Painting Watercolour using a Wet-in-Wet Technique

Last summer I made this time lapse video of painting a watercolour using a 'wet-in-wet' approach. That means painting onto wet, cotton paper using wet paint!

Today I added a voice-over to the video. The sound isn't great because I didn't use a microphone - just the built in one in my imac. Still, if you crank up the sound, I think you'll be able to hear it OK.

Working "wet-in-wet" is so intriguing because the dampness of the paper, which is made of cotton, creates a softness, a luminosity and an unpredictability as the paint colours mix together and change.

My inspiration came from a small monoprint I made using the watercolour on plexiglass technique that I've recently written about. I projected it onto a full sized watercolour sheet. Then I traced around the colours using a white oil pastel crayon and applying a lot of pressure on the paper. That line of oil or crayon will create a barrier for the watercolour and will work as a resist.

This is the original monoprint that I drew my inspiration from.

Using a mechanical aid and working from an existing piece of art were departures for me - it kind of felt like cheating. What I learned from it is that I could focus on the actual painting because the colours and composition were already worked out.

I'd like to try it again now during winter while I wait for flowers to grow.

Here is another example of enlarging a sketch onto watercolour paper. This is a sketch I made on location at Brier Island a few years ago.

Brier Island's Big Pond.

The resulting enlarged watercolour.

Here is a very short video of the painting process. It works best if you paint watercolours from light to dark.

Why don't you give it a try?  It's interesting to work on a piece that is so much larger than the original. 

Acrylic Painting - The Red Tulips

In the Sunlight
30" x 36" acrylic on canvas by Flora Doehler SOLD
at the Flight of Fancy, Bear River Nova Scotia

After months of flower deprivation, it was so exciting to find tulips for sale in the grocery store mid winter. One of the disadvantages of living in southwest Nova Scotia is the almost complete absence of flowers in the wintertime - except for expensive roses.

Red tulips against the snow. I would 'fake' a spring backdrop for my painting.

I have a strong need to paint from life so this aspect of life here is a real challenge for me.! It is a great feeling to be present with a living flower and to sense the life force of it. Sometimes I paint from photographs I've taken, but it's not as satisfying an experience for me.

The first marks on the canvas are the hardest.

Although I try to abstract the scene and even change what I am actually looking at,  when a painting is working for me, I  get lost in it and I feel like I am channelling the essence of the object of my gaze.

At this stage, my focus is the colours.

Every painting evolves differently. Some come easily, others are trickier and need more time. The trick is to stay fresh and positive about it. Just like with life's challenges!

This painting went through quite a few stages and changes before I finished it. You can watch this development in the movie I've made for you.

I decided to create large areas of calmness in the painting–a departure from my usual style of creating texture and movement on every square inch of the canvas! The architectural shapes in the work let me experiment with mixing geometrical and organic shapes.

I really liked the dripping paint on the bottom of the canvas, but I finally had to let it go and tone it down so that it wouldn't compete with the drama of the tulips.

I love the way tulips nod their heads. The shapes of their leaves and stems are so beautiful and delicate. I really enjoyed being in the tulip universe while painting this.

You can visit my painting at the Flight of Fancy gallery in Bear River where it is for sale.

Painting on a Snowy Day

Snow has been falling all day and all night. Fortunately, our commute to the studio is a shortcut through the barn and down a snowy path. Creativity calls!

The lumps are wood piles for the wood stove.

Inside the studio Larry is busy putting the final touches on our enameling kiln and I've been painting bright colours.

painting by Flora Doehler  8" x 8"   Please take your Seats.

This acrylic painting "Please take your seats" was inspired by the old chairs in our former studio. The Oakdene Centre was the community school for many years and still has some of the old furniture. I took many photos of chairs and their cast shadows when we worked there.

Shadows.

Inbetween working on some landscape painting (which I will show you when they are finished), and an entry to a local upcoming show here 'Pirates and Outcasts', I worked on this little piece. Step into the studio and take a look at the life inside our former garage.

Green Willow Studio is tucked down our long driveway. We are open by appointment or by chance.

