Watercolors by Celia Blanco

Mediterranean Pine Horizon Study watercolor on paper 30 cm x 14cm NFS  This week I have worked on a landscape based on a photo I have taken in a nearby park. I liked the high horizon line with the Mediterranean pines dotting the landscape. I first started out with a loose warm up exercise (pictured below). I began painting without drawing and allowed myself a 15 minute time limit. For my formal painting I wanted to play up the colors from my own imagination. I chose to work from a black and white photo to give myself the possibility to explore different color schemes instead of what is really in the landscape. It was a fun exercise to stimulate my imagination.  I ended up cropping away half the painting because the path and grasses was competing with the tree line. It is great to experiment, I love the learning process inherent in each work, whether good or bad. I drew a line where I felt I needed to crop.  30cm. x 20 cm. my warm up sketch ...

  A Gull watercolor on Fabriano Artistico paper 29,5 x 22 cm NFS I belong to an on-line art group where each member takes turns providing photo inspiration for a monthly challenge. I am late on my contribution for January. I like the opportunity to work from another person's point of view because it pushes me to look outside of my comfort zone. Not having much practice painting animals, this gull is exactly what I had in mind. My work in progress, almost finished. I approached the painting  following a watercolor tip provided by Angela Fehr. One of her many suggestions to stay loose in watercolor is to not obsess over details. A great way of doing this is to work from a photo on your phone.  Add the fact I can't see anything small without reading glasses... I have surely uncovered a wonderful approach to a loosening up my style. I really focused on just the broad shapes whiled choosing to emphasize the beak where all the action lies.  I ...