Overlaying

Another piece I created whilst following Alena Henessy’s Watercolor Wonder on-line classes! The classes are about abstract paintings using watercolors which I found most interesting, 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; my last post was about Linear (titled Ripples) and today we shall talk about Orb Overlays.  Alena has a special name for oval shapes and calls them “orbs” which is rather cute! And hence we start our painting with a few large orbs; mine were the magenta pair below with which was combined with flourescent orange. Using more water on your brush does indeed create some feathering giving it a stunning marbling effect as seen below.

Once we let those orbs dry, we continue to the next step: Overlays! Alena has clearly demonstrated how overlaying is most effective in abstract art, making this session a very enlightening experience. And what is meant by overlay? It is when a layer of color is added on top of an existing one so the layers below show through the film of that color rather than get covered up. As watercolors are typically transparent, the effect is is quite mystical. Key is of course to ensure that the existing layer is completely dry before introducing more on top, As such I began enthusiastically piling on some violet blue, turquoise, flourescent yellow and pink, greens and even some gold. Just kept continuing until I was happy with the piece. What fun that was! A great way to get more familiar with color combinations and have a go with various effects with watercolor. Will definitely like to practice further and create more stunning stuff!

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