Sunday, July 28, 2013

Simple Watercolor Still Life With Four Objects

This is a little still life in watercolor I painted on 9x11 paper. I was looking for a break from landscapes and portraiture.

Still Life. Four Objects. Watercolor.


I spent a modest amount of time on this. I could have spent more but there is always the danger with watercolor of overworking something and then needing to lift it out.

I did a sketch of the book, box, and candlestick holder carefully and took time to get things the way I wanted them to be. If you have a bad composition no amount of skill or technique will repair it.

I started with the background and did some wet into wet application of the color. I like to drop the watery color into a wet surface and add a second and let them blend. I did the under painting of each idem starting with the box just working my lightest values at this time. After the under wash dried I added the next layer and changed the hue a little leaving the lightest areas as they were. I did a little wet into wet and blending. I repeated this for the darkest hues using a smaller brush.

I took a break and when I came back I decided to darken the background and a few points in the objects.

In hindsight I probably should have made the background a different color or darker altogether. Another step I could have taken to make it more interesting would be to introduce a random color somewhere, like a splash or smudge.

I am mostly pleased with the outcome, it will look pretty matted and framed.

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