Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Hearts

Last Friday night while I was falling asleep I had an idea for a watercolor painting, a half red heart with bold black lines.  The next day I was still thinking about it so I went ahead and decided to paint it.

I have done watercolor in the past, but I have always had a hard time forcing myself to put a lot of pigment down on the paper so I never get  bright, bold colors.  To make the red of the heart, I mixed red with black, brown and orange and put a good amount of paint down.  I sprinkled some salt on the watercolor paint while it was drying.  I have tried this effect before without much luck.  In the past I think I used coarse salt but this time I used normal table salt and it worked out really well.  After the red paint dried I finished the painting with the black, using the brush almost as one would if doing calligraphy with black ink.
"Heart Half Full"


I was loving the heart theme and the bold colors.  In the past I think I would have limited myself and thought "I have to try something different".  Instead I just had fun making more paintings of the same type.  I am really happy with the results.  Even though the paintings are very simple, I definitely learned a little bit more about working with watercolors.  Perhaps more importantly, I am getting better at letting my creativity flow instead of trying to control it.
"Carried Away"
"On the Line"
"Sweet Heart"


2 comments:

  1. That's the time I'm always the most creative too! I really like the texture the salt gives and the titles/themes for all the hearts.
    Linda :o)

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  2. Thanks Linda! I did have some fun with the titles :)

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