Re-visiting Paper Surface, Color, and Technique

Whenever I go for periods of time not painting, I always feel lost like I'm not quite sure what to do or can't remember what I did to obtain a certain look, etc.  So for me I feel the desire to step back again to the beginning.  I need to re-familiarize  myself with painting surfaces, paint consistencies, how pigments might react with one another..... and so on.

Here is a play-sheet of mixing color wet on dry and wet on wet using The Langton watercolor paper.

Top left - Wet on dry mixing color on the paper.  My washes were too thick so the results turned out darker than I care for with the subject painted.  French Ultra, Perm Aliz, Sap Green, and Hansa Yellow were used.

Top right - Playing with two browns (Bt Sienna and Bt Umber) for depicting chocolate but added just a touch of Paynes Gray to darken a few areas.

Bottom right - Wet in wet first applying water to the surface and dropping in pigment.  I love the unpredictable results!  These definitely turned out more to my liking.  Used Sap Green, Cerulean Blue (love this color!!), and Quin Rose.

A possible Easter Card idea :-)