First time using Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress. The soft ivory color of the paper is very nice. It does require a gentle hand, fibers beginning to flake with heavy burnishing. (Maybe that’s why it’s called “Aqua” — is it meant for paint?) I especially enjoyed working out the pattern in the fruit. Reminded me of Yayoi Kusama’s dots! Good to be drawing again… Ellen
Hi Ellen, This is really lovely! Gorgeous shadow colors – so hard with a yellow subject and you did a fantastic job! I really love your leaf study. The colors you used are gorgeous. I’m sure that Doug will have more to say, but I wanted to give you a tip about the Stonehenge Aqua. Make sure that you are using the smoother side. If you bought your paper in a block, it’s quite possible that the smoother side is facing down (every Stonehenge Aqua block that I’ve purchased has com this way). The other side gets fuzzy more quickly than the smoother side. With that said, it can be a tricky paper to work with for some people. I’ve been using Hahnemuhle “The Collection” paper more because I’ve found that it can take more layers, and I can be “rougher” with it, and it just works better for my style of working (a lot of erasing, lol). It’s more expensive than Stonehenge, unfortunately. Some other students have liked Arches paper, so that’s one to try as well. They are all great papers, it just depends on what works for you.
Hi Ellen- first off, I am back to using Arches hot press watercolor paper. I have also found that Stonehenge paper does not work for my multi layer technique and it ends up tearing quite easily after a few layers. In regards to your painting, it is wonderful! I like how the leaves are more saturated and detailed as they move up the page toward the focal point. As Pam said, the colors ar beautiful! The one thing I would point out is that the kumquat looks like it is outlined. I would lighten the upper left edge as it is close to your highlight. That area only gets to be a 3-4 on the tone scale and should not be as dark as the edges that are farther away from the light source. I would also consider adding some more mid-range tones on the right side. Great job!
My Kumquat tree was in full fruit!
First time using Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress. The soft ivory color of the paper is very nice. It does require a gentle hand, fibers beginning to flake with heavy burnishing. (Maybe that’s why it’s called “Aqua” — is it meant for paint?) I especially enjoyed working out the pattern in the fruit. Reminded me of Yayoi Kusama’s dots! Good to be drawing again… Ellen
Hi Ellen, This is really lovely! Gorgeous shadow colors – so hard with a yellow subject and you did a fantastic job! I really love your leaf study. The colors you used are gorgeous. I’m sure that Doug will have more to say, but I wanted to give you a tip about the Stonehenge Aqua. Make sure that you are using the smoother side. If you bought your paper in a block, it’s quite possible that the smoother side is facing down (every Stonehenge Aqua block that I’ve purchased has com this way). The other side gets fuzzy more quickly than the smoother side. With that said, it can be a tricky paper to work with for some people. I’ve been using Hahnemuhle “The Collection” paper more because I’ve found that it can take more layers, and I can be “rougher” with it, and it just works better for my style of working (a lot of erasing, lol). It’s more expensive than Stonehenge, unfortunately. Some other students have liked Arches paper, so that’s one to try as well. They are all great papers, it just depends on what works for you.
Hi Ellen- first off, I am back to using Arches hot press watercolor paper. I have also found that Stonehenge paper does not work for my multi layer technique and it ends up tearing quite easily after a few layers. In regards to your painting, it is wonderful! I like how the leaves are more saturated and detailed as they move up the page toward the focal point. As Pam said, the colors ar beautiful! The one thing I would point out is that the kumquat looks like it is outlined. I would lighten the upper left edge as it is close to your highlight. That area only gets to be a 3-4 on the tone scale and should not be as dark as the edges that are farther away from the light source. I would also consider adding some more mid-range tones on the right side. Great job!
Pam, Doug, thank you so much for your very helpful comments! Wishing you a wonderful holiday, Ellen