June 26, 2010 - Day 320

Da Vinci watercolor and ink on
140lb Bockingford cold press watercolor paper

Not much to say about this one. I think it is going to be the last of the silhouette paintings.

June 25, 2010 - Day 319

Da Vinci watercolor and ink on
140lb Bockingford cold press watercolor paper

I don't have much to say about today's painting. I liked yesterday's much better.

June 24, 2010 - Day 318

Da Vinci watercolor and ink on

140lb Bockingford cold press watercolor paper

I think this painting turned out well. I really liked the way the water sparkled in my reference photo. I created the sparkles by scraping the dried paint with a craft knife. At first I just created small specks but then I accidentally created a larger white speck and it really looked good so I added more. The larger white specks really help to create the illusion of waves sparkling in the sunlight.

June 23, 2010 - Day 317

Da Vinci watercolor and Prismacolor colored pencils

on 140lb Bockingford cold press watercolor paper

Another painting based on my trip to Witty's Lagoon yesterday. I loved how the figures were silhouetted against the water in a lot of my reference photos. I also wanted to capture the distinctive rock formation in the distance.

June 22, 2010 - Day 316

Da Vinci watercolor on 140lb Bockingford cold press watercolor paper

Today I went on a field trip with my son's class to Witty's Lagoon near Victoria, BC. It is so beautiful there and the mountains looked so close. I think I took 200 reference photos while I was there. It was a perfect day with the sun shining brightly.

This painting is created from two reference photos. One was of the boy with the skim board and the other photo was of the mountains. I am happy with the results.

June 21, 2010 - Day 315

Da Vinci watercolor & Prismacolor colored pencil on

Strathmore Windpower 140lb cold press watercolor paper

I attempted to paint this twice in watercolor but I couldn't get my washes even. In frustration I grabbed my colored pencils and just colored over the watercolor. To increase my frustration I found that even though I have 8 shades of blue colored pencil I didn't have just a plain primary blue or a very light blue. I tried layering my blues with white but still didn't achieve the color on the background hills that I wanted.

All that aside, I think that this would make a nice painting if the color was applied properly.

June 20, 2010 - Day 314

Da Vinci watercolor on 140lb Bockingford cold press watercolor paper

I wanted to try painting the Fisgard Lighthouse, Victoria, BC. I had taken a reference photo from a long way away and it was blurry and dark. The only thing I could really make out in the picture was the lighthouse.

I like the way the lighthouse is silhouetted against the dark pine trees but I had problems with the rocky ground in the forefront. I also had problems with the windows. I just couldn't get them to look right. I am finding that with this size painting I do better work on close-ups of subjects. As soon as I try to paint a subject that is a little farther away the detail becomes to small for me to do.