The snow is almost gone, and Skagit Valley will soon be ablaze with color. Acres and acres of tulips bracketed by the foothills of the Cascades and Puget Sound. The month-long Annual Tulip Festival starts April 1st, and so will an abundance of art shows presented by the various art groups in the Valley. So many artists paint tulips, of course, because that's what visitors buy when they are here. I enjoy the tulips, but, frankly, I am "over" most tulip field watercolor paintings that I have DONE, and that I see each year.
So, in a drop-in watercolor class, the group was doing tulips, and I chose not to do what they were doing but to "play" with my Dr Ph Martins Hydrus Watercolors. Because I am still "feeling them out," and experimenting with them, I tend to get heavy-handed and overdo. And, I am still experimenting with Tyvek, never sure what the medium will do on that, so I like, but don't LOVE, the tulips above. To camouflage the amateur work, I spattered the painting with metallic acrylic ink, again, just playing. I am "getting there," and will still keep on trying, but this is an effort that may end up in the pile ... my gallery in the closet.
To absolve myself in the group of pretty traditional tulip painters, I did a quick more traditional tulip painting, again with the Dr Ph Martin Hydrus Watercolors, that might redeem myself in the wonderful world of tulip art this spring.
We'll see ... Maybe I should try some daffodils. I need some remedial flower painting classes!
6 comments:
Love your tulips Dee, and your leaves are awesome - the callagraphic line work is very expressionistic.
Thanks, Barb, Nice to "meet" you here ... I am going to continue to play with the Doc Martin Hydrus. I have been drawing with the dropper in the bottles of color. Because the paint is SO intense, and SO pigmented, I lose control and tend to over do. I am enjoying your blog.
Tulips! There is a tulip festival that happens every year just south of Portland, OR and every year it seems to go by so fast!
Also, those Dr Martin Hydrus watercolors look really interesting. I'd never heard of them before. They are liquid?! How cool!
Yes, Kelly, they are liquid in those little bottles, and it is highly concentrated watercolor pigment that is permanent and archival. The colors are intense and vibrant. I use the dropper in the bottle to draw with, then "drag" the line with a clear water wet brush when and where I want to. You either love it or hate it! I LOVE doing it, but the jury, literally and figuratively, is out on whther others like the results!
Dee, I found your blog through Rhonda ( Watercolor and Words), I like it a lot, these tulips are really beautiful, love the strong color on the leaves
Thanks, Jane, and thanks for stopping by. Isn't it great that we can link to one another through this great forum? Rhonda seems to be the "linch pin" for many of us.
As you can see, I am still on a steep learning curve with the Dr Martins Hydrus Watercolors. They are really intense with pigment, so I need to learn to use them more judiciously.
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