Family Watercolor 1.31.11

Sadie colors the zoo

Hailey's color mixing palette

Kylie's  Color Mixing Palette

Eileen's Color Mixing Palette

Kylie and Hailey learned how to mix their favorite colors with Great Aunt Eileen and Sadie recreates the zoo after her first visit.

Purple Door - Watercolor

Purple Door is one of the first pictures I painted in the Watercolor I class at Phoenix College - Fall 2010 taught by Joey Baker. It's one of my favorites so I wanted to share it in its "almost completed" state.

Purple Door Project
I'm not sure what the assignment was, but I was intrigued by all of the shadows on the photo I was using and wanted to see if I could recreate them with watercolor. I started with the shadows that were on the wall and didn't achieve what I was looking for. When I reached the shadows on the door they started to look more realistic. 

"...patience and practice - a good combination."

Overall, the colors used in the door and the adobe wall turned out better than I had hoped and the bricks came out well in spite of forgetting to leave mortar spaces. I was able to fix it by going back in with white gouache -- which may have been a better choice anyhow.

I haven't finish yet. The flower stalks in the middle still need a bit of work to create more depth and I forgot to put in any details in the door knob!

Watercolor Class
The class is over now and I miss my art buddies. I found that sharing this experience helped me to grow as an artist and I can't wait to do it again! It took me years to get up the nerve to try watercolor--it's not easy but it sure is fun.

The best thing I took away from this class was that I learned that I could fix what I might consider an impossible goof. Thank you Joey for making me fix that bowl of oranges (I'll share that one later.)