Its actually a pretty good idea to be snowed in. We can get lost in our work and there is nowhere else to go.

An old cherry tree and the barn seen from the studio.

The snow keeps falling.

Daily Painter Edward B. Gordon

Edward B. Gordon is a painter living in Berlin. This video is a fascinating glimpse of his studio, his method of working and his love of composition.

Check out his daily blog at http://edwardbgordon.blogspot.com/

Acrylic Painting Tutorial

I wanted to “show and tell” you about a recent painting of mine because it expresses the emotional connection I feel for iris.

The Yellow Surprise

There were gorgeous, large bearded irises in my grandmother’s garden over 50 years ago. My mother transplanted some to her garden and eventually I had them in my garden. They moved ½ way across the continent with us when we came to Nova Scotia and are blooming like never before.

Evolution of a Painting

Starting a painting.

I like to paint from life, which means painting on location or with the thing that's being painted actually present.  Painting from photos just isn't nearly as satisfying for me because I can't get as close to my subject as I would like to. You see, not only do I like what happens when paint goes on a surface - the explosion of color and movement of the brush over the canvas or paper and the mixing of colors, I very much enjoy looking at my subject and really, meditating on it.

This Peony is stunning and so is the shadow. The scent is also out-of-this-world!

If I'm outside I can listen to the sounds around me of birds singing or the sound of the wind rustling leaves or grasses blowing in the wind.  I enjoy the smell of the air and the fragrances of the earth and plants.

These 12' tall hollyhocks were so inspiring and called out to be painted.

I like to watch shadows flit across a field when clouds move across the sun. I enjoy the many shades of green in the landscape. Painting becomes a truly sensual experience.

The painting is 3 feet high and was started on location and finished in the studio.

If I can't go outside because of cold weather or rain, I can still set up a still life and paint indoors. In that case I am often examining flowers close-up and checking out the petals and the shapes of the blooms. When I lived in the city it was possible to buy fresh flowers, even in the winter, for a very low price.  Unfortunately, that is no longer the case for me here in Bear River.  Fresh flowers are very expensive and the choices are quite limited.

Last summer I had a flower subscription with Cheryl Stone of Bear River Blooms.  Every week Cheryl would deliver a fabulous bouquet to the studio complete with vase. Cheryl grows the flowers herself and will cut for you a totally custom-made bouquet.

Flowers by Bear River Blooms

Cheryl would call me in advance to find out what my colour choices were and ask what type of flower I preferred. Talk about being pampered! I wasn't able to paint all the beautiful bouquets she delivered but I did take photos and now I am printing some of them out to use as inspiration for my new paintings.  It's certainly not like working from the original bouquet but because I staged the photos in the first place with a painterly composition in mind, it's the next best thing.

This was one of my favorite bouquets last summer.

 I love peonies, in part, because they remind me of my dear mother and my grandmother - two wonderful, clever and witty women who passed on their love of flowers and of gardening to me. What I also like about this photo are the colours. The contrast of the lime green in the lupines with the dark pink of the peony are very appealing. Red and green are complementary colors which I like to use in my paintings.  I decided to use that pale lime green as the ground or the background for the canvas.

Here is a video of my first approach to painting this bouquet. It morphed quite a bit until I felt OK with the results.

When I work on a new painting, I do so as long as it gives me pleasure.  If I start feeling like I don't know where to go next or I feel a sense of frustration, I stop.  It is possible to look at the same piece of work on different days and feel different levels of satisfaction with it.  Sometimes the only way to know the next step with a painting is to put it away and to work on something else.

This week I returned to the painting and was so excited about working on it, that I thought of different ways to express "peony" and started 2 more paintings!

I'm very happy with the painting. I like the textures and the colours and the feel of it. However, the real thrill was in the making of it and now that it's over, I can't wait to move on to the next.

Last Summer". 30" x 36", acrylic (sold)

This painting, inspired by Cheryl's flowers has inspired more paintings from me. And inspired is a wonderful state to be in.

Painting detail.

Inspiration. Where does it come from?

Creative inspiration.

Where does it come from and where does it go to? Like all eternal questions the answers vary from person to person and the reasons are complex.