Exercise: Tonal studies made on a coloured ground

Preparatory Colour Studies

Preparatory Colour Studies

Preparatory Colour Studies

Gouache - highlighting the lightest areas only

White gouache showing lightest areas, then indigo watercolour darkening the darker areas and adding definition

Close up of white gouache and indigo watercolour and the really interesting texture resulting from this combination

White gouache and viridian watercolour

Close up showing amazing texture 

Sunflower - gouache and watercolour on a coloured ground

I found this first exercise of the final Assignment really enjoyable. I was glad to get back to painting still life and I feel that it was a useful exercise in terms of discovering a different combination of media. I think the first thing to note was how differently the paint handled, when mixed with gouache. The paint took far longer to dry - so I was not able to quickly paint over areas I was unhappy with, and I did end up with some accidental "bleeding" of colours which I had not anticipated. I was not able to get hold of any coloured NOT watercolour paper so I painted my own. I started with a couple of colour studies just to familiarise myself with the subject matter. I Why did I choose a sunflower? Well the reasons are twofold. My daughter planted a whole packet of sunflower seeds in various places around the garden and the majority of them germinated. I have been admiring their bright straightforward yet complex blooms for a couple of months and really did just want the opportunity to look at them in more detail. I also found when I was working on the paintings for my 30 paintings over thirty days exercise http://hyacinth30.blogspot.co.uk/ I felt I benefited greatly form looking at the same subject in a number of different ways, and reading ahead in the course material I hope this subject choice will apply itself well with the more experimental and abstraction exercises. The final painting I worked on was a combination of gouache and watercolour on a alizarin crimson ground. I am generally happy with this new technique, and particularly when looking at my watercolour in terms of how I can move it forward within my textiles work I think this has been a small breakthrough. I feel the painting has life and a sense of realism, but it will take practice to get used to how the paint handles!