So I’m a couple days before the deadline for this, but I’ve got my first “assignment” done for the watercolors club (and no one is more surprised than me about that). I figured I’d start a new thread for the post-assignment reflections, so we can keep it all in one place.
For this assignment, I used the Artist Loft 36 color palette, which is a scholastic grade (one step below student) dry palette. I wanted to challenge myself and not go too dark for my six colors, since I could easily see myself overdoing it for the “thorns” prompt. I ended up choosing a beige/peach, a purple-blue, a green, a green-blue, a grey, and a brown for my chart:
From there, I sketched out a little thorn scene. I ended up doing only two bases: the purple-blue and the grey, and then going over different areas to bring in some dimension. I also fine-lined in sharpie. Here’s my final piece:
Reflections:
This was my first time in years where I was painting something as opposed to setting down a background, so I definitely think there’s a re-learning curve that I’m experiencing. Overall, I’m happy with how it turned out, but it is sloppy. I had a hard time blending colors and found that it was getting quite patchy when I tried to smooth areas out or apply more color. I’m happy with how the colors came out though, and I think the piece has a bit of dimension.
I also think I’m going to need to upgrade my paint set, at least to something student grade. I like this for what I bought it for - abstract backgrounds. In those pieces, I soak the page before I apply any color, and it helps a lot with blending.
tl;dr: As a first step back into watercolor painting, I think this went alright. It’s a bit sloppy and patchy, but I like how the colors came out. I will be getting a new paint set for future assignments.
The painting itself took a little more time than I thought it would. I started with a red wash that looked pink on paper. Whatever. I can work with that. After that was random lines with a dark brown. This part was actually really enjoyable. It turns out I really like doing thin lines. The thorns on that layer were tedious though.
After that I painted on the larger branches. It turned out a lot darker than I thought it would. Note to self: add more water next time.
The thorns on this layer were slightly more fun although my colour was a little inconsistent. I think I need to either mix my paint more thoroughly or learn to live with it. Not yet sure which one will be better in the long run.
Originally I was going to make do with my Prismacolor water color pencils, and made two glazing charts for those to figure out whether I would put all the color down first, or wet each layer of color.
Wetting each layer individually overpowered certain colors/basically negated the first color unless it was really strong (blue).
Then I got some regular watercolors, an eight color Prang semi-moist set, and made a new glazing chart before painting my thorn picture. I did all eight colors just so I knew what I was working with.
I haven’t ever tried using watercolors in this way, so there’s definitely room for improvement.
Ultimately, I was aiming for blood-sucking vines and the watch of one of their victims.
I was able to make mini glazing charts because my paper is hecka small. Used a Windsor & Newton 14 half pan set. Just submitted my study abroad application and I’m exhausted so I’ll paint you some lovely thorns later this week.
I guess my main issue with this exercise is that I don’t really have a lot of patience for things to dry and lack the willpower to change the water I’m using regularly…
Not super thrilled with how this turned out but I’ve been obsessing for a couple days and figured I’d better submit it before I lost my mind. I don’t think I’m quite used the the medium yet. I usually prefer to do a billion layers over and over than let the color stand on its own. Learning goal is to be more expressive with color choice and abide by the less is more principal.
I have 4 younger siblings. It happens. I do however have this. 
