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| Rhododendron x 'Neon' Laura Allen, 2020 |
Earlier in the year I'd painted a spray of rhodie leaves using Rosie Sanders' video as a guide; while this class didn't really focus on watercolor per se, I wanted to see how much progress I'd made in general. It was an intensive few weeks, and I feel incremental improvements here and there.
Let's see.
The painting at the top is my final project. I found this gorgeous 5-gallon rhodie at my local nursery and bought it right up. The variety is 'Neon' and it claims to have peach-orange flowers; I won't know for another couple of weeks, but the buds are amazing.
Those buds are what I wanted to capture. They're so colorful and precise, slightly furry in spots and just gorgeous.
As usual, I started with very thorough drawing. I used Rosie Sanders' suggested blue/violet mix to paint in the areas around the highlights, and then worked in many, many layers of glazes.
Quinacridone gold is one of my absolute favorite colors, and I was able to really work it here. That, along with Venetian red and perylene scarlet (mixed with standard ultramarine and Hansa yellow,) is what makes up the majority of the oranges, rusts, and browns you see.
Here are a few more process shots. You can see the development of the underpainting, and visualize the layering on of glazes.
All in all, this painting makes me happy. There are spots, of course, that I don't like, but overall I think it's a success. I like the composition, the tonal range, and the color accuracy. My watercolor technique is getting better, so while I can totally point out the lapses and muddy spots, I'm still really pleased with the progress.
I'll do a post on the class itself some time next week, once I get everything wrapped up and submitted.
For now, here's the earlier rhododendron. I see definite improvement.
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| Rhododendron leaves painted earlier in 2020 |
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