White Goose in Watercolor

This week I was back to painting birds and I decided to work on a white goose. I had fun using light shades of blue and purple for shadows and definition.

On this painting, I worked a bit larger using Arches 11×14 inch cold pressed watercolor paper. The roughness of this paper was a great help when it came time to add some texture to my goose.

Here is my goose without a background. I am so in love with how the bill turned out!

Goose watercolor without background

I decided to add a background to this painting after it dried. I always get nervous at this stage…Am I going to mess it up, what if I don’t like it after adding the background? Well, I threw those thoughts aside and continued anyway. Using similar colors, I tried to connect my goose to the background by blurring part of the neck and back area into the color of the background. After doing so, it still looked as if I had too much white paper, so I added a touch of blue for the sky and a blur of greens near the bottom to indicate a grassy area. I am happy that I added the background, I think it added more interest and fun.

Goose watercolor with background

Techniques used

• Wet on Wet – Adding water to the paper first and then dropping in color while the paper is still wet. Using this technique, I like to have a tissue handy in case I want to lift out any color or lightly touch up an area.
• Dry Brush – For adding some texture, I used straight pigment on a mostly dry brush and then dragged the side of my brush on the paper in the direction of the feathers or fur area.

I hope you enjoy my work and are inspired to keep painting and having fun. If you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email, just click the follow button on the right. I would love for you to follow me on this journey.

You can see more of my work on Instagram and also on my new website, PattyAnneArt.

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

 

Feathered Friends in Watercolor

Ahh, those fluffy feathers!  I have been having fun this week painting birds. In my last post I shared with you my first Pink Flamingo that I painted in my 7×10 inch watercolor sketchbook. I decided to try it again but paint larger and use a few different techniques. When working on smalls, I think I tighten up a bit so I decided to go with a 9×12 inch painting on this one.

I started out with a sketch in pencil to get my shape and placement. Remember that the positioning (and size) of the head, eye and beak are all very important. For feathers, I start with light color and work up to bolder colors. When working on the small detail of the eye, I use either a small rigger, liner, or round brush. I used my new Princeton round #2 brush this time. I really love that brush!!

Below is an in progress view of my feathered friend.

Pink Flamingo watercolor in progress

Watercolor techniques:

When the paint was damp, I tossed a little regular table salt on the neck and body area. Later when it was completely dry, I dusted off the salt. I was hoping it would give me some nice texture and an interesting look. I really like the results I got using the salt.

I also tried to use some expressive brush strokes with my larger round brush for the body feathers and used different shades of pink mixed with just a touch of red and orange here and there. I moved the brush around loosely pulling it in the direction that the feathers would be on the body.

While the painting was still damp I spattered some paint on it. I tried using a toothbrush as I’ve seen others demonstrate but I always seem to have trouble getting that spatter where I want it. I ended up using my round brush loaded with juicy color and then tapped it here and there over the painting, that worked for me.

This is the final painting below.

Pink Flamingo watercolor

I hope you enjoy seeing my work and are inspired to keep painting and having fun. If you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email, simple click the follow button on the right. I would love to have you follow me on this journey!

You can also see more of my work on Instagram

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

Trees across the lake

I’ve been working on landscapes this week. I focused on using the wet on wet technique with multiple applications of color for the distant trees across the lake. I ended up with some nice results and have a few tips to share with you.

Painting tips:

• Lightly draw a line on your paper where the horizon is. I use a regular pencil and ruler for this. This simple line will be an important guide as you paint.
• Mix up a lot of color before you start painting so that you don’t run out before you are finished. For this painting, I used a green+blue, green+brown, and cool gray blue mix.
• I like to work from top to bottom on this type of painting so that I don’t smudge up an already painted area with my hand or wrist. (Yes, I’ve done that before!)

After working on the sky and letting it dry a bit, I worked on the distant trees by first wetting the tree area with water about an inch or so above the horizon line. Then with a lot of juicy color on my brush, I dropped in the wet color across the tree area. First with a pass across the top, and then across the bottom. It is important to switch up the color every few inches or so as you work across the paper to add variety and interest. I also had to clean up the horizon line a few times with the tip of a large round brush. Then I continued adding more color until I was happy with the the shapes and colors before moving on to the lake.

Here is my first painting below, I really like the colors in this one.

Landscape – Across the Lake

Below is my second painting. When my trees were almost dry, I lightly sprayed them with a mist of water to try and soften them up a bit. Well, things didn’t go as I expected, the color started to run and bleed quite a bit. I thought I ruined everything, but I decided to just go with it and guided the running color with the tip of my brush. After it dried, I was pleasantly surprised.  It kind of looks like rain or fog across the lake.

Landscape 2 – Across the Lake

Hope you enjoy and consider following me on my journey. Simply click the follow button on the right to receive notifications of new posts by email.

