Remember the Elephant....

I have several commission pieces that I have to do
for various clients, and this is one of them. It is a large
elephant on watercolor canvas, 24 x 36. The mom
wants it for her son's bedroom, that is decorated in
a jungle theme.

This is the very beginning, the initial washes. A
watercolor wash is done on a dry surface, and is a
thin application of a single color. Since it is done on
a dry surface, it does not bleed or run. A lot of people
think that watercolor is so uncontrollable, but that is
only when it is done on a wet surface. The paint will
run and blur when it is applied to a wet canvas or
paper. That technique is called "wet into wet".
However, the paint will only go where the water is,
so you can still control it in some way.

I will continue to build up layers of washes in greys,
blues, and browns, and add some shadows and depth
as I go, as well as details. Since watercolor is transparent,
you work "light to dark"...you can always get darker,
but you can't put a lighter color over a darker one...it
just won't show up.
So there, an entire watercolor workshop in one paragraph!
If you do have any questions about watercolor painting,
I would be more than happy to try to answer them.

sheltongail@hotmail.com