Joshua Elek

Watercolor Paintings

Category: Rocks

  • Surowicz Rocks: #1 (Before)

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    I purchased an online workshop offered by Rick Surowicz, whose YouTube channel has been very helpful and inspirational to me as I try to learn to paint. Rick Surowicz’s Podia Rick Surowicz’s YouTube Channe Before I go through the workshop, I decided to give the painting a go, as a pre test. I want to…

  • Knifed Rocks Exercise: #1

    Knifed Rocks Exercise: #1

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    After the exercise on painting rough water, Ron Hazell’s book provides instruction on painting rocks. He proposes two methods, one in which you glaze successively richer tones over the rocks, and a second where you knife out the highlights on the rocks. I have never found success with knifing, so I tried it here. This…

  • Rocks in Stream: #1

    Rocks in Stream: #1

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    For this painting, I wanted to try to capture the shine that can be seen on wet rocks, and the glare on ripples of water. I found a photo online that captured these elements, and tried to paint that photo. I didn’t end up capturing the photo as well as I would have liked, and this…

  • Study – Rocks & Trees: #1

    Study – Rocks & Trees: #1

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    I think I learned more tonight doing these little studies than I have in a long time.  First, I wanted to test blooms. I found that I need the pigment to be much more dry than I previously thought to get the effect I’m after with blooms. I want the pigment to lift from the…

  • The Ravine: #2

    The Ravine: #2

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    Hork! Hnnnnnnorrrrrgchhh! Bleargh. Wow, this didn’t work at all. I started by really trying to focus on creating planes in the image to capture light coming from different angles. I managed to define those planes – and then some. My sketch was very angular because I wanted to set a scaffold for my painting so…

  • The Ravine: #1

    The Ravine: #1

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    When I was a kid, I spent countless days with my Brothers and Sister playing in a ravine down in the woods. Some of my favorite times as a kid were spent down there trying to catch snakes in a sock, or building dams to try to make a swimming pool (which never worked). I…

  • Ryan Zion: #1

    Ryan Zion: #1

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    So they don’t all end up working out the way I want. I really like the composition in this, which is thanks to Ryan Battles. (I didn’t do this photograph justice here, but I gave it a good shot.) Last night I watched some show about Renoir and Monet. And it got me interested in experimenting…

  • PTO Beach: #2

    PTO Beach: #2

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    I screwed up on the perspective of the waves. But I like the colors overall. I started off using masking fluid which again, I used way too much of. I thought, “If I use too much masking fluid, then I can always go back and add color later.” This is a mistake because it messes with…

  • PTO Beach: #1

    PTO Beach: #1

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    It’s a trite composition, sure. But this was a long looooooong week, and I wanted to take a mental vacation. I have been reading a lot of Bruce MacEvoy’s amazing compendium on color (http://handprint.com/), and wanted to see if I could put some of it to the test, so I experimented with a minimal palette.…