Pears

I am taking Jane LaFazio's Joggles.com class and the first assignment is fruit.  I chose pears mainly because I figured if I was buying the stuff it should be fruit I like to eat :-)  Plus I've always really enjoyed the colors of pears... they've always appeared more matte than apples to me and I like that lack of shine.  Anyways, here it is!

There are some new things and techniques I have tried on this piece.  First, I'm using the most expensive paper to date- Acquarello Artistico extra white 100% cotton hot press 140lb watercolor paper (5"x7").  Yep, that's right- hot press.  I didn't know watercolor could be done on hot press until now and all I have to say is holy jeez!  Where has this stuff been!?  My paint all of a sudden flowed just like the people I've watched who know what they are doing!  It was so forgiving- I might never go back to cold press again! (Well that's not true cause I still have a ton of cold press left... but you get the idea.)  Totally worth the extra monies!

Second, I really planned out what colors I was going to use and really took my time painting.  I know I spent a long time layering my Deception Pass piece, but I really just flew by the seat of my pants on that one.  This piece I really thought about what colors I would use in advance and really gave each layer some time before I added to the paper.  I think it came out better for the time I spent.

Lastly, it's important to note that I finally figured out how to use the scanner function of my printer!  Hooray for better picture quality!!  I'll prolly rescan my Deception Pass piece because the pictures posted here really didn't reflect the colors on the actual piece.