Articles about Works in Progress

A collection of random notes about my successes and failures as I paint in watercolor

Post-mortem on a Failed Painting

Some days the paintings work, and some days they don’t. Yesterday’s was a real stinker, and I’m trying to figure out why. (Maybe I’ll post a picture of it later.) The scene was a group of backlit trees and a tombstone painted late in the afternoon. The foreground was in complete shadow.

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Painting Shadows on a White Statue: Lion #4

I was very happy with the latest lion that I painted last Thursday (June 2006).

Lion of Atlanta

The ninety-plus degree heat and a code red smog alert made the working conditions less than pleasant. The actual sky was light and hazy; I darkened it considerably after I got home.

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Demonstration: White Surfaces in Shadow

I did another watercolor outside this morning. Although I wasn’t entirely happy with the results, I did manage to take pictures after each wash. Here’s what I did:

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Recent Painting: Lion of Atlanta in Oakland Cemetery

I did this watercolor early in the morning about a week ago at Oakland Cemetery. Finding a shady spot in which to work was a challenge and forced me to work from a radical viewpoint, which made for some dramatic foreshortening. Overall, I was pleased with the result.

Lion of Atlanta

Materials and Technique

I used Arches 140# Rough paper from a 12 x 16 block.

My palette was:

  • Raw sienna
  • Burnt sienna
  • Cobalt blue
  • Ultramarine violet
  • Thalo turquoise
  • New Gamboge