Thursday, August 1, 2013

Red Lilly

The birthstone for January is Garnet, a deep red stone.
The inspiration for this month's flower came from my own neighborhood.  On sunny days I take some time to walk around my neighborhood with camera swinging around my neck just looking.
I will sometimes even go into backyards (if there are no fences to climb!) and snap a quick photo.
But these red lillies did not require any tresspassing on my part.  They were in abundance in my next door neighbors front yard.

I often find reds difficult to work with.  They dry considerably lighter than they appear wet so that nice deep color I thought I had, vanishes quickly.  This is where glazing really comes in handy as overlays of rich color will usually do the trick.

Something I always do when I think I am finished with a painting is to photograph it and put it up on my monitor.  I do this because for some odd reason I can see adjustments I need to make much  better up on the screen that I can by looking directly at the painting in front of me.  Weird, huh!
I thought so too until I heard another artist mention this on a Blog Talk Radio Show.
Try it next time you are about to pack away your paints for the day!

"Garnet" (January)
Watercolor, 8" x 10"




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