Will Be Away

I like to thank everybody who thought this blog is interesting, and was kind enough to follow, thank you also for all your kind and wonderful comments, I really do enjoy reading them and answering them.

I am so sorry that I hadn´t posted for some time, te truth is I have been and still is very busy, doing costumes and props for a play, adapted from a spanish playwright Calderon De La Barka ... called ... Life Is A Dream.

Usually it is not easy for me to paint while having all my energy directed towards creating designs for costumes...
I hope you will bear with me and forgive me if I didn´t post and painted as often as before, but this is only temporary for two more weeks ...

This painting has been done in my usual style , that is without the use of a preliminary sketch, I started with the shadows , being careful to get their outer shapes right and defining the lit side by painting the background negatively
                                                      

15 by 11" arches 140lb rough W&N  wc paints

                                            

notice the negative painting and the shadows

                                                  

             more details ... note the negative painting

                                                                        

still life in a loose mood

still in loose mood ... holding the bg brush halfway up the handle is really fun

7 by 11 arches 140lb rough watercolours

7 by 11" arches 140lb rough watercolours

                                   

Getting in a loose mood

My favourite style to loosen p is wet into wet ... it really makes me work in a fun way and especialy when I use stronger colours it just works so well. I really soak the paper thoroughly for a few minutes and lay it on a plexiglass board so it doesn´t buckle ...then I just paint on the blank paper

Really ... sometimes I am in a mood that requires this style, it is so rewarding and never fails to produce some of my favourite pieces, still lifes and animal portraits lend themselves to this style so well

7 by 11" arches 140lb rough watercolours

11 by 7" arches 40lb rough waercolours

11 by 7 arches 140lb arches rough

                                                 

Fashion illustration

I work as costume theatre designer and usually do designs and paint thm in watercolours ... but this is the first time I paint a costume illustration without a prior sketch, which is not easy because usually the costume has a lot of details. I am pleased with the result and the details.

15 by 11" arches 140lb rough w&n AQ watercolous

                        

Cricket players

I did this one in a slightly tighter style than usual, because the shapes and lines were very interesting and the lend themselves to this style, as I invisioned my subjects on the blank piece of paper.
I started with the black hair first to get a starting point thatwill define my characterand I tried to think about composition and plaanning ahead as I go.

I am trying here to paint the shapes negatively so I can capture the light in the blank space to define the positive shapes.

Going downward and finishing the first figure totally

the second figure is added in the same way focusing on negative shapes and painting them to capture the light in the positive shape done by leaving the paper white in places

Final 15 by 11" arches 140lb rough w&n watercolours

Adding the backgroung and fixing the hair again and the left foot of the left figure by blurring the edges to portray movement

                                  

More Warm ups

Sometimes I am not in the mood to paint, and I think the best way to put myself in the mood is to do a warm up sketch that takes fifteen to twenty minutes and then leave it alone ... some of these warm ups have a lot of interesting results and they can be little pieces of art.
What I learn from these little pieces is how to make your colours glow, how to observe shapes and shadows and how to have better tonal values. And above all I benefit from painting from life, simple things around the house.

A coffee cup

Red velvet cupcake ... very tasty

My new flower pot

coffee mug (different shade of white)

A black coffee mug

spherical shape

                                         

Inspiration

I love painting anything and everything that inspires me, and usually everything insires me ... I am constantly distracted and my subjects are diverse ... but I really want to be able to paint different subjects..

And usually I am interested in different techniques for different subject ...nothing is more exciting than ainting in a new technique, especially in watercolours, my passion...  this is why I am always excited to paint...

Joining the WDE (Weekend Drawing Event)  on Wetcanvas helped this aspect of my art journey a lot, each week a host posts sixteen photos , and we can choose one or all of them to paint in the two hours alotted for the challenge ... usually it takes me less than an hour to finish any pinting , so I end up doing much more.

                                                8 by 11 arches 140lb rough w&n wc
I found out that this fact does help me develop and grow in my art , because I am always challenged to paint things outside my comfort zone...

