Techniques

Sharon June 10th, 2008

Although I strive for botanical accuracy, my primary emphasis is on the experience of nature so that paintings rely on suggestions of texture and pattern rather than specific details.

While I do occasionally use photographs as painting subjects, it is usually when I am working on techniques or exploring color ideas. For woodland subjects I prefer to paint from nature firsthand. I explore the nearby nature trails and when I return to the studio from my explorations, I use found materials, field sketches and notes to decide on a subject and plan the composition for a painting. When the general drawing is complete, I carefully paint in the primary subjects and develop the background secondly.

While I began as a traditional watercolorist, I now use either watercolor or watermedia acrylics in my work.

Watercolor Techniques

It has always been my philosophy that fine art should be created with the best materials possible and using techniques that will allow the art to survive as long as possible. For the most part my Woodland paintings are transparent watercolors using traditional transparent watercolor paints on quality artist watercolor papers.

The page Watercolor Techniques; discusses the particular papers and general techniques used.

Articles on watercolor painting techniques by Sharon Himes on ArtCafe Artists Network resources pages include:

A selection of demonstrations and lessons to download are available at Arte-Lessons.com

The book Watercolor Artist’s Flower Handbook has a chapter of Himes’ techniques.

Watermedia Techniques

In 2008 I began to adapt some of the traditional watercolor techniques for use with the new fluid acrylics that behave much like watercolor but have the advantages of acrylic and framed without glass.

The page Watermedia Techniques discusses the painting media, surfaces and general techniques used as well as the project 100 Watermedia Panels

View all the paintings in the Watermedia Panels category.

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