watercolors and candle

Two weeks ago, I saw the original image of this painting from the book of Lisbet Braren-Weinrich which was being used by one member of our painting group. The book is in Dutch and its title is Hoe schilder ik in aquarel - stilleven. I was curious of how the texture in the image was done. So I asked someone from our group and she said I can use candle on the paper. When I read the book, indeed the author suggested that one of the ways to produce the texture is to use a candle. I decided to do an exercise and used the author's image. On rubbing the candle on the paper, I did it either before or after applying some watercolors on the paper. Obviously, I did the rubbing of the candle when the paper was dry. And so the above painting is my version of the author's painting shown in the book.

open matured coconuts

 

This is another practice I've done in watercolors. I decided to put lighter colors in the background to see clearly the shadows and to make the painting simple. Meanwhile as I look further in the painting, my eyes are  telling me to do some more finishing touches with it, but at the moment I don't know how to go further. So I'll leave it like this for now. Good weekend to you all, :-)

tulip in violet

Tulip again. I used mainly my flat brushes in this painting. I am not comfortable using these brushes that's why I 'm trying to use them as often as I can. I didn't have live tulip or photograph of the flower to use as a reference when I was sketching for this exercise. So I had to think everything to come up with this painting. In the absence of any reference material, I think our knowledge of the character and properties of the subject is very important.
This is in watercolor, size 27x35 cm. The weather has been rainy and gray, so it's difficult to have a good photograph of the painting. I can see from the left side of the painting a trace of light from our stand lamp. Have a good weekdays ahead everyone.

playing with flat brushes

I'm not fond of using my flat brushes except when I'm putting washes for a background. I use mostly round brushes for my watercolor painting. But three days ago I played with them and I got this painting, 27x35 cm. I thought it's not bad at all so I share it here. I used the 3/4 inch flat brush mainly in it. I hope to do more practicing with these flat brushes so that I'll be familiar with them.

chinese lantern

I wanted to post something today so I decided to show here this chinese lantern which I am still working on. I don't know yet what colors I will use for the background. And I also think the leaves need to be darkened a little more. This is in acrylic on a canson acrylic paper. I want to know more about working with acrylic that is why now and then I try to use it.

red yellow tulip

Watercolor, 30x40 cm

I finished working on this tulip two days ago. I took a lot of photos of the tulips we bought three weeks ago. And from those photos, I got my inspiration for this painting. I am not satisfied with the background but I think I should leave it just like that. I like more the colors of the original painting than this digital photo. Have a nice weekend to all.

rose sketches

We bought two bunches of roses, in yellow and orange colors, last Valentine's day. These flowers had inspired me to do a number of rose sketches, two of which I showed below. The first one was made using acrylic and the second one using graphite pencil and pen.

watercolor brush

Watercolor and pen, 18x24 cm

This morning I thought to do a sketch of one of my watercolor brushes. I checked out my brushes from Da Vinci and Van Gogh brands and then was inspired by the form of the above brush. This is made by Royal Talens from their Van Gogh collections. I used pen for the sketch and then watercolors.

capuccino

Watercolor,  18x24 cm

I based this simple sketch from the image I saw from AH supermarket monthly magazine which I was browsing while having breakfast this morning. Because I felt I wanted to sketch something, I took my graphite pencil and pen to do this cup and saucer sketch. Brushing it with some colors, I got this result.

A lone tulip

When I was thinking of what to sketch last week, I suddenly thought why not paint a tulip, spring is soon coming anyway. This was despite the presence of snow on the ground which I could see from where I was sitting. So this painting evolved from my longing for spring to come. Spring is my favorite season of the year that is why I am always waiting for it to come. For me, spring gives me so much life, with all the various colors coming from various flowers sprouting from the ground. Those flowers are real magic beauty. Have a good day and weekend to everyone!