Anna Cook's Garden

Thursday was a beautiful day to be out painting, and Anna Cook's garden is a gem! There is so much to paint, I didn't know where to start. I ended up doing two small watercolor sketches because it seemed too complicated to try something larger. I wish I would be a bit bolder with my original pen work. Instead, I went back over the pen after the watercolor, to add some more personality.

Grape Leaves #7

Here is my seventh version. I actually started this before the sixth, but just finished it a few days ago. I was trying to use texture to make the leaves move forward. I tried mixing a little masking fluid in with the initial staining wash and it gave it an interesting affect. I also used a little bit of salt, but I think I ended up covering most of that up.

This time, I repeated the grapes to try to make the circle shape a little less of a contrast and changed some of the shapes of the background leaves. I'm pretty happy with it. But I think I'll try something else for awhile.