Think Big

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I included myself in this picture so that you could get an idea just how big this watercolor is. It measures 40 x 60 inches. Now that I have my new home studio I am looking forward to getting back to my series of large watercolors. It has been years since I had a studio big enough so I am really excited. This one was painted on 140 pound cold press Fabriano watercolor paper that I buy in a roll that is eleven yards long.

Starting with the preliminary drawing, I outlined the two hollyhock flowers and left the rest to my imagination. Working this large in watercolor is problematic because I need to work on a flat surface. To accomplish this I rolled it up on a large tube, placed it on my drafting table and rolled out whatever section I wanted to work on. From time to time I rolled the whole thing out and pinned it up on an easel to see how it was coming together. While I was painting the two large flowers I started adding things from my imagination like the large leaf and different buds. Because these were from my imagination I used whatever colors I wanted, made them whatever size I wanted and placed them where ever I pleased. At the same time I was adding rich darks to make the lighter colors pop.

In a painting this size it is inevitable that there will be areas that I don't like so I scrub them gently with a wet natural sponge and then blot with a paper towel. This always leaves a ghost image which I paint into until I get something I like. The ghost image creates a depth that I couldn't get any other way. I discovered this by accident and now I do it on purpose. I have several of these large paintings in my studio and I really cannot tell exactly where I used this technique.

The two hollyhocks were painted with cobalt violet, rose dore, mineral violet, and alizarin crimson. The centers are alizarin crimson, burnt sienna, lemon yellow, mineral violet, and unpainted white paper. When I was painting the buds. leaves etc. I used olive green, lemon yellow, yellow ochre, cerulean blue, indigo, and French ultramarine blue. I am looking at photo's and drawings tonight to choose a subject for my next large painting. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton