Time Drawn: December 2011
This was a practice piece more than anything, which is why some parts of it don’t quite work, but it came out prettily enough that I’m posting it.
As for what I was practicing, you may notice the gradients on the flower and the like. This was made with painting a swath of color on one section, then painting with just water in the other section, and letting the color bleed. It creates this sort of delicate gradient that plays to the strengths of the medium. I’m not sure how much I’ll use this technique, though. Delicate just isn’t my style.
The other thing I was testing was how well my travel kit worked. I made this sitting on a sheet I laid down in my Grandparent’s living room, in the middle of the night a few days after Christmas. My travel kit has all the colors, dried and in small pill reminder boxes (it’s the right size, and cheap), plus some special brushes that have a water reservoir built in so I don’t have to carry much extra water. I’m also not too likely to use this kit, either, just because I tend to prefer studio work rather than field work when it comes to coloring. But it was fun to make, and a good test. And cost, what, $10 or so for the components? It’s held in the packing tube that I got the travel brushes in, even.
I do find it amusing how many of these art pieces I post have made me go “I should try that technique again”. Although, it may be a sign of how I have difficulty specializing properly because I love experimenting… I may be learning interesting things, but specializing would let me head towards mastery… Ah well, such is life.
