The Yellow Glow Behind the Robin--Part II

At this point in my painting, my goal is to add more color to the lower leaves and background so they appear more connected.  In nature this naturally happens as light strikes the subject and surrounding colors are reflected in that light.  We seldom see all the edges of a leaf at a glance, for example.  We see enough to recognize the shape. Some areas will be sharp and clear, others will appear softened or fused with surrounding color and light.  

I chose to place the painting on a table easel for this application of wet-in-wet paint so that water and paint will coat the paper smoothly.  Setting the painting on an easel is one way to do this.  I also pick up the painting and change the angle to direct the flow of paint from time to time.  I use two large containers of water, allowing me to rinse the brush in one, and pick up clean water in the brush from the second.    This allows the paint to remain clear and bright when it mixes with the water in the brush.  

Above, I have wet the paper with my spray bottle and then applied brush strokes of New Gamboge, Quinacridone Gold and Perylene Maroon.  My spray bottle is actually an old hair spray pump bottle salvaged from years past when I used hair spray.  I prefer its fine mist.  As the paint mixture flows down the page, I am using a paper towel to collect the paint pooled on the edge of the tape.  If laid flat to dry, this excess paint and water will flow backward, leaving a washed out bloom. 

I have also tucked a rolled paper towel into the tray of the easel to catch the run off that occurs before I'm ready to wipe it.    

Above you see the additional color added to the lower left corner of the painting. Compare it to the pale color in the right hand corner.     

Above, I have placed a stroke of New Gamboge on the paper and diluted it by spraying it.  I follow this by adding more colors and allowing these to run together and blend on the paper.  You can see the change that occurs in the lower right hand corner below.    

Once this layer of color is dried, I can then paint the leaves and add more color to the surrounding background, a small area at a time as needed, leaving some leaf edges soft, some hard.  I can also add only a little defining color to part of a leaf, letting the rest of it blend with the background, or I can add a lot of detail as in the two larger leaves in front of the robin.   These variations add interest.   

When you are using a bright color in the background, such as the yellow that is used here, remember that you can alter it later with a glaze of another color.  As the painting progressed, I softened some of the yellow by adding a glaze of green (ultramarine mixed with arylide) to some areas, or a pale glaze of one of my reds to other areas.  

If you like color, variety, glazes, a chance to use wet-in-wet and create hard and soft edges, an "anything goes" approach to watercolor, fall leaves are a great subject to play with!

Part I of the Yellow Glow Behind the Robin
On this blog:  wet-in-wet demonstration

The Yellow Glow Behind the Robin

Sometimes we take the birds we commonly see for granted, simply because we see them everyday.  If you've never stopped to notice an American Robin, you should take some time to do that soon. Beautiful in coloration, timid at times, boisterous at others, it is a delight to watch their behavior.  

The painting above is one included in my Autumn Birds Note Cards.  The inspiration for this painting came from a whole flock of robins that descended on my dogwood trees a couple of fall seasons ago.  The trees were full of ripe red berries and the robins were making such a commotion with their chirping and fluttering as they plucked the berries, that I spent more than an hour watching and photographing them. Below, you see the initial sketch I made as a result of that experience.  I was taken with the colors, as well as, the birds, with how the purples and maroons looked so beautiful with the robin's plumage.

Creating a sketch deepens a memory with all of its sensory detail and adds to the enjoyment of the experience. The robins were so intent on feeding that they ignored my presence.  This made for some wonderful and close observations.  As I was considering birds to paint in my note card collection, the memory of this sketch came right to mind and became the inspiration and reference for this painting.  

In the painting I wanted to give more emphasis to the yellow glow behind the leaves in the background than I had in the sketch, so I began by laying down a variegated wash of yellows--WN Quinacridone gold, DVP Arylide yellow and WN New Gamboge.  I used four additional pigments in the painting:  WN French Ultramarine, WN Alizarin Crimson, WN Perylene Maroon, and WN Burnt Sienna.   

Above you see a sketchbook page of the colors I was using (with the exception of the square of Perylene Violet which I decided to not use).  French Ultramarine is a versatile blue shade.  Mixed with burnt sienna it makes wonderful neutrals.  Mixed with yellows, it becomes luscious greens.  Add a bit of it to red and you get rich purples. Ultramarine is one of my favorite colors because of that versatility.  The mixed hues that result help to unify the colors in the painting. I often create a page like the one you see above with the primary pigments in the palette, along with the mixes I will use. It gives me a fresh look at the pigments and a chance to consider how they will work with the subject at hand.

My initial washes were painted on wet paper and allowed to dry before continuing. In some areas, these washes turned out lighter than I intended.  As I added the bold colors to the leaves, and painted the robin, I began to see too many hard edges and the pale yellow washes seemed more and more disconnected from the leaves and robin. I realized that if I continued painting in this fashion, the leaves and robin would look like "cut-outs", disconnected entirely from the environment around them.  

My solution for this is to get out the spray bottle, add more color and mix things up a bit!  This is when  playing really begins!  

Next:  Bringing the leaves and background together with more color.