Green Leaf Study II

This is my Green Leaf Study II. I like it better than the first one. The sunlight plays a bigger role in the painting. I also like the leaves a little more and the use of the warm colors and the cool colors and the many shades of green.
I think I was a little more successful in having soft edges and hard edges but I still need some work in that area.

Years ago I never would have thought about painting green leaves. But now I see more in it. I love paintings of the simplest of objects and especially objects that are not often made into "stars" of paintings. You can find beauty in the smallest and/or the simplest of things.

Also I have been thinking alot lately of seeing colors. I have told my students many times that when learning how to paint or draw you need to learn how to see better. And that the better you are able to paint or draw the more you are able to see. It's one of those snowball learning experiences. I have had students tell me that they have a hard time seeing the colors that I point out to them and I have had the same experience with my teachers telling me the colors that they are able to see. How can I learn to see more and teach people to see what they are looking at better? Or is it just a natural progression in the learning process?

Green Leaf Study

I have been working on painting green leaves for a little over a week now. There are certain challenges that they present. In a way its like graphite. How do you differentiate the colors? But look at all the shades of green in the painting!

I achieved the different shades of green by glazing greens and reds. Some of the leaves were warm and some cold so I choose my colors carefully.

It was also challenging to soften the edges in places for the colors to flow.

I also worked on the values and darkening the shades of green. While working on the painting I thought it was too dark, but now I look at the photo and see there are plenty of lights to balance out the darks.

I really feel like I learned some new techniques and I also had alot of fun working on this painting.

Red Berries

In my watercolor class I have been working on painting green leaves and have been glazing greens and reds. It is alot of fun and hopefully it will come out good enough to post.

It made me remember the story of my Red Berries painting. About twelve years ago I painted this painting. My next door neighbor at the time was also an artist. His wife fell in love with the Red Berries. So we traded paintings and I received a painting of a waterfall. For many years I missed my Red Berries.

Often it is so hard to let go of my art work. Especially recent paintings. Once I did a drawing in colored pencils of Autumn Leaves and I framed it and hung it in a show that weekend. A woman came by and fell in love with it and bought it. I felt like saying "No you cannot have it, it is too soon for me to let it go." But I did believe that she would take care of it so I let her purchase it.

So I repainted the Red Berries and here they are. They are a little more detailed than the original.

I love the use of complementary colors, especially red and green. When you use them next to each other they make the other one appear brighter, more intense. But if you mix them together they dull the other one down.
For example if you've painted a field of poppies and the ones in the background are just as bright and the ones in the foreground, the best thing to do is add a little green to those poppies that you need to tone down.

In watercolors you can mix the greatest neutral colors with your complementary colors. (These are the colors oppostie from each other on the color wheel.) The main compliments are red and green, blue and orange and yellow and purple. Play with them, you will enjoy it.