EGGS FOR BREAKFAST--Coo, coo, kachoo

Eggs are difficult subjects!  They don’t sigh or fidget while posing for their portrait, but replicating their round surface on a flat sheet of paper is a major challenge.

After taking a few photos to settle on a composition, I did some color sketches to try out different pigments.  With watercolor paint, every color has different qualities such as transparency, sedimentation and staining ability.  I settled on some blues and browns I thought would work and then did a color study in my sketch book.

 This was almost more of an undertaking in procrastination than anything.  Plus, I’ll still have something to keep if the final product goes off to live with a new owner.

I finally put a line drawing on a piece of 11x14 inch Arches watercolor paper, covered the eggs with liquid masking and floated in a background wash.

 When that dried I added more color.

 The next step was to put in a few shadows.

 It took quite a bit of time to add the details of the colander.  I let the whole thing sit over the weekend before I worked up enough nerve to take on the eggs with their tricky highlights and shading.

 I put it up for sale on my Etsy site.  The price I’m asking is absurdly low.  I won’t even make minimum wage for the hours involved, but when my work sells I’m motivated to paint more.