Watercolor Escape Artists

Miss S. Noel has another one of the most delicate renderings this time. Nicely done drawing as well. She could go in and add some shadows if she wanted, but I'm enjoying the coolness of this Canadian mountain scene. Miss G. Smith had perhaps the MOST challenging location of them all. I didn't tell her at the time that even I was a bit intimidated by the central falls and all the details in the vertical rock walls that form this chasm. (G: I know you struggled to get the borders 'clean' so I took the liberty of swiping them with my Photoshop 'eraser' for the web-pic.) Doesn't this look like a pastel-painting? I like it very much... Miss C. Lee chose to work on the smoother of our paper's sides. Can you recognize this landmark? It's only one of the most famous buildings in the entire world! What a nice way to wrap up the year. Well done, Missy. Miss R. Fadler has used two concepts to create depth in her painting of two pyramids: increasing the "mi...

This project was different in two ways. It was our first experience with canvas. Yes, Virginia, there IS canvas for watercolors (we used Fredrix brand - sheets of gessoed material torn from a 9x12 pad)! HINT: read the manufacturer's flyer that comes with...all the way to the last sentence, because that's where you'll find out the unmounted-stuff warps/buckles LIKE CRAZY unless "secured" to a non-buckling surface... The other difference was in the capturing of images for the blog: scanning picked up a 'moire' pattern from the fabric weave, so tripod-photography was needed. I hope you'll see the possibilities of this challenging surface, even though you'll quickly notice several students were unable to complete their pictures. (p.s. I'm having trouble with the blog's 'add picture' function, so will add Miss Noel's work later.) Miss R. Fadler Inadvertaintly the 'covering power' of our opaque watercolors is illustrated in...

Master N. Davis. Feel like your looking at a movie-still and things are about to get a little scary? Well, stay tuned (by that I mean look at the next version, below - you were right...) Master D. Harwell. A mysterious sort of scene. (Or is it just me?) Miss N. Buckingham Is it just me (again) or does this have a 'futuristic look' to it? I know, paying attention to too many movies like "Aeon Flux"... Master J. Wolters Great colors. Notice the detailing on the Empire State's upper tower. Master B. Davis Great 'depth-of-field' by not only using various 'shades' for the layers of buildings, but changing up the colors, too. Works perfectly to capture this 'superhero moment.' Miss A. Escue Dreamy. Miss R. Fadler Exceptionally beautiful color-transitions in this sky. Miss M. Wolfe D R A M A T I C. You know those evenings when the sun seems to set the entire sky on fire and then it just GOES BLACK... Miss K. Breeding She missed star...

Tuesday AM Update : a commenter notes that there are some paintings "among the missing" (and I now count only 8 on display out of 12 total - what was I thinking?) and she's right. My bad. Must go back to my other computer in a little bit in order to post them. Sorry. Master J. Wolters Miss M. Wolfe Miss C. Lee Miss R. Fadler ...................................................................................................................... Here's the good news: all my students did a great job on the assignment. The "bad news"? They did it without me...Boo-hoo-hoo. There, now that I got that out of my system have a look at their paintings. Master N. Davis Miss N. Buckingham Miss K. Breeding Miss H. Ridge Master D. Harwell (unfinished: missed class first week on project) D.H.'s picture (as it might appear when finished - Photoshopped by Mrs. L.) Master B. Davis Miss A. Escue Miss A. Cole

Portion of a stunning dark red-brown scallop shell as interpreted by Miss K. Breeding. I like it. It's small, yet bold. Kinda like the girl who painted it...

This was our first experience with a painting material from "Yupo." The sheets are translucent polypropylene, which means they can be inked simply by placing the Yupo over a 'master line drawing' and traced in ink. Brief experiments proved neither our otherwise terrific Uniball permanent black pens nor fine line Sharpies would work well. The latter came across as fairly pale, believe it or not. In the end what worked was India ink applied with an old-fashioned crow quill pen. It dried surprisingly fast and never bled-a-drop, as you can clearly see from the sharp lines in all the paintings below. "Yupo paper": (http://www.dickblick.com/products/yupo-watercolor-paper-pads/) Crow quill pen (http://www.dickblick.com/products/speedball-crow-quill-dip-pen-and-nibs/) Ink: http://www.dickblick.com/products/dr-ph-martins-bombay-india-inks/ Miss R. Fadler Master N. Davis Miss N. Buckingham Miss M. Wolfe Miss K. Breeding Master J. Wolters Miss H. Ridge Master D. Harwel...