Vines take form

The small, twisted vines have been painted with some shading, but in a very limited value range. I'm using only wet-in-wet technique here, to avoid too much sharp detail. I don't want the vines to be the focus at all, but they have to have some depth as they move around each other. So, there will be more shading but no sharp contrast in values.

Here you can see that the main, large vine has also been started. The left and upper portions have had one wash, while the lower and right sides have had two.

I don't want all the browns in the painting to look too much the same, so the large vine is a combination of raw umber plus purple. This doesn't jump out, and the hue ties in a bit with the orchids. The small vines are a touch warmer, since I used very light raw sienna and raw umber for them.

There will be more layers on the vines before they're done. I'm thinking of scumbling some areas and streaks with greens to give an impression of moss here and there. There will probably be more washes of the browns as well, until the overall color and value range seems right. It's a bit hard to judge how dark to go without any of the blacks that will be in the frogs... I'll just have to make sure the frogs pop forward when I do add those details to them.

Frogs almost there

Every frog has now been painted except for any black areas and final details. So...this morning I finally lightly inked in all the vines.
Every bit of remaining pencil sketch has now been carefully erased. Next up will be working the light colors into the vines, trying not to step on any frogs' toes!

Frogs continue

I am continuing with the frogs very slowly, since it really is the most fun of all, and it seems to go more quickly than any other stage of the whole process. So I'm painting them bit by bit, sometimes taking a day or two off. I'll continue posting photos as I go along, but it won't be every day's progress.

You will notice that most of the frogs are incomplete. This is because many of them are patterned with black, and I don't want to use that pigment before painting the lighter colors for the vines behind the frogs. It could easily bleed into other areas if a bit of water touches it. Actually, the same is true of the strong red or blue pigments, but I'm taking my chances with those.

Frogs gain color

I've been working on the frogs for a few days now. These frogs were all chosen for their amazing colors, patterns, and in the case of the horned tree frog, its unusual structure. I'll definitely have to leave the negative space between the orchids and frogs plain white to allow the eye to rest. And the branches or vines on which the frogs reside will need to be subtle as well so that they don't compete with all the other elements of the picture.

Orchids - day 3

The orchids are pretty much done now, and I look forward to beginning on the frogs next!
I may go back and touch up a few details in the orchids when the rest of the painting reaches a comparable level of development. These are such outrageous flowers.

Orchids - day 2

I am continuing to work on just the orchids. Here they are on Day 2 of adding watercolor.

First touch of color

Even though parts of the picture are still just sketched in, I've begun applying the first layers of watercolor to the orchids. The basilisk, orchids, and frogs are all now inked, but I'm leaving the branches and vines for last. The first thing I'm using color for are the shadows in the orchids, which are mostly variations of lavenders and greens. Local color will be added later, along with all the intense, colorful spots and streaks. When the orchids are completed except for the final details, I'll move on to the frogs.

New painting: stages

I've decided to lightly ink in all the drawings of frogs, orchids, basilisk and vines. When that step is completed, I can go back and erase all traces of the pencil sketch before starting in on the actual watercolor. This is really getting close to the most fun part, and it goes more and more quickly each time I sit down to work. Turns out that the vines are the most difficult part to finalize. I'm looking forward to starting in with color...