More tango...

Tango 4, Langton cp, 30 x 40 cm

Still on the same subject, I started the above painting with the intention to make a dark background, like with the other three before it. But when it reached this stage, I liked it and decided to leave it alone. There is enough detail in the faces and the arms. The rest I like fuzzy and incomplete, to imply movement.

The one below is a large version of the study I did last week.

Tango 3, Langton cp, 54 x 40 cm

This is my last post for the year, so have a lot of fun ringing in the new year!

Cheers!

Tango

Tango 1, arches cp, 23 x 28 cm

Tango 2, arches cp, 23 x 14 cm

I saw these tango scenes on one of the TV series that I follow. The figures, bathed in red light, looked so  beautiful. They also reminded me of Castagnet's passionate watercolors of tango dancers. I had to try painting this subject. So I captured a few frames from the show and here are my first two small size studies. I'm happy with the values, not so with the way I handled the darks - too spotty and muddy, even though I used only transparent quinacridone reds and indigo.  Have to be less hesitant next time in applying the deep dark colors in one shot.

Silent night

study of blue pigments and salt

Experimenting with salt. The effect could be practically nil with a granulating pigment, like cerulean or ultramarine. Indigo and prussian blue produce much better texture (top of the sky). And salt over phthalo blue creates a perfect snowflake effect (the horizon).
I did this a few days ago, but now it feels the right time to post it :)

Merry Christmas!

 I wish all of you, friends and family, from near and far, a lot of fun for the holidays!

Church in winter, Arches cp, 30 x 23 cm

A month ago, I decided to paint some winter scenes, appropriate for Christmas cards. Going through my photos, I realized that I don't have many good winter landscapes.

Bella Coola chirch - a friend's photo

At the same time, there was this beautiful photo, which I found very inspiring, only, it's season wasn't Christmasy. So, I changed the season. Oh, how powerful an artist can be! What else can I change now!?

Just having fun

Clementines, Langton cp, 26 x 23 cm

Clementines 2, Langton cp, 26 x 23 cm

I was so excited yesterday to find in the grocery store these clementines with leaves still attached. Had to paint them first thing today, before someone realizes that they could be used as food too.
Before starting I checked out the yummy paintings of a similar subject in Hazel Soan's books. I did these two wet-in-wet with only three colors - indian yellow, cadmium red and prussian blue. The second one was much more wet when I started applying the colors so it ended up with a smudged look and cauliflower effects, but I like that. The Langton Prestige paper that I'm trying, seems to dry quite fast and buckle a bit more than Arches, but its pure white color is delicious and I quite like it so far. 

Poinsettia

Poinsettia 1, watercolor on Langton paper, 26 x 23 cm

Poinsettia 2, watercolor on Langton paper, 23 x 26 cm