Day 94 - Paper Comparison

I received a sample pack of Stillman and Birn art journal/sketch book paper a week ago. Today I got it out to give it a test run.

It had five sheets of paper in it. Two were lighter weight and though they may be appropriate for mixed media a watercolor wash would not work on them. They are not heavy enough.

I decided to paint two pumpkins on each of them - a Cinderella a red pumpkin and Baby Boo - a small white pumpkin.  I used the same colors over and over.

Stillman & Birn 180# Papers

Top - Beta

Bottom - L - Delta, R - Zeta

All three of the heavy 180# papers were great to paint on.  The colors were rich and vibrant NOT chalky as on some watercolor paper journals.  The paint loved the paper.  

I will be purchasing the white Beta (top of photo) paper journal for a few reasons. The bright white color of the paper is the #1 reason and the weight of it.   As a friend says no one wants to paint a snow pic on cream paper like the delta (bottom left) which otherwise is lovely paper. 

Also I can use a chunk of Mr Clean Eraser on it to remove paint.  I am a messy painter and tend to smear my paint accidently!!  (Think  put my hand down on wet paint and then move my hand OOPS...blotches!!) I did this on the cream paper and the Zeta paper.  The Mr. Clean Eraser took it right off the Delta but the Zeta which is a lovely smooth white paper oh so nice to paint on...well it peeled the paper up!! OOPS!! I didnt even rub it very hard so thats a NO go!!!

All of the paper did not dry flat when painted on though none buckled badly.   I did not tape it down nor was it stretched.  The white Zeta was the flattest when dry.  The other two were about the same..not wrinkly but just not flat when dry.

UPDATE:  I stuck all three pages in my old sketchbook and they are now flat.  I had thought they might flatten out and they did!!

I also painted a fourth painting on Strathmores Mixed Media journal that I own.  I was NOT happy with the paper at all. It behaved like a hot press...the color once applied did not move EVER again. You could not erase it...if you messed up you were done. I do like a nice tough  surface that takes a little scrubbing...definitely NOT the Strathmore Mixed Media Journal. You say WHAT no photo of the pumpkins?? Heck no...they were awful!! Talk to you later!!

Thanks for looking in!!

Day 91 - Double page pumpkins

Here it is amid the pumpkins and the painting clutter.

I seem to be addicted to pumpkins lately...this is the fourth or fifth painting I have done of them.  And I should add I bought them all!! I have four huge pumpkins and a variety of smaller ones as well as squash.  We are going to be eating ALOT of pumpkin bread and pumpkin pies in the future. Lucky for us WE LOVE pumpkin pie, and pumpkin bread is not bad either!!

Here it is before I painted it.  Its drawn with my kuratake pens that I got at Binders.  Looking at it...I should have put one of the word blocks either vertical OR down on the bottom to break up the three in a row.  Neater printing might have been good too BUT I was in a hurry as usual.

Mind you I did research too to find out exactly what each of these pumpkins and squash were called. Not easy searching on a pumpkin called Ghiradelli...all you get is chocolate...so if you decide you want to read more about pumpkins just search on pumpkin varieties.  Here's one of the pages I used http://www.hauntedbay.com/thelab/pumpkin/pumpkinvarieties.shtml

All but one of these pumpkins are heirloom so I can save the seeds and grow some next year.  Two are French - the Cinderella and the Fairytale. One is Australian- The Jarrahdale or Ghirardelli.  The Pink Porcelain Doll is a hybrid BUT when you buy one this year part of the money goes to breast cancer research.

FINALLY I heard you say that!! Here it is up close and personal!! 

About the watercolor.  I only used transparent yellows and reds to paint this.  Hansa Yellow and Aurelian as well as Quinacridone Magenta to make orange.  I coated the orange word blocks with Nickel Azo Gold to brighten it even more.  

The green Cucurbita block also got a coat of the Nickel Azo Gold as did parts of the Carnival Squash.

The Cinderella pumpkin is fun to paint...use a very holey sponge to layer it with transparent oranges and top it off with quin rose to give it the veiny look.  I did the same thing on the Jarrahdale pumpkin using grey greens and finally a bluey green mix.  You have to let it dry between layers...thats the hardest part.  If you get it to heavy wad up a kleenex or a paper towel to blot some of the color off.  

The purpley background...started as cerulean and yellow ochre. I really think the purpley color made the pumpkins pop ALOT.   I wish I had taken a photo of it with just the cerulean.   I decided to change it to hematite and cobalt blue - both transparent colors.  I literally just slopped it on both times with a very large paint brush.  This whole thing was painted with one size 8 kolinsky sable brush.

Now go forth and paint pumpkins!! 

Day 89 More Pumpkins

And I have been painting for far too long today. Five six hours. This is a WIP work in progress. Not sure it's done but is for today.

So far today!

A lot of you enjoyed the post a couple of weeks ago that followed a flower painting from beginning to end. Decided to do that again today.

The Set Up

The Sketch

Sketched with a light gray watercolor pencil. I darkened it so you can see it.

Under washing base colors.

Well under way. Then my mother called. I couldn't take pics while I talked to her.

A detail as it is now.

Now to let it sit so it can tell me if it's done. Tomorrow a different pumpkin? I have at least three more pumpkins and three more squash.

Thanks for looking!!