Segments: Armadillo

Armadillo, 9 x 7 in., watercolor
by Sydney Harper

I decided to apply the technique I used for the trilobite paintings to a painting of an armadillo. Armadillos kind of remind me of trilobites in a way. I've decided to call this group of paintings "Segments". I'm having a blast with these. Most of the work comes before the paint is applied. Applying the paint also allows me to experiment with different palettes. I'm sure I'll try more of these, just to see where it leads me.

After tomorrow I'll be off work until January 5. I am so looking forward to this time off. I'm really tired so it's been a struggle to get through these past two days. I plan to spend the time relaxing, getting my life in order, and doing some painting and sketching. I never get as much done as I plan, but it will be a nice change of pace.

Virtual Sketch Date - 13 Dec 08

Watercolor on tan paper, 8 x 5 inches
Farm in Lehigh Valley, PA

I seem to have fallen into a trend of using the Virtual Sketch Date for experimentation. For the December Virtual Sketch Date I experimented with limited palettes. Actually I prefer to use a limited palette of three to five colors. It just works out better for me. I did this watercolor sketch using a two color palette with a warm red, a bit of complementary color and some white for the snow. I have plenty of watercolor paper but I was in a hurry, so I just grabbed some tan paper rather than make my own toned paper. It's not meant for watercolor so it buckled badly at the bottom where I used a lot of water. In spite of that, I really like the way this turned out. I also did one on the same paper with a cool palette using a blue and a bit of red as a complement. I kept the water under control on that one so the buckling isn't as bad. I like it too, but I like the warmth in this one better so I put this one up anyway. The other one is up at my Flickr account. This was a lovely reference to use. I enjoyed working with it.

I'm not sure what it is but I'm having a hard time finding free time lately. Something always seems to come up to keep me from spending time on the things I would like to do. I guess part of it is the holiday season and the rest just falls into the "stuff happens" category. We'll be taking two weeks off at Christmas so I should have more free time then. I am so looking forward to it.

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See all of my Virtual Sketch Date posts.