Animal Experiments

Applying the landscape style from last week (outline in indigo watercolor) to animals.

Process: Lake Como in Watercolor

Let's start with my photo reference, a shot of Lake Como in Northern Italy from several years ago. Side note: this is one of the most beautiful, dreamy places I've ever been. I start off with a minimal sketch in HB pencil and a light pink wash for this one (I don't recommend having cat hair on your paper, as I have done, but when you've got a kitty in the studio during shedding season, it's tough to avoid) Three layers of color here More layers, lots of viridian green and prussian blue in the mix And voila. Finished sketch with watercolor and some graphite detailing on the boat and houses.

Landscapes Three Ways

Just playing around with watercolor approaches. I posted some progress shots of these last week, but here they are "finished" and scanned.

Watercolor, charcoal & graphite
Outlines in thick indigo watercolor, filled in with transparent watercolor layers
And landscape detail outlined in softer watercolor of different colors My photo reference (the amazing Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC) and a postcard of Toshi Yoshida's woodcut "Linnoji Garden", my jumping off point for experimenting with technique.