Dear Friends and Painters,
I’d like to start by wishing all you mothers a Happy Mother’s Day.
My daughter Jessi bought me flowers and we were able to enjoy the day together.
A highlight of the day, was our time out with the horses on the Chuckanut Mountain Trail. Jessi rode Mystic and I took the photos while running along. (Yikes, out for 7 miles!)
Notice Jessi is not using a saddle, as usual. She’s braver than I am.
Here we are at the waterfall at Arroyo Creek – Mother’s Day 2009.
NOW ONTO PAINTING CLASS!!!
I worked on the finishing touches of the Bison painting for The Badlands.
I mix up white gouache with tints of the same colors that are in the animals. This actually makes my paintings “Mixed Media”, as purists in watercolor do not allow any opaque paint.
I use a tiny brush to create the hairs and whiskers, which give the animals a more life like coat.
There are probably ten different colors in the hairs. You never just use one.
Remember, Tara wanted these marmots to be “fluffy”. Well, here they are.
Besides painting the small hairs, we add shadows and highlights to make dimension in the painting.
I keep reference photographs close at hand to help me create the illusion of the subject matter.
If you look to the left of the painting, you can see one of the black bison photographs that I used for a reference. Painting black or dark brown animals is always challenging. Because with watercolor you don’t want the washes to go so dark, that you can’t see the detail.
Bison are difficult to paint because, as Heather says, they look like part camel and rhinoceros all done up with a big back combed fro. Just look again and give us YOUR comments. 
Another thing we haven’t been able to decide is whether those little critters are marmots or prairie dogs or maybe misplaced beaver. Whatever they are, I don’t think they like the bison standing there.
The new bison painting is titled, “Living Monuments”.
NOW WHAT YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR…
WASHING AWAY THE WATERCOLOR…Below you will see one of my watercolor tricks that Heather has frequently asked that I share.
I wasn’t liking my painting. The background was too busy and too dark.
So, I’m putting it in the bathtub! (I run the painting under cold water and rub the colors off gently just using my hand. Do not use a wash cloth. It will ruin the texture of your paper. )
I began the big horned sheep picture and ignored MY OWN WATERCOLOR RULE -”Paint the lightest colors first.” I was just so excited to get started on the red rock canyon, that I jumped ahead and soon realized that I was going to have to wash it all away.
You can see that even after the colors have been gently scrubbed under the bathtub faucet, some of the pigment remains. If you notice, the washes above look very grainy and that is because you can’t wash the watercolor away that’s hiding in the low spots of the paper without ruining the watercolor paper itself.
On my table is the newly scrubbed painting and the entire watercolor will have to be re-painted using very light colors.
But first, I will return to my rule – “Paint the lightest colors first”!!! Heather just said, “This big horned sheep looks blind!” I told her I’d fix it later.
The big horned sheep are virtually the same color as the rock cliffs they inhabit. The only way to make them stand out from the background would be to paint them very light.
At this point, the color of the sheep is just about the same as the washed background cliffs.
Now that the sheep are finished, I can start laying more color down on the background shapes.
The color palette for this picture was the blues in the sky and the browns of the rock remixed in many shades to create a near duo-chromatic painting. Remember the shadows in your picture will always be the same color as the sky. This helps make your focal point look like it belongs in the total scene. This is a simple secret that most people miss.
Now that the base colors are all finished, I will start on placing shadows and details to finish the picture.
Here I am with Jason and Heather. We are getting ready to go to Seattle this weekend for a short visit to our sales representatives at the Busch & Slates Showroom at the 6100 Building. We will be taking samples of the last 12 new paintings and all the products that go with them to sell in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Montana/Rocky Mountain Region.
Be sure to look for Bergsma products on your road trips this summer and also at the SeaTac Airport at the Made In Washington Store!!! A brand new account.
Have a wonderful weekend. It’s supposed to be 70 degrees here, finally! Hurrah!
Jody
