Lorraine Watry, NWS Freelance Artist
Demos Tips and Blog
Artist Tips and Tricks:
Want to play with different surfaces rather than the typical watercolor paper? Try watercolor canvas, clayboard, and Yupo. All of these offer a different way to paint with watercolors and a new look that might inspire your work. All three are easier to lift color. Canvas and clayboard give a matt look to the final piece. Yupo is a synthetic/plastic paper. The paint will sit on the surface and the colors are bright because of that. It is harder to layer on Yupo, but realistic pieces can be accomplished. My piece Zesty Zinnia was painted on Yupo.
Want to play with different surfaces rather than the typical watercolor paper? Try watercolor canvas, clayboard, and Yupo. All of these offer a different way to paint with watercolors and a new look that might inspire your work. All three are easier to lift color. Canvas and clayboard give a matt look to the final piece. Yupo is a synthetic/plastic paper. The paint will sit on the surface and the colors are bright because of that. It is harder to layer on Yupo, but realistic pieces can be accomplished. My piece Zesty Zinnia was painted on Yupo.
Lorraine's Watercolor Blog:
http://lorrainewatry.blogspot.com/
Links to Art Sites and Artists:
www.coloradowatercolorsociety.org
www.nationalwatercolorsociety.org
www.the-art-world.com
www.watercolorpainting.com
www.ckdunlap.com
Past Demonstrations:
Coasting Watercolor Demo PDF
Red Feather Lakes Demo PDF
Cotton Candy Pinks Demo.PDF
http://lorrainewatry.blogspot.com/
Links to Art Sites and Artists:
www.coloradowatercolorsociety.org
www.nationalwatercolorsociety.org
www.the-art-world.com
www.watercolorpainting.com
www.ckdunlap.com
Past Demonstrations:
Coasting Watercolor Demo PDF
Red Feather Lakes Demo PDF
Cotton Candy Pinks Demo.PDF
Demonstration (Look for new painting demos periodically.) You Can also watch videos of this demo on You Tube. The first Video is at: Stained Glass Waterlily Demo 1 Video
Stained Glass Waterlilies
I began this painting with a very detailed drawing of the waterlilies and the reflections in the water. Then I stretched my 140lb. Arches, cold press paper onto my gator board to keep it from buckling while I was painting. Then I proceeded to apply masking to the areas that I wanted to keep white until later. In this image you can see the first colors going on in the background. There were peaches and creamy colors reflecting in the water. You can see my photo from the Denver Botanic Gardens in the foreground.
I continued working on the background water and reflections. You can start to see some of the waterlilies and lily pads that I saved with the masking. While I was working on the darker reflections in the water, I looked for changes in color and value to keep these areas interesting. Some of these areas I painted wet into wet to give them a soft focus. I have also started to paint the graphic blue shapes that were reflected into the water.
At this stage I am almost done with the water. I still have a some of the peachy color to lay down, but the majority is done. As I worked my way down the page, I removed the masking so that I could see how everything was relating and I could clean up edges if need be. Masking can look harsh or fake. So, I take care to go back after the masking is removed and either soften some of the masked edges or clean them up by trying to match the colors surrounding the removed mask area.
I have now begun to paint in the waterlilies. I slowly work each petal to make sure they get enough detail and some look sunlit. I also start painting the greens of the lily pads. I change greens and mix several greens on one lily pad so that they don't all look the same.
The painting was finished by continuing to work on the lily pads and lilies. This was a slow process to make sure that everything was looking three dimensional. I had to be careful with my values. In fact after I completed the painting, I decided that some of the water on the left side was not as dark as it needed to be and I went back and darkened some areas.
(This painting was accepted into the National Watercolor Society's 91st Annual Exhibition in October 2011. It won the HK Holbein Award and will be in the NWS traveling show during 2012.)
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Stained Glass WaterliliesI began this painting with a very detailed drawing of the waterlilies and the reflections in the water. Then I stretched my 140lb. Arches, cold press paper onto my gator board to keep it from buckling while I was painting. Then I proceeded to apply masking to the areas that I wanted to keep white until later. In this image you can see the first colors going on in the background. There were peaches and creamy colors reflecting in the water. You can see my photo from the Denver Botanic Gardens in the foreground.
I continued working on the background water and reflections. You can start to see some of the waterlilies and lily pads that I saved with the masking. While I was working on the darker reflections in the water, I looked for changes in color and value to keep these areas interesting. Some of these areas I painted wet into wet to give them a soft focus. I have also started to paint the graphic blue shapes that were reflected into the water.
At this stage I am almost done with the water. I still have a some of the peachy color to lay down, but the majority is done. As I worked my way down the page, I removed the masking so that I could see how everything was relating and I could clean up edges if need be. Masking can look harsh or fake. So, I take care to go back after the masking is removed and either soften some of the masked edges or clean them up by trying to match the colors surrounding the removed mask area.I have now begun to paint in the waterlilies. I slowly work each petal to make sure they get enough detail and some look sunlit. I also start painting the greens of the lily pads. I change greens and mix several greens on one lily pad so that they don't all look the same.
The painting was finished by continuing to work on the lily pads and lilies. This was a slow process to make sure that everything was looking three dimensional. I had to be careful with my values. In fact after I completed the painting, I decided that some of the water on the left side was not as dark as it needed to be and I went back and darkened some areas.
(This painting was accepted into the National Watercolor Society's 91st Annual Exhibition in October 2011. It won the HK Holbein Award and will be in the NWS traveling show during 2012.)
Home, Watercolor Portfolio, About the Artist,
Awards and Exhibitions, Classes, Prints,
Note Cards, Contact