TAKING A GANDER - step by step watercolour painting

 This is the drawing I prepared for my students - much cleaner and more precise than what I work with myself. I tend to be a very rough sketcher.

 First washes - all done wet in wet. Aureolin  and quin. burnt orange for the body, quin. sienna for the feet, and a dark brown [quin. burnt orange, quin. violet and indanthrone] for the legs. The class and I will be doing more of the technique I used on their feet - having two concentrations of the colour I am using, one more dilute for the overall wash of colour, and a thicker one for more depth. It's important to keep the brush you use for the thicker paint rather dry, so you are adding mostly pigment, not more water to the area.

Building up more of the local colour. Their bills are quin. sienna with some thin indanthrone.

I add more of the dark [burnt orange, violet and indanthrone] to their bodies and legs, and some detailed markings with a thick mixture and fairly dry brush.

I hope you enjoyed the goslings. Thank you for dropping by!

Goslings Waddling along Nicely ... Baby Geese - Work in Progress

After the last post, I dry-brushed some aureolin here and there.

Then I mixed up a purply-brown and started dry-brushing the colors in their feathers with a mixture of burnt orange, violet and indanthrone. I also got serious about the anatomy and shadows of their legs. I used aureolin, burnt orange and indanthrone to get an almost-black olive green. 

Right now, I am continuing with the dry-brushwork on their feathers - this technique seems to work best for achieving that fluffy appearance. I think I'll put it aside for a bit, to let the colors set, and work on the tugboat painting.


Thank you so much for dropping by!