WALKTHROUGH: Soul Crossing

EDITING ARIA FROM 2025: I apologize for how small the images in this walkthrough are. When it was first created on my old Patreon, you could right-click to view them larger but that was no longer the case when I retrieved them for this re-upload. I hope it’s still helpful for some despite the issue! <3

Hello Moonbeams,

Here is a little mini walkthrough for my piece Soul Crossing.  These mini walkthroughs usually feature a few pictures of a small process within my work, or the process of a smaller painting.  For this piece, I painted it whilst staying at my family cabin (which can be seen floating away in the distance)   

Surface: Wood panel with on coat Daniel Smith watercolor ground in Titanium White  and a topcoat of QoR watercolor Ground.

Paint: Daniel Smith Burgundy Yellow Ochre, Daniel Smith Opera Pink, Daniel Smith Carmine, Daniel Smith Carbazole Violet, and Grumbacher Thalo Blue and my "shadow shade" mixture made of the yellow ochre, prussian blue and violet (all Daniel Smith Brand) 

Brushes:
Various synthetic brushes including an old, small Black Swan brush of unknown size, Taklon Scrubber brush and  Princeton Velvetouch Spotter brush 12/0

I started this piece on a blank wood panel prepped with one coat of Daniel Smith watercolour ground and one topcoat of QoR watercolour ground.   Above you can see some of the textures the salt forms as it dries.  The one to the left was the original raw texture and the one to the right was the finished texture after I had lifted some of it away for the light streak in the middle and increased the saturation and softness by adding washes of Pearl Ex Pigments Aztec Gold. 

Here we have the piece after the very first washes of colour were thrown down.    To the right you see it dry with all the salt and splatter texture.  It always dries quite a bit more dull than when it is wet so I worked to build the saturation and values back up by adding more and more washes of colour in the places where it felt like it lacked.

I also began adding more structure and detail, and lifted away a path down the center by scrubbing it with my Taklon scrubber brush while the paint was still somewhat wet, and dabbing up the excess paint with a paper towel.

I knew this pieces needed a friend and wanted to paint my dog into it.  She had such fun exploring the nearby mountain paths and I felt like her soul was so truly at home there.  Of course I painted her quite small so I kept the level of detail more minimal and a bit stylized, working little patterns into her fur.  I used  a dull brush of unknown size (smallish)  by Black Swan to lift away those streaks coming off her back.  

I wanted to mention that for all the ultra bright white highlights in this piece, I used Daniel Smith watercolour ground.  I prefer it for its opaque nature and the fact that it does not lift and mix with the transparent paint the way gouache can.  Although I often use gouache for less bright highlights and details as well.  For the light streaks in the background, I used my Taklon scrubber once more to lift away the paint and blot up the excess  pigment with a paper towel, finishing off by adding all the little light flecks with Daniel Smith watercolour ground. 

And here is the finished piece.  I wish I had taken a few pictures of the pine tree process however I have similar pines in a piece that will be available for a much more in depth walkthrough in a couple of months.  

I really enjoy doing these spontaneous pieces that allow me to paint on instinct.  They are so playful and freeing!