As I mentioned in my last post, I had three commissions come in during May and June for custom 8"x10" watercolor bouquet paintings - all from husbands looking for anniversary presents for their wives. (You can find the listing on Etsy here if you'd like to purchase your own!)
This commission was different than other bouquet paintings I'd done. Instead of a watercolor of the entire bouquet on a white paper background, Brandon wanted me to paint a close-up view of a photograph taken at their wedding of their rings sitting on his wife's bouquet. This meant that I ended up using a lot more paint than I typically do for these paintings, since the image was to fill the entire paper, filling the 8"x10" size from edge to edge.
Brandon also requested this to be done as a rush job, so instead of the usual 2-3 weeks to complete the painting, I finished it in five days - from tracing the bouquet in pencil, building up layers of watercolor, adding some final details in acrylic (and iridescent acrylic mat medium for the sparkles on the rings), flattening the painting, and shipping it priority 1-day shipping to Alabama. I didn't actually like how the painting was turning out at first (I thought the colors looked too muddy, and there were a lot of wet-on-dry water marks that didn't look right to me), so about two days in, I restarted it on another piece of paper. Despite the struggles, the end result turned out great - and was finished on time!
Here is beginnings of the first version of the watercolor painting:
And here's where I started over. You can see how far I got on the first one (on the left), and the new blank page taped onto the table next to it. (I use masking tape to keep the paper in place against the table while I work - otherwise watercolors tend to curl up from the moisture if they aren't kept flat.)
For the new one, I started with a lighter, brighter first wash, incorporating more yellow.
You can see how much lighter/brighter/less muddy the one on the right looks compared to the one I abandoned on the left.
Then, I started darkening the shadows in the new painting, adding contrast.
I used iridescent acrylic medium - on top of layers of watercolor paint - to make the rings sparkle.
I also added some layers of acrylic on top. I used white acrylic for the highlights, and some thinned blue and pink acrylic paint to make sure the blues and pinks were vibrant and bright.
Here's the finished piece (photograph I was working from on the left, painting on the right):
Check back in a few days to see my third recent watercolor commission - a calla lily bouquet!
This commission was different than other bouquet paintings I'd done. Instead of a watercolor of the entire bouquet on a white paper background, Brandon wanted me to paint a close-up view of a photograph taken at their wedding of their rings sitting on his wife's bouquet. This meant that I ended up using a lot more paint than I typically do for these paintings, since the image was to fill the entire paper, filling the 8"x10" size from edge to edge.
Brandon also requested this to be done as a rush job, so instead of the usual 2-3 weeks to complete the painting, I finished it in five days - from tracing the bouquet in pencil, building up layers of watercolor, adding some final details in acrylic (and iridescent acrylic mat medium for the sparkles on the rings), flattening the painting, and shipping it priority 1-day shipping to Alabama. I didn't actually like how the painting was turning out at first (I thought the colors looked too muddy, and there were a lot of wet-on-dry water marks that didn't look right to me), so about two days in, I restarted it on another piece of paper. Despite the struggles, the end result turned out great - and was finished on time!
Here is beginnings of the first version of the watercolor painting:
And here's where I started over. You can see how far I got on the first one (on the left), and the new blank page taped onto the table next to it. (I use masking tape to keep the paper in place against the table while I work - otherwise watercolors tend to curl up from the moisture if they aren't kept flat.)
For the new one, I started with a lighter, brighter first wash, incorporating more yellow.
You can see how much lighter/brighter/less muddy the one on the right looks compared to the one I abandoned on the left.
Then, I started darkening the shadows in the new painting, adding contrast.
I used iridescent acrylic medium - on top of layers of watercolor paint - to make the rings sparkle.
I also added some layers of acrylic on top. I used white acrylic for the highlights, and some thinned blue and pink acrylic paint to make sure the blues and pinks were vibrant and bright.
Here's the finished piece (photograph I was working from on the left, painting on the right):
Check back in a few days to see my third recent watercolor commission - a calla lily bouquet!
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