the  frame.

I’m not as happy with this study as I am with yesterdays. It is unfortunate that a couple of the flowers have a goofy, cartoon-face look. It gives lie to my (ahem) serious art.

Tomorrow is another day.