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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

PFF - Water media adventures


With some trepidation I submit the following to Paint Party Friday, the rockin' paintfest organized by Kristin and EVA.

This week I decided to try my hand at some watercolor/ink drawing - a medium I've never been too adept at.

Why?

Turner painted over 500 watercolours, as it turns out. How could I then not at least make a stab at it? Aside from that, they were handy - but full disclosure: these are not actually watercolors, but food coloring. I went through an odd phase 7 years ago where I painted with nothing but food coloring and plant pigments- it was fun and surprisingly stable - IE colours didn't wash out. And today, rummaging through some stuff, I found the little vials of food coloring.

What I dislike about the medium vs. oil or acrylic is there's no turning back---- you can pave over oil mistakes or faux pas right and left, but with water medium? We can see here...

27 comments:

Netty said...

Terrific piece, loving the fab ship and the wonderful marbleling on the water. Happy PPF and enjoy the weekend, Annette x

carol l mck said...

very creative ~ like the ship too ~ namaste, carol (A Creative Harbor) Happy PPF ^_^

mimi torchia boothby watercolors said...

whoa whoa YOU need some real watercolors. YOU CAN redo stuff. IF you have good watercolor paper and real watercolors, you can do a lot of do-overs. Even with RED paint, you can wipe a lot off and start over and over and over.

happy PPF!

Mary C. Nasser said...

Really love the rhythm and colors of the water!
♥♥♥
Happy PPF!!
Mary
Mixed-Media Map Art

Carolyn Dube said...

Thanks for posting! Love the dreamy feeling created with your water based colors!

carlarey said...

Turner is one of my artistic heroes, specifically for his watercolors. I'm pretty darned impressed that you attempted one of his paintings with food coloring.

For me part of the thrill is knowing watercolors have a mind of their own. They work with you, not for you.

Tracey FK said...

I love that watercolours are so independent and just do there own thing.... that is all the fun of it... I love that bottom one and love the vibrancy of the colours.... food colours as watercolours... sounds like fun... happy ppf xx

Daniele Valois said...

wow, this is wicked. I would have never thought of food colors!

Anne said...

Gorgeous! Love that ship and the sea is fabulous.

Happy ppf!

Alicia C said...

thanks all! And thanks Mimi & Tracey for the water media insight -- heh heh you're right :D I need real watercolors - never had them!! I am AMAZED that you can actually erase off them though - I had no idea

I like the idea of independent media that does whatever it wants too - it's a totally different scene from other media for sure........

Christine said...

beautiful landscape, watercolour and ink work for you!

Paula - Buenos Aires said...

Cool! I had never heard of food colouring used for painting.

Anonymous said...

I had no idea one could use food coloring to paint with! I like your ship too. Happy PPF! :-)

Valerie-Jael said...

Terrific piece, the ship is great and the water is just beautiful! Valerie

Unknown said...

Wow!! Very unique!!

Å olanje na domu-Waldorf said...

Great pieces! Never tried food coloring. :) Must be interesting. :)

Elisa Choi said...

well i love the result! colorful and wonderful texture. in watercolor you can kind of redo it i am sure of that by reapplying more bolder colors.

Gloria j Zucaro said...

The water and the ship are my favorite, but also like the spiky look in the mountains. Who is the guy on top?

DVArtist said...

Very nice. I too love the ship.
Nicole/Beadwright

Sabina said...

I'm with ya on the difficulties of water-based mediums in that there's no easy way to make corrections, when you can at all. But on the other hand, I don't miss painting in oils--the turpentine alone grossed me out.

And wow, food coloring--that can't be easy either. But I actually think that worked out really well here, as the colors look really vibrant.

Alicia C said...

thanks all!

when i was really into food colouring, I LOVED how weirdly vibrant and primary-colourish the hues came out.

As far as the 'guy' on top, it was a weird aberration for sure - supposed to be a grandmotherly type! It all got weirdly darkened though - I was also using a pen that kept clogging on me

Kristin said...

I love it! So much freedom and energy here! xo

EVA said...

Two fascinating images here! Love the seascape and the genie(?) is very cool.

Painting with food colouring... I'll have to try that!

Victoria said...

Wow..this is fantastical!Gorgeous work..such energy and life sparking! I loved hearing about your adventures with food coloring..how magical!You are a truly unique artist!
Thankyou also for stopping by and leaving such a kind comment!
Wishing you a sparkling week ahead!
Victoria

Annabelle said...

Wow, this is so different and how genious to use food colors; never heard of using them as a paint medium in art.
A truly unique and lovely work.

Monica Hayden said...

I absolutely love it!

Alicia C said...

yay, baa!