Rosa Iceberg - Watercolour

 

Keeping a very simple palette of Ultramarine Violet, Naples Yellow, Potters Pink, French Ultramarine, Quinacridone Gold and a little Sap Green, I let the colours mingle to produce subtle nuances of pigment. 

I masked out the petals that I wanted to keep bright white. Texture was added with Malden sea salt (which was washed off under the tap to remove traces completely and to achieve a greater breaking up of the surface.) Cling film was placed on wet paint in parts and left to dry, to find that natural 'crumpled look'. I then shaved watercolour pencil onto wet paint to give a slightly aged appearance to some of the petals and leaves. This is a useful way of delivering contrasting colours in a very gentle way

Gradually, I used French Ultramarine with a little sap Green to pull out the deep tones, spraying the paint here and there to guard against stilted hard edges - just keeping a balance.

This is a commissioned piece