Mother Nature watercolor figure

Mother Nature
Today I kind of feel like I am channeling Thomas Dewing.  He does a lot of soft, nature women figures, usually featuring his daughters as models.   Both the Freer and American Art museums in DC have a pretty good collection of his work.  

Anyway, I still have all these figures I have access to on Sketch Daily that need backgrounds.   When I first saw this reference I thought she looked like Mother Nature.   I also have a shot of her on a swing that I still have to figure out something for.  So it was off to my art nouveau inspiration board to see what I could come up with.  Unfortunately so much of the art nouveau is pretty complex (well I am not so good at patterns yet either) and I wanted something that wasn't going to compete with the figure.   So back to the galaxies - or might be snow if it is still snowing in Phoenix.  

There is just so much to learn about watercolor.   For instance, how do you keep the paper wet enough to get the background in without hard edges?   I actually thought I did a pretty good job until it dried the second time.  Also, how many times can you add layers.  I have read that you can rewet and  put more color in, but have to use less water or it will lift the under layers.   Oh, I guess the best bet is just to keep on keeping on and paint with the stuff.    Four more weeks of lessons so might pick up more details between then and moving to the next segment which will be mixed media.

Update on the development behind us, stopped for the moment.   Seems cutting down all those trees has now created a flooding issue for some of my neighbors.   Well, duh!!  So city finally got smart enough to stop them before they get started to fix what they have helped to create.  Oh, am sure it will go forward, but at least they will be accountable.

Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.

Comments

Mellowood Gallery said…
Such an interesting pose although I am not too sure about her floating in the air - lol. I really like the blends you got for her dress. Super job Nelvia!
March 8, 2019 at 10:03 AM
Joan Tavolott said…
You got some real nice blending in her clothing! For backgrounds you can try to either wet the whole background before you add color, or use as big of a brush as you can to put the color in. (Or both) It is very hard (pardon the pun) to get in a large background with out it drying too much in one area. You either end up with hard edges or the opposite with back runs somewhere. You really have to work quickly. I find it is better to do the background in several layers but make sure to allow it to dry completely between each layer.
March 8, 2019 at 4:59 PM
Sheila said…
DUH. That's too bad Nelvia. As for painting the background... just wet ahead of where you are painting. If you are working top to bottom, wet a little, apply paint but not to the edge of the wet area. Wet a little more, paint a little more, but not to the edge of the wet. Does that make sense? Always leave some wet area, to connect to more wet area, when you are ready. And if you let a layer dry completely, you can paint several layers deep. I think this looks great BTW. And no snow in Phoenix that I know of, but Mom did have some coming out of Walmart yesterday. Hard snow she said. (Hail) But I think it was a lone cloud, because we didn't see any at the house. Thanks for the intro to Dewing :) Yours is lovely!!
March 9, 2019 at 2:58 PM
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