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D'vorahDavida
Yetzirah

Amateur Hour
Mon Dec 29 2008


Next week, my art class starts up again. I am supposed to start watercolors then. I thought I would mess around with them a little bit before hand to get a feel for the whole thing. I had been watching some of my classmates working on theirs, and listened in on a few conversations, but I admit to being intimidated by color and the brushes and techniques.

Anyway, I looked on Google Images and found something I wanted to try.

Yesterday I gave it a go....


[album 65561 Daisy 1.JPG]

I don't know how the artist in the original got some of the effects they did and now I'm really curious to ask the teacher how those watery backgrounds are done. Mine has too many brush strokes. The original has more character. But I'm pretty okay with this as a first attempt.


[album 65561 Daisy 2.JPG]


[album 65561 GoofyHen2.JPG]
Well, that's a nice little art project Chickadee.
But have you LOOKED at this house today?
Has any of this mess entered your
oh so finely tuned artistic consciousness?
It looks like someone pitched a fit
and threw things hither and thither.
Not to mention the dog hair
floating in the air.
How can you think a clear thought
under these conditions?



(You are assuming she has any thoughts to actually think. There's your first mistaken assumption right there Red.)
8 Comments
  • From:
    404Error (Legacy)
    On:
    Mon Dec 29 2008
    That's pretty darned good for a first try-- especially with zero instruction!

    And Red, SHUT UP, you insufferable workaholic! Some things are more important than work.

    Did Red faint? That's the effect I was going for. I'm sure you could use the peace and quiet.
  • From:
    Richardsworld (Legacy)
    On:
    Mon Dec 29 2008
    Excellent for the first time, bravo my dear! I love it, really pretty.
  • From:
    Welshamethyst (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Dec 30 2008
    RYC: Any time *winks*. It's nice to know that there are people out there as anal as I am about cleaning the home front *grins*. Are you sure you don't suffer from repressed Catholic guilt????? Oh, heck. Maybe this means I've got a load of Jewish guilt about cleaning......

    *giggles*
  • From:
    Welshamethyst (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Dec 30 2008
    I wish, I wish, I wish I could paint. Or draw. Or do something else artistic. Alas, I am a buyer, not a producer.

    I love your rendition. It's quite beautiful.
  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Dec 30 2008
    I wish you success in your water color attempts. I'm not at all good at water colors. I "know" the how-to, but can't seem to manage the "execute."

    Prefer to cheat with pastel and make it look like water color.

    You'll figure it out, and your first attempt isn't bad at all.


    Bless
  • From:
    FutureCat (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Dec 31 2008
    Very nice!

    The way to do the watery background, strangely enough, is with water :-) It's called a wash. What you do is take a broad brush, load it with clean water, and "paint" the background area. Then while the paper's still wet, paint over it loosely with the colour (or colours, if you want a really interesting effect), and basically let the water and paint do what it likes.

    For the best effect, you should stretch your paper first: soak the paper in clean water, then mount on a board using gummed paper along the edges, and allow to dry overnight. In the morning the paper will be lovely and taut, and ready to be painted on, and things like washes come out really well, because the paper won't buckle when you wet it. Once your painting is complete, let it dry then use a craft knife to remove it from the board.

    It takes a bit of experimenting to get the hang of washes. When I did an art class many years ago, the tutor got us to play with effects and techniques by cutting out loads of 10 cm (about 4 inch) squares of watercolour paper, and using them to experiment. So you can do 5 or 6 washes, varying how wet the paper is each time. Or try different amounts of paint on the brush. Sometimes the experiments ended up being just as aesthetically pleasing as our proper paintings :-)

    Have fun! I loved playing with watercolours - I really must dig mine out again someday...

    ^ ^
    00
    =+=
    v
  • From:
    Camomille (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Jan 01 2009
    That is gorgeous! Great job! You do have a real talent, and that your first effort. It does the soul so much good to create.
    Happy New Year!
  • From:
    Diane (Unauthenticated) (Legacy)
    On:
    Sat Jan 03 2009
    Very impressive for your first go at it! You definitely have a natural talent. Something I always thought I would love to do but no talent here!