I think I've settled on my approach to the cherry blossoms themselves, so now I'm sketching them up against colors I'm thinking of having near them in the painting. Looking to get a feel for which colors make the blossoms pop, which ones pull focus from them, etc.
I have a painting planned out in my head that includes a cherry blossom branch in the foreground. I've never painted cherry blossoms, so spent a good while today experimenting with techniques and with various degrees of looseness.
The funny part is that I might not actually paint blossoms. I haven't decided yet how impressionistic I want to go. Either way, this was fun and I learned a lot! 🌸
I started out trying different approaches to get the feel of being underwater and seeing the dappled light on the surface. Each had aspects I liked, but the lower left pane pulled me in and I wanted sunbeams piercing the water, then the impression of coral and seaweed, and then a majestically gliding ray.
This is 1/4 of a 5x7 block... I like it enough that I'm going to take what I learned and apply it to a 9x12 or 11x14.
I didn't always let a layer dry enough, but that's always a risk when I get excited about what's happening on the paper lol
I just wanted to see what they look like on black paper, and ended up with an abstract delight! It makes me think of iridescent, eel-like fish all swimming upriver.
Metallic watercolors, with patterns added using gel pens. It started with brushstroke practice and ended in a frame on the wall. I love how different it looks depending on how the light hits it!
I love how different it looks from different angles 😃
Based on a tutorial from Karen Rice on yt. I decided to include pics of the process too, because seeing others' works in all the various stages helps me get through the ugly phases till it comes together. 😊
Daisies
Based on a tutorial from Karen Rice on yt
(... This time actually with the pic lol)
It's amazing how often I could say a watercolor effort isn't what I'd been aiming for but I still like it lol
I think I may be in love with this style already...
Shame I didn't let the stem/leaves dry enough before adding to them tho lol