The piano

I often talk about painting over old sketches….it’s a great way to warm up.    It’s freeing. 

I enjoy dramatic light play, and was attracted to the piano when visiting my friends Mick and Gail in Kent.

In this instance, using Gouache (an opaque watercolour) I have painted a colour ground over an old sketch.

It’s important to allow the ground to dry for a minimum of 24 hours before using.

This is how the ground looked after it had dried….It doesn’t have to be a flat colour and as you will see I am incorporating the colour ground into the finished image.

Using Gouache (opaque watercolour) allows me to use more of an oil painting technique.     Here I sketch out the piano using a mix of burnt sienna and prussian blue watercolour.   (I never use black in my watercolour/gouache work. 

And now…I begin to indicate some of the strong light which is filtering through french doors leading onto the garden.

This is a very simple composition using just a few colours…including Winsor & Newton Gouache permanent white, and naples yellow.

In this frame I decided to crop the painting  – and added some purple into the shadow play and burnt sienna into the background. .

A Bientôt