Flower painting Workshop March 6-8, 2009

For flowers that are going to be primarily pink:

1. Center of flower: quinacridone gold
   
2. Switch to new gamboge.
3. Clear water.
4. Mixture of quinacridone magenta & dioxazine violet (light on the violet).
5. Drop in a touch of quinacridone gold mixed with dioxazine violet to the very center of the flower to make it recede.

Flower painting Workshop March 6-8, 2009

The first stage of the plumeria painting was to do an underpainting of the shadows in the flowers using dioxazine violet and cobalt blue. I like to use the violet in areas that will be yellows in shadow later in the painting. The cobalt blue is used in the cooler shadows and turning edges of the petals.

Flower Painting Workshop March 6-8, 2009

We had a great flower painting workshop. We began with a tulip painting, and then worked on my own personal favorite, plumeria. The class was held in a new building called Pedro Point Creative. It is actually a meeting/dining room and commercial kitchen facility, but as you can see from the photos it's perfect for a small workshop. There is even a large video monitor I was able to connect to my computer and play DVD's of watercolor exhibitions on all day.

Flower Painting Workshop March 6-8, 2009

Koi Painting

I think it's finished! I'm cropping about 4" off the bottom of the painting. I found that the big white fish at the bottom was too large and was attracting too much attention. Now he's yellow and smaller. I worked on this at a demonstration for the Sunnyvale Art Club last week, but finished it at home on Saturday.

Now I have to decide what to paint next!

Koi Painting

I have a few problem areas to address. The orange section on the left side of the painting, the large white fish at the bottom, and the large white blob (fish!) on the right side all need work.  I am considering cropping the painting about 3-4 inches at the bottom to reduce the size of the large white fish and focus more attention on the orange-faced fish at the bottom. I would like to create more water movement on the right side above the orange tail fin. My reference photos have taken me as far as they can, now I have to use imagination to complete the painting. Agh!!!

Koi Painting