warts and all

unfinished painting "lean and lanky"

detail "lean and lanky"

transparency seems to be the buzz word for the 21st century and for me what i strive for in my watercolors.  so i am showing this warm-up exercise with some, to me, obvious blemishes. i'm not quite finished with my painting of the cowboy, but decided to get something out today so that there wouldn't too much of a hiatus in posts.  i have also included a close up of the face which shows, i think, the thing i really hate doing which is over working an area.  the shadow side of the face has turned to mud; dull and lifeless, not to mention a bit ugly.  watercolor just doesn't like to be fussed with, especially before it dries from the previous "fuss," and that is exactly what i did.  get in and get out and DO NOT go back into a wash to "correct" until it is dry. i know this and still.......  frequently i set a timer to limit a mini-session of painting to 15-20 minutes. then i get up, stretch, get clean water, let things dry a bit, and take stock for the next mini-session after a break of about 10 minutes or so.  for me that usually prevents overworking and keeps things fresh. i didn't do that here as i went for about an hour, used filthy water, and messed, messed, messed with the shadow until i got this lovely result.  sometimes time is my worst enemy. transparency(no pun intended, or is it?) and keeping it real is what you get here!

i'm going to add a few shadow shapes around the collar and add a larger cast shadow along the wall on the figure's left (our right) and call it quits.  will post tomorrow and decide on the next project.