Watercolor Rocks
My first attempt at watercolor after seeing an inspiring demonstration by artist Gary Bukovnik at the Jody Klotz Gallery.
Gary was the juror at the 2019 National Juried Art Competition exhibition at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Abeline, TX. Katyraven had a prominent painting in the exhibition.
Gary paints flowers from his garden, so I chose rocks from my front yard garden.
This is the photo I’m working from with one of my favorite rocks I’ve found in my yard.
My first set up at the Murray Hotel in Silver City, NM. I used the iPad to zoom in on the rocks so I could work on the sketch with my newly purchased Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colors that were on clearance at L & I Art Supplies. $4.04 per tube was quite an investment, so I plan to do this right.
My second night painting was spent in El Paso next door to UTEP. It was quite a day, as I crossed the border into Juarez in the morning, but didn’t have the right paperwork, ie Passport, so they sent me back to El Paso. Fortunately I had a passport 10 years ago on record, otherwise I might be moving rocks all day and drawing on a jail cell wall.
Fast forward about 9 months. I’ve started and finished quite a few other paintings, drawings, sculpture proposals and 13 songs since I began this in late September. For Father’s Day my Katyraven bought me a killer set of Derwent Watercolour pencils! She inspired me to finish this, so “back to the drawing board” with some very colourful (English spelling for continuity) results.
There’s lots to learn about watercolor painting, but I really enjoyed the process. What I enjoyed the most is the control that I have using the Derwent Watercolour Pencils.
In the last hours of this painting, Katyraven introduced me to “watercolor paint brushes” that are designed for this kinda thing. Really cool. I can’t imagine what this would’ve looked like had I started with the correct brush. Onto the next one!
