“Miriam” – Portrait study
size: 12×13 inch
watercolor on 300 Lb (640 g) cold pressed paper
© Doris Joa

This painting I did completely different. Usually when working with watercolors I am having my watercolor paper laying flat in front of me. But this time I placed my painting on an easel and worked on the heavy 640 g (300 Lb) cold pressed paper from Arches.

I did not wet the paper first – I immediately put my colours on the dry surface.  I also used less water and made my colour mixes stronger. This watercolor technique worked very well for me and gives a lot of control of what you want to do. Of course I also worked in layers where needed and I am amazed how much I liked working in this way. This study was completed in a very short time and I just love the result.

Painting a white subject, like a white rose, other white flowers or a white dress is always challenging and makes the most FUN in watercolor.

But which colours are the best to describe maybe a white flower or a white dress? How to paint the colour white in watercolor or any medium? You can use cool colours to describe the shadows or warm colours. This depends on what you want to say.

I have painted already so many white flowers and roses so I can show you some excamples how I described the white subject in my paintings.

Usually a nice purple mix is a good shadow colour. A mix of  a blue and a red works well. But what if we add some yellow or some orange or maybe a green colour to our shadows?

Here are some pictures of some recent paintings.

The real white in each of these watercolor paintings is the white of the paper.

When painting a white subject we only paint the shadows and the darker areas in the subject or the reflections from other surrounding subjects.

In the first picture, the Daisy painting, is a lot of white paper to see because the small petals are mostly all flat. Only the petals with the shadows got some colours. I used mainly a blue grey colour to paint the shadow.

In the second picture I also used blue and made some purple (mixing a red and blue) and I also used some yellow on the petals. But the painting looks really cool. It is a cool white rose with a lot of blue and blue-purple in this painting.

Now to the third picture. This rose is bathed in sunlight. These shadows do really sing the sun song, they are dancing on the petals. For these shadows I used a warm yellow, some orange, a mix of blue and red (favouring the colour red) and also some green. The shadows are all warm and so it makes the whole painting warm and completely different to the cool white rose. But I love the cool white rose the same as I like the warm rose.

And here are two photos where I can show excactly what happens when we change the cool shadows to warm shadows.

Ines – Watercolor figure painting
size 12″x24″
© Doris Joa

When painting my beautiful model I wanted to portrait elegance, grace and soft femininity. Unfortunately I painted the shadows too grey, there was too much blue added in the shadows. Although the skin tones, the hair and her pose looked great – the painting didn’t look so as I wanted to have it. I decided to change the colours on the dress. I simply painted over the greys using yellow, orange, red and purple and was amazed with the result. Also I warmed up the background colour. In this painting the warm colours are more appealing and they describe perfect what I wanted to say.

“Special Moments”
watercolor
size: around 22″x 28″
© Doris Joa

This is my newest figurative painting.

I name this painting “Special Moments”. I wanted to portray the special moments between Mothers and Daughters, how the daughters love to be with you in the bathroom and do the same things which you do there. They simply want to share time with you and I wanted to capture such a moment.
The painting is watercolor, size is around 20″x28″. Hope you like it.

Here is a close up of the little girl’s face:

The work on my site still isn’t finished – thank you for your understanding.

But in the meantime I am showing you my newest Watercolor figurative painting. It is a young girl standing at the beach overlooking the ocean.

I am just having fun with painting the water, the sand, the figure with her dress flowing in the wind.

My newest painting is done on Textured Claybord. A portrait of a beautiful blonde haired girl.

“Angelina”
Watercolor on Textured Claybord
size: 11″x14″

Collection of Roses paintings, each 6×6 inch (15×15 cm), watercolor on paper
copyright: Doris Joa

I painted more and more roses in the past time. Here I am displaying some of them. Each is 6″x6″ (15×15 cm) and each is painted on 140 Lb hotpressed paper.

All are sold, but some are still currently running on ebay. If you want to have a look please click here.  My starting price is $19.95 and shipping is $8 worldwide. I do combine shipping for up to 6 or 7 small original paintings or prints.

It looks great to see the Roses displayed together and it makes absolutely much fun to create them.

Her Moment in the sun, watercolor, 20×28 inch (50×70 cm)
copyright: Doris Joa

And here is my newest figurative painting of a young girl/woman standing on a bridge and enjoying the moment in the sun. It is painted on 140 Lb coldpressed watercolor paper, stretched over stretcher bars, size is 20″x28″ (50×70 cm).

I am wishing you all a very Happy New Year. May it be blessed with health, joy, peace, luck, enough money, success in your career and all what you wish.

I want also to say “Thank you”  for your support in 2009.

There is a new figurative painting to show

I already have my first painting of a young child sitting at a river completed in 2010. It is painted on Aquabord in watercolor, size is 11×14″.

This little girl with her pink dress and pink shoes sits at a river and she got wet feet.

For our Christmas exchange with some artists friends on Artcolony I painted our black cat “Timmi”. The reference photo of Timmi was done some days before we lost him. It was the first time that I painted him. This painting went to Kay in USA and she told me that she loves the painting very much. So my surprise for her was perfect.

The painting of the black cat in a  tree is around 9×12 and painted in watercolor on Reeves Watercolor Board.

I also finished finally my figurative painting of “Ines”. It is also watercolor, painted on Fabriano Watercolor paper, size is: 12×24″.

If you are searching for some special art please keep in mind that I do take commissions. Since all other commissions for Christmas are completed I am having free time to take new commissions, if this is for a Rose or Flower painting, a portrait or a pet portrait or whatever you want. Please contact me without any obligations using my contact form here.

The  small woman head study was painted on 340 Lb coldpressed paper. I just wanted to try how this paper works. I painted already some flowers on this paper, but I really wanted to figure out how it works for faces and hair. It works – but I think it is not really my favorite. The surface is really rough and the colour is not so easy to lift as working on a smoother surface. I think I have better control when working on other surfaces. Size is 6×6 inch.

This black cat was painted on 140 Lb coldpressed paper.  Size is 5×7 inch.

After all the kittens I needed to do some other faces. At first you will see a young girl with blonde hair and the second one is another beautiful girl with brown hair in a white dress.

The portrait is finished and is painted on coldpressed Arches watercolor paper. I love the blonde hair in sunlight. No masking fluid was used in both paintings.

The figurative painting is mostly finished.

I must check the hands and feet and may also add some colours here and there, maybe I also need to soften some edges, but mostly it is finished. The background will be as it is now. The girl is so present that nothing more is needed in this painting.

Here is a close up:

Size is 12×24, painted on Fabriano coldpressed watercolor paper.

I finally finished this figurative painting. I have spent so much time on it that I really need some distance to it. I am not sure at this time if I am pleased or not – but this are always the doubts when I finish something.

I enjoyed painting the girl with her short white skirt, the black shirt and her blonde hair. I love how the sunshine hits her face. This tree at the river is the perfect place for listening to the river surrounded with all the green bushes and trees in the background.

Watercolor, 20×28 inch on 140 Lb hotpressed paper