Rabbit

To continue with the Mouse story, we are following our mouse on his adventures as he tries to find his way home. This time he meets a rabbit happily eating away at the dandelions but not very forthcoming with information.

After drawing out the scene as usual in watercolour pencil my first problem was how to make the rabbit look fluffy.  So I worked on mixing the colour required choosing watercolours that tend to granulate, in this case yellow ochre with ultramarine,  a little coeruleum blue and a touch of Alizarin Crimson. The yellow ochre and the coeruleum being good for granulation if the mixture is right. I experimented with the mixtures until I found one that worked then damped the area to be painted and quickly applied the paint, then it had to be left to do its magic.

Some of the paint separates and the heavier granules sink into the indents of the watercolour paper giving a soft textural effect and damping the paper meant that the paint would fill the area leaving soft edges.  I painted the rabbit first because that was the part of the painting that had the most chance of going wrong, they do sometimes, and if I had to start again I would not have lost to much work.

  Next the mouse and sketching in of the surroundings.                                                                                                 

Then as usual working top to bottom filling in the landscape. First, sky and distance.

Note the hint of an owl in the sky in the distance, I try to leave clues in the pictures as to what might be happening next. Then the middle ground, trying to merge everything slowly into focus.

Then the foreground with all the detail and the warmest colours.  Finally the finishing touches, the inside of the ear, details on the eyes and face and last of all the whiskers. 

I have not gone into any detail of the colour mixes in this picture as they have mostly been the same in the past paintings, any new colour mixes that I use in the future I will include in each new blog. 

Any guesses what will be happening to our little mouse next?