Showjumper Watercolor WIP #4

     I headed out of dodge with my dog for a few hours today to recharge my batteries. We went for a hike to a favorite spot where I never run into anybody. I've been feeling a bit burned out the past few days with so much going on with my studio, my son and summer activities. Then it was back to the studio and I had several uninterrupted hours of painting.
    So here is where I left off. After this dries I'll put more time into this later this evening. This painting is a watercolor and the support is a full sheet of Arches Hot Press 300lb paper. For those of you who missed the previous posts see my earlier blog posts for photos of the progression of this piece. I am really getting in there with the darks. I am using a really strong mix of alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. The pigments are not thoroughly mixed on the palette .  Instead I charge a large squirrel mop and really load the brush so the colors can mingle on the paper. This prevents the darks from becoming flat and dull.
I am really careful to keep a lot of soft edges at this point by wetting and softening with a brush any hard lines that appear. I save most of the hard edges for the final details or any place I want to place emphasis.

    The eye is now getting it's initial glazes. I start by working wet on wet. This keeps soft edges as I start to describe the shape of the eye and ears and find the expression. In addition the values around the muzzle and nostril have been increased. As I push the darks the initial lightest glazes start to take on a very cool glow. This is the part I love about watercolor.

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Stay tuned! This is coming down to the finish!  You can click on any of these mages to get an enlarged view.

Deborah O'Sullivan Art
Epona Studio
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