"Piqué"

Yet another ballet watercolor. I have experimented with adding greens this time and I am really pleased with the results.

"Abstract 3"

This is my third abstract experimentation. I am not as pleased with this one as the others. It lacks a clear focal point and my salt washes did not really work. You can hardly see them on the real painting, and not at on this photo of my painting.

"Abstract 2"

Another abstract piece as a result of my experiments with salt washes. I concentrated a lot more salt in one area this time, and it thus has a different effect than my previous piece. 

"Bourrée"

Back on the ballet bandwagon again, I have a new watercolor of ballet feet. I am very pleased overall. I particularly like the fact that the background is dark, and yet the piece is still uses watercolors towards their strengths, and it does not look like it is trying to be an oil painting. The contrast between soft areas, with very little detail, also highlights the focal point, which has harder edges and more detail. This piece also captures the effect of stage lighting more than any of my previous pieces.

"Abstract 1"

To deviate slightly from my paintings of ballet, this is a little abstract piece that I did. I wanted to experiment with salt washes a little bit, and this is what I came up with. I am very pleased with the contrast that resulted. Sadly, however there is a slight rip in this piece down towards the bottom left corner which is rather distracting.

"Twirl"

This painting seems to capture the essence of a ballet spin or twirl. I love its simplicity, and yet the way it still manages to convey movement. I also used smoother paper on this watercolor painting, which gave it a different effect. I like it for this painting because it gives the piece a nice soft quality, but I think that the rougher papers add more interest to paintings in general. 

"Pointe"

This is my second piece with ballet shoes on feet and I am very pleased with the results. This piece has a real focal point--the front foot--and thus feels more complete than the others. I am also continuing to use watercolors more to their strengths as I experiment.

"Ballet Feet"

I am beginning to add more life to the ballet shoes by actually putting them on feet. I am quite pleased with the results--it adds a whole new dimension to the painting. This piece, however, turned out looking a little more like jazz shoes than ballet shoes. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just not what I had orginally intended.

"Pointe Shoes"

This is yet another watercolor of ballet shoes. I feel like I am finally beginning to use watercolors in the way that they work best, rather than try to make them like oils. This piece is much lighter, as I have allowed more white space to seep in. The only thing I am not totally satisfied with is the foreshortening of the ellipses on the end of the shoes. They appear to be at slightly different angles and are thus not quite as convincing as I would like. Unfortunately, by the time I realized that they were incorrect, there was no going back. This is something that will take a while for me to get use to with watercolors--you cannot just paint over things and correct them!

"Ballet Slipper 2"

This is my second watercolor of a ballet slipper and it is a huge improvement over the first. I still feel like i need to simplify my paintings and use less brush strokes. But overall I am pleased. 

A Start

"Ballet Slipper 1"

This is my first watercolor painting since high school. I am not impressed with the way it turned out. I am too accustomed to oil or acrylic paints in which I paint dark first and light last. This clearly does not work with watercolors, which I know in theory, but have yet to put into practice. But it is a learning experience. And it is certainly a place to start.