If you would like to see more of my work, you can also follow me on Instagram at: pattyanneart

Happy Painting!

Patty Anne

 

Field of Poppies in Watercolor

I love Poppies and wish that I had some in my garden. I will have to work on that some time soon. The delicate petals remind me of tissue paper flowers I remember making as a child. Every year when I see the blooms up close I am amazed at their beauty.

This week I worked on painting Poppies while trying to keep things loose and not worry much about the details. It took a few paintings to get the feel of slowly building up the color on the petals with a variety of shapes and different brushstrokes.  Things also started to look better once I remembered to vary the size, shape, color, and position of the flowers in the field.

Field of Poppies

Color mixing notes:

Flower Petals:  A mix of Quinacridone Rose and Pyrrol Red (Daniel Smith watercolors). For lighter shades of the same color, simply add more water.

I had fun with this and will probably paint more Poppies in the future. I was amazed at how quickly this painting came together and how relaxing it was when I could just let go and paint without overthinking it.

Hope you are enjoying my posts and find them helpful. Keep painting and having fun! If you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email, simply click the follow button on the right.

You can also follow me on Instagram at: pattyanneart

Happy Painting!!

Patty Anne

A week of Lavender

This week I have been working on painting lavender. I was inspired by a beautiful painting of lavender sprigs on Instagram by Anee @studiobluedesigns.  I also watched a few videos online and really liked a youtube video by Nicola Blakemore on painting a pot of lavender.  Here is a link to that short video:  Pot of Lavender.  Her painting style was loose and fluid, she shared great tips on color mixing and walked through the entire painting process in about 10 minutes.  Thank you, Nicola!  Below is my attempt at painting a pot of lavender after watching the video.

Pot of Lavender watercolor

Later I painted a field of lavender:

Lavender watercolor

Color mixing notes:

Light green used in these paintings:  Sap Green (or a similar green) with lots of white. I usually never use white but Nicola recommended mixing it with green to get a light milky green color for the lavender stems and leaves.

Purple:  Aquamarine Blue and Quinacridone Rose (or a similar pink), you can vary the amount of each color to get different shades of purple.

I had fun painting lavender this week while trying to keep it loose and simple. I think I should have varied up the purple more in the foreground but lessons learned!  Hope you enjoy and consider clicking the follow button on the right to receive notifications of new posts by email.

You can also follow me on Instagram: @pattyanneart

Happy Painting!!

Patty Anne

Dahlia with different backgrounds

I planted a white Dahlia in my garden this spring. This week I’ve been working on painting this lovely flower.

I sketched the flower in pencil first and then used a black micron pen size .02 to go over the pencil marks. I mix my gray color for this painting using burnt sienna light and aquamarine blue.  The white flower has a lot of gray shadowing which I carefully painted with a round #2 brush.

Dahlia without a background

Dahlia without a background color

I am happy with this painting, but it left me wanting more color, so in the next painting I used bright pink and some purple around the flower which I thought would make the flower pop. What I found was that the very strong background seemed to overpower the delicate flower.  Below is my next attempt with a softer light blue and purple background.

Dahlia with a background color

Although I like the background, I am happier with the actual flower in the first painting. I may have rushed a bit with this last painting.  Oh well, this is a learning experience and I did have fun, which is what this is all about!

Hope you enjoy and consider clicking the follow button on the right to receive notifications of new posts by email.

You can also follow me on Instagram: @pattyanneart

Happy Painting!!

Patty Anne

Painting Simple Leaves

I decided to practice painting some simple leaves. I pulled out my round #14, 10, 6, and small flat angle watercolor brushes to give it a try. I watched a few people online paint beautiful leaves with just a few simple brushstrokes and that inspired me to practice and see what I could do.

Brushstroke notes:  Load the brush with paint, then with the tip down on the paper, press down and slightly rotate while continuing to pull the brush and then slowly lift the brush up and off the paper.

The small flat angle brush delivered some beautiful shapes and I was happy with the outcome.

Simple leaves practice – Flat Angle brush

My round #10 brush (a favorite of mine), did not work as well for this, and neither did my trusty old round #6.  Those two are usually my go to watercolor brushes.

I was very pleased and a bit surprised to find that my round #14 brush worked very well.  I was able to paint some large simple leaves with #14. I will have to keep that in mind for future paintings.

Simple Leaves practice – Round brush #14

Below is a quick painting of pink roses using the flat angle brush to paint the leaves. I will need to work more on my leaf painting technique, but this was a good exercise.

Rose – practice with simple leaves

Hope you enjoy and consider clicking the follow button on the right to receive notifications of new posts by email.

You can also follow me on Instagram: @pattyanneart

Happy Painting!!

Patty Anne