Thursday, June 10, 2010

June 10, 2010 - Day 304


Da Vinci watercolor on 140 lb Bockingford cold press watercolor paper

I discovered with this flower that the key to watercolor (I think) is that the fewer washes the better. I only put on 3 to 6 washes on the flower and was able to get the majority of the flower right the first time. I did the most re-touching on the yellow part of the flower.

I remember reading that in watercolor you want the white of the paper to shine through the layers of paint but I never really understood what that meant until today. Basically, the reason why some of my watercolors look flat and lifeless is because I put on so many layers of paint that the luminosity of the paper could not shine through. The effect was "muddy" and greyed colors.

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