Must... keep.. painting...

[ellenmillion]

If I stop now, I will never get back to it. I know this, because I'm at the awful 'I've ruined it!' 'I can't do this justice' and 'I don't know what I'm doing!' stage. Stopping now would mean putting it back in the cabinet for another year. And, since this one has already been FOUR years in the making, nuh-uh. Must keep painting.

If my photo-taking were actually happening ever hour, that would mean I've put 8 hours in so far. But it hasn't been as regular as that - some gaps are 20 minutes, some are an hour and a half. So, I've lost accurate track of how many painting hours this thing has sucked so far.

Layers, layers, layers... some of those leaves I've painted seven or eight times now. They keep drying less brilliant than the colors go on. I'm not sure I've done the right things with the tree colors. I'm STILL not sure what color Kate's dress will be. Red would be awesome... but not right for the story. White would be wrong. Blue? Maybe blue. Violet would be okay, but I'd have to work it in somewhere else, and makes it too many colors overall. Can't do yellow. (Already painted the shadows blue (fool!), and they'd go green and that would be yuck.)

Must. Keep. Painting.

Comments

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I think blue would actually be really lovely in the dress; violet may be introducing one too many colours.

And those roses are AMAZING. Please keep going, you haven't ruined the picture, it looks stellar. I know that phase though where you hit the 'I've ruined it!' only to find out that no, that's not true at all. *hugs*

[foxfeather.livejournal.com]

Using radiant/concentrated watercolors can severely cut down on the time it takes to do something like this - if you're finding yourself painting and repainting things to bring out the nice tones they have when they're wet I'd definitely considering checking them out. :) I use Dr. Ph Martin's but there are a bunch of different brands out there. Makes watercolor MUCH less frustrating! :)

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

my husband and i find it stunning so far. please don't stop. i think blue could be a great choice.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

It's looking more and more gorgeous! :)

[brightling.livejournal.com]

Stunning Ellen! Keep at it :D

I was wondering if a pale silvery gray would work for her dress? In the photos that tone appears to show up in the bark of the trees at the moment.

It'd be neutral but still behave like shiny silks do and pick up the surrounding colours. You'd have to calculate out where the hues would catch but the silvery fabric would softly absorb and reflect some of the reds and greens from the roses. Light washes of those colours as highlights to tie in the dress with the rest of the piece. You'd probably also have those pale blue/violet tones show up in the gray itself. Don't know if that would even be the effect you'd be going for though. Also might be complicated to achieve. ^_^;;

I'll just keep admiring!

[nixjim13.livejournal.com]

I'd probably paint the rest of it before starting on her dress. You could possibly get away with yellow if you changed the shadows to purple. I likt the idea of white. BTW, roses are looking beautiful

[jadefantasyart.livejournal.com]

Beyond Gorgeous!!! Can't wait to see the next instalment.

Hugs,
Jade

[serenstar.livejournal.com]

You're definitely not ruining it! It's wonderful :) I know how much watercolors drive us mad too, the painting, repainting, repainting again that gets tedious. Your work is fantabulous. Need more cheerleaders?

[astein142.livejournal.com]

Patience. It's lovely so far, and the magic of watercolors comes from layers of color. For the dress, practice various colors on a scrap sheet first... perhaps it's possible to use a muted yellow IF you're able to add layer pf a pale red over the blue to create a purple shadow... but practice on scrap, first, please!

[cynnalia.livejournal.com]

The roses...WOW! This is a masterpiece, Ellen!

[natsunekko.livejournal.com]

Just ditto-ing the "you haven't ruined it! keep going!" thing. This is looking really lovely. I think it may be my favorite piece of your's, once it's done. The drawing is flawless, and the painting is perfect so far too.