Monday, February 22, 2010

Conjure

As sometimes happens, I decided on a different title for this painting about halfway through. "Conjure" seemed to fit better for the purpose...



I've been having a bit of an inspiration block, partially due to the inability to find the right paper for watercolor. I know, it sounds odd for someone who has been using watercolor for years to suddenly have a 'paper crisis' but as you evolve as an artist, often your technique calls for different media.

This painting represents my muse in a way. I realize I've probably broken a hundred different 'rules' of color, but this piece was meant to relax and 'reset'. I went from a bundle of nerves to relaxed as soon as paint hit paper with this one. Sometimes it's good to just get all that color frustration out!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Sun Dreams - WIP

I'm going back to an old method for watercolor. I also decided to do this on some 'lesser quality watercolor paper' (i.e. "not Arches") and was a bit taken aback to find that I was able to use this paper (Windsor and Newton Watercolor Paper) better than the Arches cold-press I usually use. While the Arches is great for holding onto vibrant color, that's also a bit of a drawback - it holds onto pigment and doesn't let go. Ever. I find I work best if I'm lifting up pigment, and it's near impossible to do that with Arches.



More spirit falcons! Yay!

I also got a temporary replacement monitor. It's a 19 inch CRT, but the colors are spot-on. I spent about 3 days off and on adjusting the brightness, contrast, and gamma until it was just right. One of the drawbacks of using a monitor that's dying to the point where you can't adjust it anymore is you get used to poor brightness and inaccurate color. I knew something was off, but I didn't realize how 'monitor blind' I had been until I got this new one! Once I'm able to save up enough, I plan on buying a good LCD monitor. While this CRT is good and accurate, it's a huge electricity hog and the natural refresh flicker (60 Hz) is just noticeable enough to annoy me. Still, it's better than what I had before!