arches watercolor block; background two very dilute washes of a green cerulean blue; the darks were painted with india ink, then coated with sepia; the minor wings are gold ochre, the major wings gold ochre with cadmium scarlet.
this was my fourth attempt, and my first painting in over four years. how life does take its twists and turns ...
17 comments:
This is a beautiful piece. I'm glad you posted it, as I had wondered if you were still painting... it's good to see you still are (in some capacity, at least). Ironically, I just cleaned my own watercolour palette a week ago (after nearly four years), and have been devouring handprint.com again. Life does indeed have it's way with us all.
This is a beautiful piece. I'm glad you posted it, as I had wondered if you were still painting... it's good to see you still are (in some capacity, at least). Ironically, I just cleaned my own watercolour palette a week ago (after nearly four years), and have been devouring handprint.com again. Life does indeed have it's way with us all.
A lovely little study. Very curious to learn how the "emperor waves" project came out.
Bruce, I have spent countless hours reading through your amazing site. I don't think a day goes by that you aren't referenced in Wet Canvas forums and we all appreciate the incredible amount of time and effort that went into providing such valuable information.
This is the first time I have looked at your blog, and I'm so glad to see you're painting again after your sabbatical :-) The butterfly is gorgeous. Thanks for sharing, and I'll be sure to check back!
Ditto everything above. Your site is the mother lode. My entire palette is designed around your work. Thank you so very very very much.
Beautiful butterfly. Thank you for the technical info.
Your monarch butterfly painting is wonderful.
Only discovered your website yesterday, and even from just a quick scan of the 'intro' and the books 'buyer beware' pages, I can see it's going to vastly increase my understanding, open my eyes and change my thinking. Many thanks, Jono.
Beautiful butterfly. Thanks for posting it. I spend a lot of time on handprint. While a tutor is skeptical of the technicalities of watercolors, they are helpful for one pursuing the art without benefit of a fine arts degree. Thanks, again.
Why don't you update the info on handprint? It is so out of date and there is so much misinformation on it now. Paints have changed, new companies have come about, companies have changed, etc etc etc. And yet you just sit back on your laurels and let all this information just hang around there while people wonder why you can't get with it and come into the modern world of paints and pigments. You maligned some paint companies terribly and they are good paints!! For example, Lukas watercolors. That was a real shame!!! Quit being so lazy and trying to act like such a know it all and superior to other people!~
ha ha, i love it when i get a good spanking from "anonymous", larded with weird claims ("laurels"? what "laurels"? lukas paints ... good? are you nuts?) and mommy scolds about laziness and such.
it restores my faith in my seasoned judgment of human nature.
thanks to the rest for the complimentary comments.
as for painting ... i took a detour into astronomy, and published "the cambridge double star atlas" last year, available on amazon.
i'm currently boiling down much of the web site into a book on color and painting, which might be finished by the end of this year (2017).
i'm also writing a novel, a black comedy about the absorption of the human race into the digital infrastructure of profit. the recycling of human feces into tasty biscuits to feed the poor is an important episode.
i am painting again, a little, but a hand tremor that comes and goes means i don't always get to choose the opportunities.
in many ways i am wrapping up loose ends, and if i am reclining on a pile of leaves, it's because it is restful after a long journey.
So sorry you got "spanked" by the previous poster.
I for one am extremely grateful for your dedicated generosity. As a painter with considerable colorblindness, the detailed pigment descriptions, charts, and debunked "color theories" you've provided on Handprint have been INVALUABLE to my development as an artist. For years, I was confused by the amount of misinformation out there, especially by "colorists" whose color mixing success was more out of sheer combinational luck than true understanding of their materials.
There are soooo many new developments in the international pigment/art supply industry that no one human could possible keep up with them all. The fact that you attempted as much as you did was mind-boggling -- and appreciated.
All said and done, I'd happily purchase your book in a heartbeat.
Best wishes,
(Another) Anonymous Artist
Hi Bruce, Curious to know if you still have plans to publish the book on color and painting... the one mentioned in your post of July/2017. I'm a beginner to the world of art, and currently teaching myself all I can of the important foundations/basics. Thank you ~ AM
I've spent ten years studying handprint.com I consult it daily in myriad ways, in many applications. I started painting at 36, and after painting in oils for a decade, I stopped and studied watercolor for three years, from the pigments up. Handprint was the key that unlocked the door. Now I'm back in oils with a greater, though by no means complete sense of purpose and direction. So, many thanks. Just today though I really read and understood what was on the first page all those years ago:
"When once we see keenly enough, there is very little difficulty in painting what we see; but, even supposing that this difficulty be still great, I believe that the sight is a more important thing than the painting; and I would rather teach painting that my pupils may learn to love Nature, than teach the looking at Nature that they may learn to paint."
Hi Bruce! I was wondering where you have been. I was looking for you on Instagram and Facebook but could not find any traces. In any case, I am very grateful for your Handprint website on watercolors and refer to it frequently! What are you up to these days? Hope you are staying healthy, wouldn't surprise me if you with your crossdisciplinary interests came up with some interesting remedies. That aside, I wish you well! /Anna
Just wanted to say I appreciate the stuff you've put together on color vision on handprint.com
Leaving you a huge thank you for the website Handprint. Today I am turning a whole lotta new readers to the site.
I want to follow you here as well but do nto see a way -- can you manually add me? dbdcat@aol.com
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