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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Berries & Birch~ Round 2 Completed!

I've included a few closeups to showcase the texture. You should be able to see where I added some white colored pencil to highlight the ridges. Love the icy feel the pencil lends.



This is the completed painting. I managed to tweak the original image so it looks closer to the real thing.


I've finished the tree trunks and the background and I'm ready to remove the mask so I can paint the berries.


It's done(!)although now that I see it on screen a few places need a little cleanup. I had lots of fun working with the tissue paper/gesso texture. I think I came as close as possible to matching the results I got in Elements using the watercolor filter. I didn't go quite as dark for fear of it looking dreary. For my palette I used Payne's Gray, indanthrene blue, neutral tint and a little burnt sienna on the bark and DS Pyrrol red, perm. yellow and more burnt sienna for the berries. To bring out the texture I used various colored pencils lightly rubbed across the ridges in certain areas which gave me yet another idea.

I've been admiring Sandy Maudlin's watercolor batiks on rice paper and wondered if it might be possible to create a reverse batik technique, if you will, using the tissue paper/gesso texture. Instead of applying ink into cracks in hardened wax, why not highlight the ridges in the gesso with a dark color producing roughly the same effect? I may have to explore this further.

9 comments:

vivien said...

Thanks for showing the close ups - it gave a much better idea of how lovely this must look IRL :>)

Billie Crain said...

Thank you, Vivien.:) Try as I might, I couldn't seem to get a decent photo of this painting or correct things in my photo editor. The colors are actually pretty vibrant IRL. Lots of contrast which I love.

Jeanette Jobson said...

I love the texture in this. Does the tissue become part of the piece or simply lifted off after colour is applied?

Its a wonderful painting!

Billie Crain said...

Thanks, Jeanette.:) The tissue becomes a part of the painting. The second coat of gesso 'glued' the tissue to the paper, the last coat covered the tissue and embedded it. It's now sealed within the painting itself.

Krista Hasson said...

Billie, this turned out fantastic, I love the texture!

Billie Crain said...

Thanks, Krista! I was very happy to get the texture I needed for this one.

blogmomcom.blogspot.com/2018/01/06840.html said...

Billie , What you are doing with these Birches is really illuminating .I will be watching for more.
June

Billie Crain said...

Welcome to my blog, June! It was interesting to work with the same subject using different techniques. I may do this more often.

CJ Foss said...

Beautiful painting. I would love to see it translated to fabric. Thanks for posting your inspiring design. ~CJ