Letting the underpainting guide me

Third stage

I decided to try again at the granite rock scene, but on a PastelBord with a watercolor underpainting.  I tried a new thing to control the "out of control" spreading and bleeding of the watery paint on this clay board and I think it worked.

First I wet the board with a wide brush.  Then I used a cheap squirrel brush (from a children's paint box) and brushed watercolor with a lot of pigment on to depict the sky, tree area and rock area.  Before the colors spread out, I used a hairdryer on warm, slow setting.  As the paint dried, while still holding the hairdryer, I dipped the children's brush in water and dabbed the excess out, and then brushed in strokes for the trees and textures in the rocks.  This left some neat looking ghost shapes.  Some areas needed more dark (like the rock crevaces) and I drybushed these in.

Here are the first two stages:

watercolor only

first applications of pastel



Since I did this scene already, I am not following the photo this time.  Instead, I'm letting the underpainting guide me where the rocks and crevaces are.  This is actually more fun than the other way!