Magnolia

magnolia

Acrylic on boxed canvas; 30 cm x 30 cm

Blog Post 88

This was my first painting for 2019–an upward view of Magnolia flowers. I painted this to apply one thing I learned from Yuko Nagayama’s advice: ‘You can paint shadows without using black.’ I attended Yuko’s demonstration painting on January 5, 2015, from 10:00 a. m.- to 4:00 p. m., @Warehouse 8, Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City, through the event planner: des_ art room @Instagram).

How did I paint the dark branches and sepals? By mixing yellow and black. Shadows of petals were done in three to four tones of mixed red, blue, white, and sometimes, raw Sienna.

I did this painting in one afternoon–from background to detail painting. It is now hung below a wooden Crucifix which came from a burnt, centuries-old church in Daet, Camarines Norte.

This one way of getting myself ‘to flow’ in painting–to offer a painting for a cause bigger than myself. Have you tried this ‘to flow’, too?

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Peonies

peonies

Watercolor on 140-lb Arches Aquarelle paper; 51 cm x 36 cm

Blog Post 87

This painting had many ‘firsts’. It was my first watercolor painting of peonies on Arches paper. My three previous watercolor paintings of peonies (Blog Posts 7, Pink Peonies; 8, Peony Diversity; and Radiant Peonies) were done on Chinese rice paper. This was also the first time that I used western-produced watercolors and animal hair brushes. And, my first time to sketch my composition using watercolor colored pencils–those that dissolve upon contact with water or watercolor. But, I didn’t sketch everything–just the outlines of the big branches, flowers, and leaves.

Notice that my painting changed in this painting. The branches, leaves, and petals of my peonies look different from my first three paintings because I used the layering technique. I dry the first layer, then I added brighter, semi-opaque or opaque colors. I also followed the rule of painting watercolor tones from light to dark to make each tonal value pop up.

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