February 27, 2010 - Day 201

Ink and watercolor on 140lb Artistico hot press watercolor paper

Today I was out walking here in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia where the streets are lined with cherry trees in bloom. Every where you look there is tree after tree filled with hundreds of pink or white blooms which create an amazing contrast to the green foliage and grass. I thought it was a perfectly way to start the next 100 days in which I will be creating paintings using ink with watercolor washes.

February 26, 2010 - Day 200

Acrylic on 140lb Aquarelle watercolor paper

Wooohoooo! Day 200! I can't believe that I have made it this far. This painting was completed by dipping a pansy flower and leaves in white paint and pressing it onto a dark crimson background.

The first 100 days was watercolor. The 2nd 100 day stretch was acrylics. Now it is time to move onto something new. It will be a real challenge for me but I think I am going to move on to drawing a subject with waterproof ink and then laying washes of color over top of the drawing once it is completed. I guess it will look like an illustration or something. I have always liked the look but never attempted it myself.

I have to admit that I am kind of scared to try something so completely new. It has been easy for me to complete acrylic paintings because that's the medium I started with. Having never completed ink and wash drawings I have no idea what to expect. I also have no idea what I want to draw/paint. I am feeling blocked again which in this case is probably a good thing because it means I am stretching outside my comfort zone.

February 25, 2010 - Day 199

Acrylic on 140lb Aquarelle watercolor paper

This painting was completed using a pine cone and pine needles dipped into paint and then pressed onto watercolor paper. I don't know what kind of pine tree this was but the needles are 4 inches long and clustered in pairs.

February 24, 2010 - Day 198

Acrylic and Da Vinci watercolor on 140lb Aquarelle watercolor paper

The cherry trees are blooming here in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia so I thought I would try using the blossoms and leaves for today's painting. It didn't really work out well because they are so delicate that the flower just falls apart when I try to stamp the design.

Only 2 more days of acrylics left. I was going to drop objects onto yupo paper but just realized that is a watercolor technique and not acrylic. I don't know what I will do for the last 2 days now.

On day 201 I think I will be switching to ink drawings with watercolor washes. I really like the look of that type of painting but have never done any before so it should be both challenging and interesting.

February 23, 2010 - Day 197

Acrylic and watercolor on 140lb Aquarelle watercolor paper

This painting was created using a daffodil flower and leaf dipped in acrylic paint to stamp the design on the watercolor paper. The blue background was added with watercolor after the acrylic paint had dried.

February 22, 2010 - Day 196

Acrylic and Da Vinci watercolor on 140lb Aquarelle watercolor paper

This was an interesting experimentation! I used a real dandelion leaf and flower dipped in acrylic paint to stamp the design onto the paper. Once the acrylic was dry I painted the remaining white areas with a loose wash of the deep purple color. I painted parts of the dandelion flower with purple to create shadow areas.

I didn't expect it to work so I was very pleasantly surprised to see the result. I wonder what kind of design a daffodil or pansy would make? A pine sprig would probably look very cool. I am going to have to experiment more with this tomorrow.

February 21, 2010 - Day 195

Acrylic on 140lb Aquarelle watercolor paper

This painting was created by dipping string into red, blue and green paint and then laying it randomly on background of light yellow paint.