She lives around the corner from me, so I was able to stroll over and take photos when I knew they were at work. (Didn't want to spoil the surprise.)
The evening shot was a little trickier because I didn't want them to see me out there. But, I wanted the painting to look as closely as possible to the moment they were to get married, and I like the colors of the sunset on the house.
Below is just a quick watercolor study I did in a 5 x 7 watercolor sketchbook.
Then, I started on the big one.
First, I drew a light pencil drawing on watercolor board.
This is what it looked like after the first layer of watercolor. I takes me a few layers to build up rich colors. Once the layer dries, it's lighter than what you expect.
Second session
Third session
Almost there. Just need the details
As the piece was going to be a surprise, I couldn't get a photo of their dogs outside, and I'm not skilled enough to just paint them in. I really wanted to include their "kids" so I took an extra photo on a different occasion, hoping they wouldn't alert Mom and Dad to my presence.
You can see a couple guidelines I drew on the photo. I usually do this step by just eyeballing it, but I wanted to share a bit of a trick that could help you at some point. It's a step away from a grid drawing. I'll share a drawing, later in January, that I did using a grid.
Step one - graphite
Step two
Step 3 - I incorporated some colored pencil as well.
I had both pieces framed to match and hang together if they would choose to do so.
Thanks for stopping by!
No comments:
Post a Comment