I like working in the studio in the evenings. With some candles burning and an audiobook playing, it is easy to get 'in the zone'.
I have a few commissions that I am working on, so there is not very much to share at the moment from the studio. They are a little special kind of commissions. 2 of them are for my niece and nephew, and they have chosen the subject themselves. They will be a little different from my usual style, but I will share them once they are done.
View of my desk in the evening.
This particular evening I was finishing a barn owl in watercolours.
When I started on this barn owl, I was not sure if I wanted to paint it on hot or cold-pressed paper. I decided to paint it on both and see what I would prefer for this kind of painting in the future. Here the hot-pressed paper is to the left and the cold-pressed is o the right. If you look closely you can see a slight difference in the texture of the paper. Hot-pressed is a very smooth paper, and cold-pressed has more texture.
Here they are both done. They were supposed to be quite the same, but in this case, the paper did have an influence on how the painting turned out. I started to paint on cold-pressed paper, which is the owl with the purple background. The background was easy and fun to make on this paper. I did not succeed to get a similar effect on hot-pressed paper, so I had to change my approach. It became a forest scape in the background instead. I am quite happy with how it turned out in the end. But for this painting, I did prefer to paint on cold-pressed paper. Just how the paint behaved on the cold-pressed paper made it a more enjoyable experience.
Barn owl in watercolour on hot-pressed cotton paper. Reference photo from the website 'paint my photo'. And I see now that I forgot to sign it!
Barn owl in watercolours on cold-pressed cotton paper. I love those granulating colours in the background.
That was it for this week. Now I need to go and continue on my commissions!