Back in September, I created two large 22"x30" watercolor paintings of quotations for our nursery. The first was a quote by J.K. Rowling; the second was this quote by Laini Taylor: "You don't know yet what you're capable of, but I'm willing to bet it's extraordinary." Today's post is all about the process of starting to paint this second quote.
As with the first quote, I started by stretching the paper. I soaked the watercolor paper in the bathtub, stapled it to gatorboard to keep it flat while I painted, and then added a yellow wash of color. Even though it was very bright yellow, it was much paler when it dried, due to how saturated the paper was. It doesn't add much, but it does add a bit of dimension to the background, so that the "white space" leftover when I paint the pattern isn't actually completely white.
Here is the paper after that first yellow wash of color:
Then I started to paint the pattern. Because I wanted it to match the first painting, I used the same three pigments: bright cadmium yellow, lemon yellow, and a brownish-orange for a bit of dimension. This pattern was more complicated than the first, so it took me a lot longer. It was also not as cleanly divided into rows, so I followed the pattern a bit more organically as I went, instead of going straight up and down.
I was nearing 5 months pregnant at this point, and starting to be somewhat uncomfortable sitting too long - my back would start to hurt if I spent more than an hour or so leaned over this painting. All told, it took five days to complete the pattern, working about an hour each day.
Here is what I completed in that first hour:
And the second hour:
By the end of the third hour:
By the end of the fourth hour:
And finally, the pattern was complete!
All that was left now was to paint the letters of the quotation - which I'll show pictures of in next week's post. :)
As with the first quote, I started by stretching the paper. I soaked the watercolor paper in the bathtub, stapled it to gatorboard to keep it flat while I painted, and then added a yellow wash of color. Even though it was very bright yellow, it was much paler when it dried, due to how saturated the paper was. It doesn't add much, but it does add a bit of dimension to the background, so that the "white space" leftover when I paint the pattern isn't actually completely white.
Here is the paper after that first yellow wash of color:
Then I started to paint the pattern. Because I wanted it to match the first painting, I used the same three pigments: bright cadmium yellow, lemon yellow, and a brownish-orange for a bit of dimension. This pattern was more complicated than the first, so it took me a lot longer. It was also not as cleanly divided into rows, so I followed the pattern a bit more organically as I went, instead of going straight up and down.
I was nearing 5 months pregnant at this point, and starting to be somewhat uncomfortable sitting too long - my back would start to hurt if I spent more than an hour or so leaned over this painting. All told, it took five days to complete the pattern, working about an hour each day.
Here is what I completed in that first hour:
And the second hour:
By the end of the third hour:
By the end of the fourth hour:
And finally, the pattern was complete!
All that was left now was to paint the letters of the quotation - which I'll show pictures of in next week's post. :)
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