Went to open figure studio tonight after a two month or so hiatus. Doing watercolors in that environment is a real challenge for me. I learned to do watercolors doing landscapes and figures doing Conte or charcoal. But I’ve been diving in and coming up with something or another every time. Here I’ll put up the watercolor in various stages
So here we have the picture at the end of the first and second twenty minute sessions. Working into wet paper with a large sized brush in the sky and other background elements and with a medium sized brush in the area of the figure. Same brush I showed a few days ago. With each successive stage the layers of color build up and hopefully get more complex without getting muddy. My way of working with watercolors is not at all unique, but most people don’t work this way. I just put the colors down and mop them up as I see fit, whereas most folks put the colors on in very carefully thought out layers, letting each layer dry before applying the next.
I like to put a made up landscape in the back of my figures. In this case I was thinking of Batman on the roof of a building, looking out over the city. The pose sort of suggested it, but I ended up with just a guy sitting on a roof at sunset. I like it though. I spend quite a bit of time working on the background, but it is mostly while the model is taking a break. I like the idea of making a whole picture. Not just a figure in front of a blank wall, or even sitting on a stool with a drape on the wall behind him. And now for the final picture of the night. TA DA….I like it.
