Days 3, 4, 5

For Day 3, I painted something to go along with a book review on my other blog, https://bookadept.com/2019/07/02/branching-out/. It's the first murder mystery by romance writer Jude Devereaux, and the bodies are buried under a royal poinciana tree. I did the shadow in red not because the tree is shedding blossoms but because, well, BODIES!

For the 4th, I cheated and used a sketch I had done in a previous year, because I was about to make the potato salad depicted by this picture of ingredients (and didn't have time to paint), and also the colors reflected some red, white, and blue.

Today's prompt was "loose and free." As we know, I'm not great at painting loose, so I opted to go with "free," and tried my hand at one of my favorite birds, a corvid (don't know if this guy is a crow or a raven, I'm thinking crow). Unfortunately, my sketchbook paper didn't hold up to painting in the background and got all splotchy; and although I tried for some variation on my subject by using grays, purples, and blues in addition to the blacks, my crow came out sort of raggedy looking as well. Perhaps I should have painted in the background first and then painted the picture over the top? I'll try this one again soon on real watercolor paper. I need to further study the crows and ravens of Sarah Yeoman, which I greatly admire!

The poinciana and the crow are still direct to watercolor, no underdrawings.

In the sketchbook...

Sunny sky

Here is Day 32 and Day 2. The prompt was "sunny sky," and since I am still painting without drawing, I decided to try a wet-in-wet sky with no other referents. This didn't really help me along in my goal to fill my sketchbook, however, because I knew if I did wet-in-wet, it had to be on watercolor paper. So I still have four pages to fill in the sketchbook.

This came out a little overworked, because I simply cannot resist messing with success. But...it's recognizably a sky with a sun in it, and not a toddler's depiction with a circle and a bunch of rays, so...I'm counting it good.

DAY 2: SUNNY SKY

#30x30DirectWatercolor2019, #worldwatercolormonth

On 140-lb. Fluid watercolor paper, using Paul Jackson paints...

Day One and Day 31

Today marks the beginning of World Watercolor Month, and I'm taking up the challenge so that I keep painting daily. WWM offers prompts for painting each day, which you may follow, take literally or interpret liberally, or ignore completely. I took today's, which was "primary palette."

I'm also, however, still following the single precept of 30x30 Direct Watercolor from June, because I have only five blank pages left in my sketchbook, and so rather than start drawing again I decided to at least do these first five without any under-drawing.

DAY ONE / DAY 31: "Primary Palette," or, Geranium in blue pot on yellow cloth

#WorldWatercolorMonth, #30x30DirectWatercolor2019

In the sketchbook...

#30x30DirectWatercolor2019

And here it is, my month's work, all in one group!

Bouquet, take two

I knew I could do better for those roses and plumbago(s?) than I did yesterday with my kind of sad attempt at painting wet-in-wet, so I kept the bouquet, got out my sketchbook, and painted it again wet on dry. I have to face that I just don't "get" that wet-in-wet process yet, and that I may have to do a hands-on tutorial with somebody to figure out where I'm missing the boat.

Anyway, here's a new take on my little bouquet. The plumbago is still too purple (why is that shade so hard to mix?), but it's closer, and I'm happier with the whole thing, including the roses and the transparency of the vase.

And, this is DAY 30 of the 30x30 Direct Watercolor challenge, so if I want, I can GO BACK TO DRAWING. I will probably mix it up and do different methods on different days, because some of this has been a good experience! Thanks, everybody, for sticking with me through it. I'm now contemplating whether I'm up for another 30 days (oops, 31), since the World Watercolor challenge starts tomorrow. It has a prompt list, but fewer rules, so I might.

It's been really good for me to paint something every single day. This is actually Day 41 in a row of making a painting, including all those portraits I did. Now I just have to learn to integrate it better into the rest of my day so that I get something else done as well!

DAY 30: BOUQUET 2

#30x30DirectWatercolor2019

In the sketchbook...