Friday, July 31, 2009

Glazing Study

Glazing Study, Watercolor, 8.5 x 11
This was a workshop demonstration of glazing - creating layers of transparent watercolor. The blues and purples that were the first layers come subtly through the other layers, and pop out in the foreground as the lighter stalks of weeds and grasses.

5 comments:

RoseAnn Hayes said...

Hillary, this one just JUMPS out at me - LOVE it! The effect of the yellow flowers is sensational, an effect I've been wanting to try for a long time. Very easy to mess this kind of effect up! Please tell us more - did you use masking, and if so, what kind and how did you apply it? Is there a demo somewhere? Just love it, can't take my eyes off it. RoseAnn

RoseAnn Hayes said...

PS - Hillary, that's an interesting combination: glazing and transparent watercolors. I try very hard to make all my watercolors transparent (I love it), but it doesn't work for me if I use layers of glazing. The transparency goes out the window. I guess I need to keep trying. RoseAnn

Art By Erika said...

I'm with RoseAnn I'd like to know more abotu the process. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this piece!

Dewberry Fine Art said...

Wonderful! Those yellows just jump off the page.

Hillary Miller said...

Hi RoseAnn, Erika and Dori,
Thanks so much for the feedback.

Yes, RoseAnn, I've masked out the yellow flower areas before doing any painting. I know what you mean about glazing getting muddy, it can easily go that way. The key to this painting might be it's simplicity. I used one underglaze layer, which starts at the top with purple/blue, goes to pink, and near the bottom picks up the purple again. It's basically toning the paper. That dried completely before continuing with the landscape. The painting was mostly completed before removing the frisket and putting the bright yellows in the flower area.