Blue Moon Atelier Journal

I should like to do a bit of a blog feature, and I shall call it "Masterpiece or Mess?"

Here's how it will work.  I have completed a sketch that is intended to be a Yule-themed artwork for 2008 (yes, a bit late, I know - blame it on NaNoWriMo).  I will be posting my progress as I go, this will serve as a bit of a tutorial sort of thing, as well.  Now, this will be either a tutorial on how to create a nice piece of art ("Masterpiece") or how to NOT create a piece of art ("Mess").  Can I finish this artwork without making a mess of it?  Will it turn out to be my best ever?  Will it be a Masterpiece, or a Mess?

We'll start with the original sketch, and the early progress:

SKETCH


This is my final sketch for the piece.  Working from the pencil sketch, I'll paint this with watercolour.  No ink linework this time.

1st WASHES


The initial washes of cadmium yellow, and ultraviolet blue mixed with a bit of cerulean blue have been applied.  I used a wash brush initially to lay in a clear water wash around the figure. This was done by making a watery mix of cad yellow, and a moderately watery mix of ult blue/cer blue and applying these colours to slightly damp paper.  Salt was applied to add texture and variety in the colour and the painting was allowed to dry overnight.  Next, I will be building up the background a bit more by adding in more of the blues wash to darken the sky.  I will also lift out a bit of the cad yellow (dampening the paper with clear water and using a tissue to absorb the wet colour) if necessary.