Hot Off The Palette
You can find Susan's latest Hot Off the Palette articles on her blog.
The Process
As a professional artist, Susan enjoys working in all mediums. She especially loves painting with acrylic and watercolour paints.
It starts with the need or desire to create. Next comes the idea — from a photograph, an image, or a feeling. A photograph can be cropped and another image included, such as a flower against an interesting sky, or a bird on a wire. Often several photographs can come together to make an interesting composition. Composition is always important as you want an interesting piece that leads the viewers eye through the painting without getting stuck on some particular part.
With thousands of photographs in her library with more being added daily, sometimes the hardest part of starting a painting is to decide on what to paint. First she has to decide on the medium, whether it be acrylic or watercolour, as some subjects are more condusive to a particular medium.
Once the medium and subjects have been selected the creative play begins.
Like any great artist, there is considerable amount of time spent on each piece of art work as some come together faster then others.
The Specifics
In the following articles, she describes her techiques to create some of her paintings, by taking the viewer through several phases of the painting, from the basic line drawing, to the washes, through to the final piece.
- Isla Mujeres
Water colours done in Mexico - Bird on a wire
Watercolour 11 x 14 - Lilacs on Antique Dresser
watercolour 12 x 16.5 - Daffodils in a Vase
watercolour 20 x 14