Painting a mouse

Hi I have had a busy few weeks, and I seem to find myself teaching and doing workshops more and more, which leaves less time for painting . However meeting people and showing them my love for watercolour has been a joy. They have said ( to my face at least) that they have enjoyed what I have had to teach them, and I try in a small way to pass some of that on to you through my blogs.

I certainly don't profess to be an expert but I think, we all ( myself included) like to see how other people do things, then we can use what they show us and progress a little bit further with our painting. Take the bits you like and pop them in your own toolbox then add your own style and see what happens

Today I painted a little mouse, here is what I did.....

Firstly I drew him on a small piece of watercolour paper. i use Bockingford

 

 

Next I used a paperclip dipped in masking fluid to draw in the whiskers 

 

 

Then I began on the eyes of the little mouse. I use a small brush as you can see and under-paint in cerulean blue , leave some white of the paper too so there is light in his little eyes. 

 

I next use a mixture of sepia and indigo, to create an 'almost' black colour and use this to create the darks of his eyes, carefully blending so some blue shows through.

I also use this colour for the pupils

 

Next the ears, all done wet in wet I use a mixture of cadmium red and cobalt blue , which I use as a shadow colour . I wet the ears first with water, then drop the shadow colour where I want the darker areas

 

 

Now the nose and around it , I used a weak cadmium red and the shadow colour where the fur was whit, to add in the chin.

The fur itself is yellow ochre and burnt umber , look carefully where the browns are and the white fur.

Paint what you see not what you think is there.

Then carry on , using the shadow colour to add definition in the white areas

I also added some signature slpots and splashes.

the feet and hands were done with cadmium red and a touch of cobalt blue, and i added some indigo in the background and the shadow colour to give him something to stand on

 

 

Then just to rub out the masking fluid , and he is done x