Watercolor Wednesday

Well, this is the completed watercolor

that you got the little sneak peak of

last week...

This is Moses Parting the Red Sea;

I did this piece

for our local ballet company
who are performing the story of Exodus

this January.

Some of you have expressed interest
in seeing the steps it takes
to complete a painting...

So, here are some photos
of this painting in progress...

This is my sketch that I traced onto my watercolor paper...

Then I painted the foreground and rocks,

using salt to create texture...

Then I painted in the ground between the walls of water,

also using salt to create texture...

Then came the sky and water -- lifted clouds out with a tissue,

and created "rays" by pulling a dry tissue through wet paint...

Next came the water --

I did several layers to get the color intensity,

doing some glazes and dragging my brush to get a water effect...

Then I started working on Moses' robe -- lots of "losing the edge" in this part,

then glazing over it to achieve a uniform color...

Finally, I spent quite a while intensifying shadows,

adding local color to the sky,

Creating more depth in the water,

and finally, scratching the paper to get little sparkles and highlights...

Our fathers trusted in thee:

they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
-Psalm 22:4-

Hope you're having a lovely week...