Saturday, July 3, 2010

July 3, 2010 - Day 327

Da Vinci watercolor on 140lb Strathmore Windpower cold press paper

I had a migraine all afternoon today and I didn't know what I was going to do if it didn't go away. Luckily after a nap, an Advil Migraine and a bath my headache went away enough that I could complete today's painting.

I am very happy not only with the results of my painting but with the calibration of my scanner. It turns out that my scanner was set at too high of a dpi so it was basically picking up more than it should. Once I dropped the dpi it only required minor adjustments of the hue, saturation and lightness.

Friday, July 2, 2010

July 2, 2010 - Day 326

Da Vinci watercolor on 140lb Strathmore Windpower cold press paper

The painting today came together easier than yesterday's. I am also getting closer to calibrating the scanner but the colors are still off. The color on the inside of the bowl should be more blue/grey and a bit darker.



More accurate image achieved by using digital camera
then adjusting colors and contrast

Thursday, July 1, 2010

July 1, 2010 - Day 325

Da Vinci watercolor on 140lb Strathmore Windpower cold press paper

Decided today that I was going to start another series of paintings. I think this time the theme will be breakfast. Today is eggs in a stainless steel bowl. I reached a stage where I should have stopped but I worked on it just a little bit more and messed up the inside of the bowl.

I also got a new scanner that is much more sensitive than the old one. I don't have it calibrated right yet and the scan isn't totally accurate. The eggs have more shading to them and the bowl isn't so grainy. It will take some time and fiddling with the settings before it scans the way I want it too.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

June 30, 2010 - Day 324

Da Vinci watercolor and Prismacolor colored pencil on
140lb Strathmore Windpower cold press paper

I was really stuck again tonight. I couldn't decide what to paint because I have done everything before in this blog. I didn't want to do another fruit or vegetable still. I didn't want to do any more flowers because I just had a run of 14 florals. I just did a series of 7 sea/silhouette painting. I just wasn't interested in repeating what was done before.

The idea of creating lime green circles on a blue background popped into my head so I ran with it. I think it would have looked better with a lighter blue background and fewer circles but it is what it is.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

June 29, 2010 - Day 323

Da Vinci watercolor on
140lb Strathmore Windpower cold press paper

For tonight's painting I decided to just put in a loose dark wash for the rocks and drop salt into the wet wash. I think it turned out rather well.

Monday, June 28, 2010

June 28, 2010 - Day 322

Da Vinci watercolor on 140lb Bockingford cold press watercolor paper

I am pretty happy with this painting today. While I would like the rocks to be more realistic the colors are almost exactly the same as the reference photo. I am very happy about that because it is one of the things I have struggled with for this whole project.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

June 27, 2010 - Day 321

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

When I started to paint tonight I had every intention of painting this in a realistic way but then out of the blue this idea came to me. I really like this one but then again I am prejudiced because it was from a reference photo of my son and his best friend trying to catch fish and crab at the beach.