Orange Tulip

Sketch to painting. Imaginary color. Experimental background. Sometimes I wonder…what in the world am I doing? I just launch into a painting using materials that I have either never used or have limited use in…I feel like I should be using materials that I am really adept at. However, I don’t even know what that would be. Painting doesn’t really come naturally to me, so I am approaching it like a drawing.

I had a lot of fun deciding on the colors to use for this piece. I really enjoyed doing the ink only sketch and then re-interpreting that into a small painting. This is 5″x7″ on a cradled birch panel. I really like opaque watercolor and water-soluble crayon, but I wanted to work on something other than paper. So, I found some absorbent gesso ground and made that my first layer, (purposely painted on in several layers with some nice texture) then I did an abstract opaque watercolor background and added some salt. Then I painted my image right on top. I am happy with the translucency almost tissue paper look to it. I am like that some of the background comes through in the flower. Opaque watercolor is a challenge though and some areas seem muddy to me.

I think that I will try inktense or maybe casein next.

Tulip Study: fountain pen, black ink