I began today’s watercolor by stomping my 1″ hake brush all around my dry watercolor paper. But first I loaded it with transparent red iron, an earth tone.

Abstract 010917
12″x9″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block

I liked the splashes, but some of their traces did not survive the subsequent steps in my design. After the blots dried, I glazed some areas with Prussian blue, a green-tinted blue and others with cobalt blue, a reddish blue. After that dried, I lifted some of the colors that got too close to the original red-iron marks and glazed over that area with lemon yellow. This added a glow to the red marks. Finally, to draw more attention to the center of the composition I added another wash of neutral tint around the edges to darken them.

I like this piece.