More Watercolors

Two watercolors I did in my class:


This one was done by one of my classmates and I really liked it:

Dry Brushing - Watercolor

This week we learned a new technique of dry brushing -- basically, you use very little water on the brush and "scrub" the paint onto the paper to create a rougher effect. Watercolor paper is very rough/bumpy and basically what happens is the dryer paint sticks to the tops of the bumps in the paper and doesn't sink into the valleys, so you still see the color underneath.

This was my first layer -- typical wet-into-wet watercolor:

For my second layer I did a lot of drybrushing on the tree itself:

I received positive feedback from my teacher and classmates - we all agreed that my style on this painting is very illustrative, it would go well in a children's book. I am probably being influenced by all the children's books I'm reading with my daughter - I never realized this before I started this new medium, but the majority of children's books are done with watercolor illustrations.

Layering - Watercolor

Last week in my watercolor class we learned about layering colors - so, instead of pre-mixing the colors you want to use, you put one color down, let it dry and then paint another color on top and as it dries to forms a totally new color.
(ex. first layer: ultramarine blue + second layer: alizarin crimson = purple)

Here is my first attempt at layering - not my best, but I'm learning and I love learning!

Might Mountains

"Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep."
Psalm 36: 5-6

These are the mountains I see every day from our home. When I came across the verse above several days ago, I haven't been able to get it out of my head (or, more specifically, I haven't been able to get the song by Third Day out of my head - see video below).

This verse makes me feel loved and I am really enjoying the visual image of God being like the mountains - strong, firm, present, always there, with me every day, unmoving, unwavering, indestructible. When I see mountains, I see God..........perhaps this explains my recent desire to pack up and move to Colorado so I can be surrounded by such majesty. A girl can dream!

A video of Third Day's song based on this verse: "Your Love Oh Lord"...