16 x 12 It Is

At least for this week the 16 by 12 inch watercolor paper seems to be the best option for working at home. I have four Arches cold-press watercolor blocks at that size. Each block contains 20 sheets of paper so I have plenty of material for the next few weeks. Yesterday I moved over to washes with acrylic paint. I have had this idea on my mind for awhile now so I'm happy to get around to it finally. These three are just a start, I began with the gray and the color is a bit of a stretch for me, we will see where they go (if anywhere), but engaging for now.

Michael McGuire - 3 Untitled Drawings - Acrylic Paint on Arches Watercolor Paper - 16 x 12 inches each

Saturday, April 18, 2020
New drawings from the last couple of days. These pieces are rarely finished in one day as there are two or more layers on each one and one layer needs to dry completely before adding the next. I do work on multiples simultaneously making the progression a little inexact to track. As I have done in the past when I initially begin a color exploration I start with orange and blue, opposites on the color wheel, and generally making a neutral tone (gray) when mixed.

That is a lot of color and I backed off from the intense chroma. I am using some acrylic paint that I have on hand because I want the color to be permanent once it dries so I can lay on the next layer without disturbing the wash below. In my acrylic paints is a wonderful 'Indigo' color and once I ran across that (drawing above left) I had to make more using that color. I am still figuring out how dense the washes could be, things look more intense as the go on wet and mute a bit when dry. I am also thing about changing the arrangement of the rectangles on the page.