VINTAGE GLASS

Although I’m really feeling fine, I’m still 

under doctor’s orders to stay away from heavy lifting. 

So looking out the window at my garden 

in dire need of clearing of winter debris is making me crazy.

To take my mind off that, I decided to take on 

the challenge presented by an article in my

 April issue of Watercolor Artist called “Grappling with Grays.” 

 Laurin McCracken teaches how to mix an use grays in watercolor

in a most enticing way.

 So using the vintage bottles I photographed for an earlier post 

I set up a still life picture for reference.

I got this far in my first attempt and decided

 the background was getting muddy and dark,

and the size was wrong.  So I started over.

(after looking at it again, it has a lot of potential. Oh well...)

 I wanted the focus to be on the glass 

so I totally dropped out the background 

and went to work on the bottles with a limited pallet of cool grays.

 This kept me busy for several loooong hours.

(transparent watercolor by E.B.  18x12 inches on Arches 140 c.p.
(this  painting has been sold but many others are available here)

 But I’m pretty happy with the final result.