COMMANDO WATERCOLOR
"get in and get out"

On a side trip off of Interstate 81, a winding road brings you to a little vineyard and winery nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.  Filled with delicious wines and wine making supplies, a quaint store opens to bring you into the life of grapes.  Countryside Vineyards and Winery in Blountville, TN, has inspired me to create another wine bottle still life!  The reflections of the wines and bottles in the afternoon sunlight were sensational and I could not pass the opportunity to create.

The arrangement of the still life took into consideration all of the angles of the forms included in the photo, eliminating the edges of the antique sewing machine on the right and cropping the image slightly to fit the format of the paper.

Now, how to create the look I imagine.  First, I selected the transparent watercolor paints that I wanted to use, making certain that none of them had any granulation which would distract from the clarity of the wine and the reflections.  This meant that I used a separate piece of paper to try each paint out and see how the colors mixed together.

Secondly, I traced the parts of the photo that I wanted to use and transferred that drawing to the 300lb Arches hot-pressed paper.  I LOVE 300lb Arches!  It takes abuse, many layers, and stays wet long enough for the paints to mingle on the paper.

The first washes of paint were over the mid sections - a light wash of Windsor Yellow - to increase the glow of the final painting.  After that initial wash was dry, I began the process of layering each of the bottles and reflections.  The bottles were worked in small sections, and the reflections in large washes of color dropped onto wet paper allowing the colors to mingle.



I used masking to save the whitest of the lights - it shows as yellow, especially inthe middle wine bottle and at the base of the strawberry wine (which was delicious).

Background colors were muted shades of the wine bottles, grayed down and mingled while wet.  The muting and graying accomplished what I wanted - a frame of neutrals that had life.

More to come in the next blog!  It feels good to be back in the grove of painting after a rather busy and complicated winter.  Keep painting and enjoy the process!

Jean