Saturday, January 24, 2009

Watercolor Clementine - Jan VSD

Caught in a State of Undress
9.5" x 7" watercolor on paper
Stacy L. Rowan

Here is my entry for the January Virtual Sketch Date. Thank you Jeanette for the beautiful and challenging reference.

I thought the reference this month was a little daunting, and I was concerned because I knew I wouldn't really have time to work on it until later in the week. But I have to say that once I settled in with my paints, I really enjoyed it and I am pleased with the outcome. I especially like the cast shadows where I let the paint "do it's thing" then resisted the urge to go back into that area. Another favorite part is the front piece of peel and the feeling of form I managed there.

Be sure the check the blog tomorrow for all the result links. Also this month we added a Flickr group. Participation is voluntary, but it gives people a place to see many of the images together.

I know I haven't been posting much lately, but I am busy working. Some of the things I did this week include...
- Worked on a commissioned painting - All that remains is the finishing touches and approval from my customer, then I can share it here.

- Attended a local portrait drawing group - It was my first time joining the group and I really enjoyed it. The location is great (In a church no less! Well... in the fellowship hall of a church.), the other members of the group are nice and the atmosphere is supportive. Unfortunately, my portrait turned out pretty bad so I won't be sharing it here, but I will be returning to this group for more practice.

- Started collecting references for a new project - I took over 50 photographs and over 4 minutes of video to use as references. To prepare for the photo shoot, I also learned how to use some of my camera features that would allow me to get the effects I wanted.

All of this was in addition to my VSD entry. So I had a pretty productive week, despite my strong desire to hibernate until the cold temperatures have passed.

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The background on this painting is showing up a little more saturated than it is in real life. Adjusting the background properly caused the clementine to be under-saturated, so I balanced the two the best I was able. This painting is available for purchase and will be posted on At The Moment in the next week or two. Prior to that, feel free to email me for purchase information.

14 comments:

M J Muir said...

Stacy it is beautiful! I knew you would enjoy it once you got into it.

Rose Welty said...

Looks good Stacy...I love the subtle greens...

Jeanette Jobson said...

Lovely Stacy. The colours work very well and the looseness of the shadows is quite effective.

It sounds like you've had a busy week. I'll look forward to seeing what you share.

Billie Crain said...

well done, Stacy! my god...am i the only one that didn't get in on this?! i'm so out of touch........

Anita said...

Stacy - great job!!! I found this one really tricky. How wonderful to go to a portrait group - hope you will share what you are learning there.

Robyn Sinclair said...

Wonderful saturated colours, Stacy. I love deep values in watercolours. You have great form, particularly in the peel.

Ramana KV said...

Cool.. The peels are just perfect..

I felt it daunting too.. But once i started painting, it was fun all through..

Gail Bartel said...

Love it Stacy,
Looking at yours I now realize I needed to keep the curve in that top peel shadow.. I found the shadows a bit daunting.
Thanks for the view.

Unknown said...

Stacy this looks great. You've had a productive week. I agree the peels are really good and the strong colours work really well together.
(Never got mine looking presentable for the date...sadly)

"JeanneG" said...

Nice job. Did you have time to breathe this week. Well I guess there is always next week for breathing.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh! MORE deep contrasting color. Love it!

Anonymous said...

Stacy, great jpob as always this is what I expect from you.
Love Dad

Stacy said...

Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments! One thing I love about the VSD is how supportive everyone in the group is. Your comments mean a lot especially as the group grows larger.

laura said...

There are so many participants that I'm taking the whole month to respond! Your interpretation is lovely--you did a great job on the peels, which I found very difficult. And the fruit itself is a wonderful color.
I'll check out the FlickR group!
Thanks for all you do to keep this going!