WALKTHROUGH: Crow Coaster
Hello Moonbeams,
Here is a mini walkthrough of one of the pieces I did for the Gallery Nucleus SALUT! 6 show!
Surface: Some kind of art board (similar to cardboard) provided by the gallery with one coat of Daniel Smith titanium white watercolor ground and one coat of QoR watercolor ground
Brushes: Pentel Aquash Waterbrush size small, Hwahong flat brush size 1 and Hwahong round brush size 1. Princeton Velvetouch round brush size 20/0
Paint: Daniel Smith Prussian Blue, Daniel Smith Burgundy Yellow Ochre, Daniel Smith Carbazole violet, Daniel Smith Opera Pink, Daniel Smith phthalo green, Daniel Smith manganese blue.
This piece began as a rough sketch on my iPad which I transferred to my drawing surface. I did not have an exact colour plan at first and decided last minute that I really wanted something kind of monochrome. Despite all the paint colours I used, most of them were mixed to form the grayish hues you see here. I put down my initial washes of colour and added salt and splashes of clean water for the texture.
I added a more saturated version of my gray mixture to the rocks and of course used more salt for texture. I then went in with still more saturated grey and added deeper shadows and textures to the rocks. For the snow, I used a bit of the Daniel Smith watercolour ground. I used some white gouache for the runes.
I painted the light beam with Opera pink and used my flat brush to life out the center and blend the whole thing to make it feel soft, and more glowy. I then painted in the tiny figure whose dead body is being lifted out of the snow using my 20/0 brush and my grey colour. I also added a bit of Opera pink and carbazole violet around the figures edges and blurred him a bit to make him feel fuzzy and hidden within the light.
The crow was definitely the most fun part! I started by re-tracing her feathers with my grey paint because they had gotten so light during the transfer that I knew I would not be able to see them under my first washes of paint. I then began to apply layers of gray to her, allowing some feathers to be lighter than others in the way that crow feathers will often appear so translucent and shiny. I added a bit of Manganese blue, Opera pink, and violet to highlight and add further interest to her feathers.
As I worked, I regularly used my flat brush to soften and blend the feathers together. The paint does not always soak in as much on watercolour ground prepared surfaces so if I want to achieve the softness of paper, I sometimes have to do a bit of extra work. The benefit, however, is that unlike some papers, I can easily lift and blend my paint even after it dries, depending on how my surface is prepared. This surface was very easy to lift due to the fact that I kept the watercolour ground more smooth in texture. This can create is own challenges because it makes layering colours quite difficult so to make up for that, I have to use a brush with very little water, and a high saturation of pigment, anytime I want to achieve those deep shadows.
This is the final piece.
The next challenge will be getting those foil stars to appear shiny on the digital photos. Usually, this would involve some digital manipulation or layering together various photos of the piece however these stars have been extra tricky and are providing a good challenge that I will have to work out as I prepare this piece and its siblings for print! ✨
