Ripples

Simply sharing here a piece I created whilst following Alena Henessy’s Watercolor Wonder on-line classes. The classes are about abstract paintings using watercolors which I found enlightening, since much of my abstract stuff is mixed media and predominantly acrylic. Who would have thought it possible with watercolor? And why not? The unit I just followed is about Linear and Orb Overlays, but today I am writing about the Linear part. Here, we work with a small thin brush and repetitively paint one line after another. And remember, a line is not necessarily straight but curvy as long as it can continue infinitely. The watercolors I used were a variety of pans ranging from Derwent to lesser known brands like Prima and Komorebi. It was just a fun practice with strokes so quality of paint is not important as long as the brush was professional-grade. And what a challenge this was, as it required quite a bit of concentration as well as patience. Naturally, a great way to explore beyond my comfort zone!

As we carefully paint our lines, we also focus on complimentary colors as we progress through the paper. I first started with light pink at almost the bottom of the page and the left-hand corner, but for the top right corner, I went for circles instead just for variety. Then I worked my way downwards alternating with fluorescent red and then some yellow. On the opposite side of the light pink came the violets, blues, turquoise then meeting in the middle with greens which gradually become yellow-greens. Once I was done filling the page, random shapes, dots and patterns were introduced between the lines to incorporate unity with all the lines. Et voilà! Loving that ripple effect which I have named this painting after. Apart from being a great way to warm up and practice precise strokes and of course challenge my comfort zone, it was very therapeutic and most definitely a form of meditation. I should for sure like to do a similar session like this again!

Please click here for more about Alena Hennessy and her amazing classes!