Opposing Spaces

I love the challenge of working with the positive and negative spaces. This painting is like a puzzle. My color plan is built upon the primary colors.

If you take my summer class in negative painting you will have the opportunity to try this painting.   Here is a step by step of how it is done.  The entire painting is done with watercolor.   This is a picture of the drawing. I begin with a small portion of the composition.

This second image  above shows the first coat of paint. I used Cobalt Blue, Antwerp Blue, Lavender and Horizon Blue.. Notice that I have drawin in additional blossoms. This was done after the first wash of color dried.

Now come some darker values of color. I am using the same pigments with less water plus mauve and Royal Blue.

 See below that the painting is now looking more finished. I have finished surrounding the flowers with darker values and will need to shadow all the areas where petals overlap.

 Below is a close up of the finished painting.  I love this style of painting as it reminds me of doing a puzzle. The end result is not representational but instead, unpredictable and painterly!

 This is the full size finished painting. It took me 4 hours to complete with the use of my hair dryer. Hope you enjoyed. See more on http://www.janehalliwell.com

Stained Paper Collage with a New Technique to share

This is a step by step presentation a collage. Years ago I had hooked the same piece in fiber.  The piece measures" only 12"x12"   but it took many hours to create.

Below is the step by step and at the end I will explain the raised paper technique.

The raised paper is painted silk tissue which is tough. It does not work well with artist grade tissue.  It is sewn through the paper which is 300lb Arches watercolor. I used a tapestry needle.   The piece will be framed using spacer bars so that the raised area will be seen.   I hope you enjoy this!!    I will be teaching a class on Watercolor Collage at Maryland Hall for the Arts in Annapolis Maryland beginning in March.

Blue Eggs

Happy New  Year---   I love eggs--- they represent  new birth and the first sign of spring!!!     Abstracts can be challenging. There has to strong design or they won't work.   Here is one to start 2015!  Note the simple color plan with the orange accents.  The background is entirely Oriental painted papers. Some of the papers are printed using a gelli plate.  the twigs were actually painted by dipping a real twig into the paint and dragging it around.