Pearls & pearly shine in Watercolour - and more of course

This stunning shell with pearls is created by Judith. Awesome! From relief, to golden shine, to mother of pearl to interesting salty background and volume - it all works.

We spent Aquarellista-Tuesday and -Thursday on 'mother of pearl' in the more well-known and figurative sense and the results were again excellent!

Hélène painted this sunny picture of an abalone shell on a wooden surface. It was a very quick painting with strong contrasts and despite her own doubts about the result, I think it is great!

Leonie couldn't help seeing a smiley face in her pearl - and I guess we all see that now - but it is also clearly a pearl with pearly shine, and very well painted (it is huge by the way, extra difficult)

This antique letter opener on embroidered cotton is Michele C.'s work. So delicate and a lovely composition. Can't wait to see it finished!

Also by Michele C. the abstract above (inspired on MoP/nacre and very interesting! And the stunning dahlias below. The light is so strong and the petals so fine, I love it!

Isabel D has finished her dahlia by adding a dark background. Quite risky as it was already looking very good - but as you can see it worked and made it even better!

Marie-Claire went a step further with her dahlia on Thursday and also added a first background

 Sylvie D. finished her free style dahlia and is is perfect now, as a composition, and as a flower. Well done!

This daring dark poppy, with stunning highlights is being painted by Anna Karin. Far from finished it is already a very interesting as well as comforting picture

Two  wonderful paintings by Liz! Above the finished evening view on the lighthouse and below the place des Arcades in the rain... to be continued! Can't wait!

Maud worked on another urban view, of an Imprssive building in Grasse, a commission. It looks very good, also because the trees in front give just that little bit more perspective.

 Sylvie M. is back with a vengeance! She finished the gorgeous ballet shoes with pearly shine for her daughter, proceeded with the composition in blue with faces - and also started an abstract!

In a similar theme, Bibbi, our 'remote' Aquarellista from Sweden, took a "boring model painting" (her words not mine 😝) with different positions and painted a fantasy background to let 3 of her models escape from the white paper! They seem to be very pleased with their new life. Love your style Bibbi!

After finishing her beautiful shell (see top of post) Judith felt like bright colours and less defined shapes. And created this abstract! It worked out - look at the light in it, great stuff!

The above inspired Sylvie M so much that she started one too! Full of surprises, wonderful colours and to be perfected next time (she had to leave early 😝)

And lastly, the start of a flower arrangement by Catherine - it looks abstract now, but it will have dark expressive lines in the next stage and become supple and spontaneous. A very interesting aspect of this painting is that it is painted on canvas, using aquarelle gesso...! To be continued.

Mother of Pearl - an amazing Subject for Aquarelle Watercolours!

This week the subject was: 'Mother of pearl'. The colourful, abstract kind:

Everyone loved the challenge and amazing work was created! We concluded that mother of pearl is an inspiring material for both abstract and figurative work! Check it out here:

A marvellous soft abstract in natural colours by Glen

Isabel D. created this oyster-like shape with beautiful strong colours

Awesome abstract with mother of pearl glow by Anna-Karin

 Michele F. painted this delicate shell with a silvery glow

Isabelle A.is still working on these interesting meandering lines

This awesome shell with a true mother of pearl shine on a dotted background was painted by Judith

A true abstract, completely without recognizable shapes, based on mother of pearl. To be finished by Michele C.

A different take on a mother of pearl shell, with lots of depth by Vanessa

Marie-Françoise painted  a landscape abstract, inspired by Mother of pearl

And here's the brilliant painting Carol created, also with pearly shine...

Of course there were also other subjects, one of them the 'Dahlias' of last week:

Judith finished her colourful dahlia - it still jumps from the screen!

Three amazing dahlias by Michele C., now with a background!

Marie-Claire wasn't very happy with her flower - but I am, because it looks so spontaneous and loosely painted.

An amazing dahlia by Catherine, she has really done an outstanding job!

All the details in Carols' duck are in place, the background is slightly more mysterious and misty which makes a great contrast with his bravado. Fabulous watercolour!

Dahlias in Aquarelle

 Catherine has not been for a while (5 years?😝) - but as you can see she still has what it takes.

Not yet finished - but already exciting, her wavy pink dahlia!

As a first subject after the holidays, the Aquarellistas worked on Dahlias. A strong,colourful flower with a shape that is recognisable, yet varies from an almost mathematical regularity to a spontaneous, waving lightness. We had so much choice - everyone picked the dahlia that appealed most - and the interpretations and results are awesome! Here are my remarks - we had no time to do them 'live' as there was a board meeting right after our session...

 This amazing watercolour was created by Michele C. I am impressed - it is both technical and poetic. Looking forward to seeing it finished!

 Another really good representation, by Isabel! She was so good at the Zen tangle stuff that I completely forgot she is still in the starters program - and she did it again! Big Hurray!

Again a completely different style, this one is painted by Liz. Loosely and spontaneous as always, I love it! Not finished, there is still a bit of masking fluid on it but can't go wrong if you ask me!

So gorgeous, Judith's purplish dahlia... A cross between the zen-tangle regular ones and the super spontaneous. Amazing effect of the granulating ultramarine that 'pushes away' the crimson leaving a beautiful red line... She was having fun here and even more with the second, just playing with colours and the natral flow and mix of aquarelle:

Michele F painted a wild Dahlia - that needs a darker background to show it better. Below a simple photo montage to show what it would look like. Just a little change, so much effect

 

Helene finished her yellow Dahlia and she balanced the brownish orange and the green, the light and the shadow, into a perfect, delicate flower with a lot of volume. I love it. Well done!

Jutta's dahlia not yet finished - yet very promising. She used a spontaneous wet-in-wet technique, combined with a more defined shape here and there. Can't wait to see it finished!

This lovely light pink dahlia was drawn so very well by Marie-Claire and the first wash worked out too. Looking very lovely already. Now the challenge to insert the darker pink shapes and maybe a background. I am confident that it will be stunning when finished...

And this last stunning creation is from Sylvie (who else?!). Still needs some work, but not too much. Great idea to do a detail! Love it!

 Of course 'my' subjects are only suggestions, Aquarellistas who want to paint their own subjects are also very welcome - and most of the time they are very inspiring! Here are some of the other creations of our two sessions (Tuesday and Thursdau 2 -- 4.30pm)

Glen fully particiated in the flower thing but dahlias are not her cup of tea/piece of cake, so she decided on daffodils. How Springy and lively they are, well done!

Sandra also created 'other flowers', namely tulips - and it is such a fantastic start, generous and strong and daring colour-wise. Same for the painting below (click on it to see the details) full of the depth and watercolour surprises that you don't see in any other medium...

Maud worked on a distinguished building in Grasse. With a lot of windows, not easy at all in a loose style, but she bravely did it anyway and it is beginning to look good!

Not even finished, but everybody drooled over this sweet dog, with a lot of expression and character.that Cathie is working on. Awesome eyes and love that fur, done in such a delicate way (with the three-hair brush)

 I laugh every time I see Carol's dog-painting. He looks like how I imagine Marmaduke. The background has a colour (green) but that doesn't come out very well on the photo. The duck below, also by Carol, is a strong little guy! Love the picture, love the way he balances his feet - and it definitely tells a story.

Hélène's abstract is a little bit less abstract but even more colourful. If you want to know what it is, read on - or else skip it and let your imagination work...

It is a rope in the water -- with high waves and sunshine, reflection and foam

And last but by no means least, these gorgeous and sexy red ballet shoes by Sylvie M. I love the satin glow and want to see more of that next week - plus maybe a bit of reflection!