                                                   8 by 11 arches 140lb rough w&n wc

                                                   11 by 8 arches 140lb rough w&n wc

CONNECTING

Hello everyone ... I just like to thank everyone for believing in my blog and commenting ... I appreciate your comments so much...
I have always wanted to paint this one but the time wasn´t  right until now ... I think the loose style lends iself to this, and of course without sketching

                                              8 by 11 arches 140lb rough w&n watercolours

more flowers

Many of my painting friends have sked me to do more flowers... I didn´t know how relaxing it was to paint flowers in a loose style and without under sketch... they don´t need sketching

8 by 11 arches 140lb rough

this is the black iris of Jordan ..it grows in the south and blooms in march and it has been announced as the ntional flower of Jordan

8 by 1 arches 140lb rough

8 by 11 arches 140lb rough

                            

horses

Please let me thank and welcome everyone who thought my blog is worth following ...And thank you to everyone who has left a comment on my paintings

I don´t paint horses usually and by painting without sketching makes me nervous even to try one, but last weekend´s challenge included a few horses´ photos that were impossible to resist...

I had to take the risk of trying and losing, which gives me a lot of enjoyment and excitement every time I pick up my brush to touch the blank paper before me

8 by 11 arches 140lb rough

11 by 15 arches 140lb rough

11 by 15 arches 140lb rough

                           

portrait

how sweet it is this photo simply begged to be painted .... I was really eager to paint her and she was so easy to paint ... the photo was posted by Conni for a monthly challenge in the watercolour studio As with all of my work I painted without a prior sketch

15 by 11 canson 140lb HP

flowers

I love th colours of different flowers in different seasons, and usually they evoke a lot of memories for me and in general, they beg to be painted. For me ... well, I love painting them in a loose style ... I do not go to any details, as usual I start on a blank paper without any sketching and paint the shapes that the shadows and darks form. These were done for different WDEs in June...

7 by11

7 by 11

7 by11

7 by 11

7 by 11"

They are all done on bockingford 140lb CP in watercolours

baby portrait

this was the last one to paint for the portrait paint-along challenge ...

11 by 7 arches 140lb CP

                                          

more figures

Figues and people just draw me like a magnet to look at people i a coffee shop or a mall, and watch the light catch a colour in the hair or the skin tone ad transrer the scee into a magical hing that begs to be painted, at the same time catch a special emotional moment at the same time ...   Usually I start without a sketch and a very diluted wash and drop in colours ... and have so much fun

7 by 11 bockingford 140lb CP in watercolours  

                    

7 by 11 bockingford 140lb CP in watercolours

11 by 7 bockigford 140lb CP i watercolours

WIP portrait

Hello all
A quiet thank you  to everybody who is so kind as to follow my blog ... and to those who left the sweet thoughtful comments...
I have been asked many times about how I paint portraits without any under sketching,  and about my techniques ... well ... I haven´t settled on MY technique yet ... like many out there I am experimenting with the many many techniques in this magical medium ... watercolours ... and every time I pick up my brush I learn a littly or discover a new trick that might or might not work.

I this portrait I used a vry wet wash of cad red mixed wirh a little burnt sienna ad a touch of yellow ochre for the skin tone ...  I drop in some ceruleu blue for the part of the face that is in the shade ...

I start with midtones because I usually leave the lighter tones as white paper. At the same time I start to paint negative shapes to define the other side of the face which is the backgroud.

Now I start to paint the features ... eyes,nose and lips ... painting away from the whites that I want to preserve ... at the same time just hinting at the glasses ... I try to copy the shapes without too many details.

Here I also drop in more colour in the skin tones .I let it dry completely

I put in the darkest tones, and shadows ... it looks  terrible at this stage ... but I lay a wash of clean fresh water all over the face aroud the features to soften the brush marks... and tweak in general

The final result

11 by 7 bockingford 140lb CP in lefranc et bourgouis artist´s wtercolours

portraits

As you know I am trying to improve my work in portraits ... I believe it will improve work in other subjects as well... these were done for a portrait paint along challenge on Painting friends here

11 by 7 arches 80lb Block in watercolours

11 by 7 bockingford 140lb CP in watercolours

11 1/2 by 7 1/2 daler rowney 140lb CP in watercolours

Twenty Minutes Warm Ups

They didn´t take twenty minutes... the idea is to focus on shapes and shadows and really learn how to see better and improve your painting ...