I just finished this poured water-color commission of sunshiny yellow azaleas. I think what I like best about poured paintings is how fast they seem to build. The process keeps you engaged daily – I typically work on them each day for about two weeks. Each stage has to dry completely before you move onto the next. But the progress really builds nicely. There were seven pours with this painting.
Once completely dry I removed the frisket. I call this the peel reveal. Some artists take their work to this stage and call it done. I personally cannot do this, although I have been tempted a few times with the mussel paintings. Being detail oriented I have to go back in and enhance the work with additional brushwork to increase the overall colours and values and bring up the detail. I like my subject to almost “lift” off the paper. In order to achieve this level of dimension I have to go back in and enhance the pours.
This painting was worked from two very different reference photos that I took last year. One for composition and the other for colours. I found this to be especially tricky with the masking. I had to really pay attention on this one. Much care had to be taken to apply the mask to white areas that are not there in the composition photo.
Some of the stages are illustrated below in the photos. I did not include every mask application or pour as some of the sessions appeared quite subtle in the progress photographs. But this will give you the idea of how the process builds.
I will take this painting in to be scanned and then framed this week. I hope my client loves it!
Do you have any question on this painting process?