So the second part of the Snow Polo trilogy for 2019! This time, a close up view of pony with kawaii player. I decided to use watercolours for this one, given the larger areas to colour, allowing me to practice my light and shade techniques better. And I was in the mood for painting with my Japanese watercolour pans, the Kuretake Gansai Tanbi . Just curious how it would turn out, since I love the purity of the natural pigments of that particular set.
Pencil It In!
Once again, this was also done inside the visitors’ tent so quite briefly sketched in the small paper pad. The player also in hat, mittens and scarf and even snow boots! And the pony in a face mask. How cute is that! Good job the commentator mentioned that the Polo stick is always held with the right hand, never the left! I nearly forgot. And how happy does she look!
What Fancy Colours!
Back in Amsterdam and whilst I was painting this, it was quite cold and snowy outside. I didn’t venture out and I guess I needed an energy boost and hence decided to opt for some vivid bright shades. This time, pink combined with green, along with some yellow and purple thrown in! The colours from the Gansai Tanbi worked really well. Vivid without being overwhelming. Subtle in fact in some ways yet bold in others. This was the colour scheme. I could have stopped here, but I wanted to add a bit of dimension to the painting and somehow to let the different colour blocks blend in together.
Practising Light and Shade Techniques
Thanks to my weekly art classes, I am working on my light and shade techniques. I do find the classes very helpful but would like to practice further at home. Here, I combined some green from the pony’s face mask and incorporated it on the pony, for instance. Added some purple on the pink outfit of the player. Then some blue on the purple. And some of the pink is reflected on the yellow scarf to play down the brightness. This time, I didn’t add the snow as I had done in the previous drawing. I was so focused on the light and shade techniques that it didn’t transpire. To be honest, though, I do like it without the added snow for this one, what do you think? We could then appreciate the beautiful colours!
Watercolour Only
I am in general pleased with the results of the Gansai Tanbi watercolours. The colours are stunning. Unfortunately, though, the yellow turned out much brighter in the photo, which was taken in natural light with my phone. I preferred not to retouch it in case it affected the other colours so left it as was. Despite this, I find the colour scheme is pretty much well-balanced and in harmony which is important. What I love about watercolours is the transparent effect which makes the image look dreamy. For this piece, I only stuck to watercolours only. No ink, no coloured pencils, no gouache and not even uni posca white markers. It’s a good for a change to work “pure” so you could fully appreciate the effect of the medium. I think that worked here rather well. Should do that more often!
My Kawaii Quarter 