Woven Watercolor: Country Icons



Here it is! Two into one completed work, 22x15 inches that I will mount onto a support, mat, and frame.  Hopefully the viewer can make out what the still life is with lemons, grapes, zinnias and the blue and white pitchers and bowl.



Country Scene still life

22x15 watercolor on 140 lb Saunders cold press paper of these country kitchen items. I first painted this scene as a class demo and love the blue and white spongeware pitchers and bowls holding grapes, lemons and zinnias from the garden. It was done wet in wet. My plan is to take the demo piece and cut it into strips vertically and this one cut horizontally then weave together as one painting.

Pick Your Own-Watermelon torn paper collage

Finished!!! After 6 more hours today and messy fingers it is finally done. I hope it reads okay now and values are corrected and shapes simplified...I have a tendency to add detail when painting, so thought it would hold true for collage and yes, it does. Last chore to do was to tear tiny black ovals for seeds and get them adhered to the gloss varnished areas as well as check all 4 edges that they're covered, too. Fork and knife in foreground rest on a white napkin for a little genteel touch in this country still life scene. Total fun and takes many hours but is well worth it! If you have never done this type collage I'd encourage you to try.

Collage WIP - Watermelon steps 3&4

I'm continuing on with the background starting upper right and down that side then working across left and down to foreground. I can tell already that some areas need simplification to read as solid instead of so choppy and detailed...tomorrow will tackle that and adjust values as the purple grapes aren't showing up too well.

Collage WIP Watermelon Still Life

Now you can see what all I got done in 2 more hours today, all of the melon and its pieces, and even going back to adjust values here and there. I thought the red zinnias were a nice touch.

Collage WIP Watermelon next steps

Yesterday I began adding torn red paper from magazines to the meat of the melon and will show values from light to medium to dark in red tones. Today I did its rind, the yellow lemons, and all the grapes. Stay tuned for more as it progresses.

A bit more work on grapes

After getting this one home and realizing the large leaf should have more color, I added a warm glaze of quinacridone gold. Also I added quin magenta on left side in the background while lower left corner had more pigment, too, very wetly.

Bunch of Beauty

Finished! Two more hours and it is done...I used only a black and white copy of the reference photo so ALL color, including the underpainting, is imaginary. These look good enough to eat!