Bye bye winter

Next part of progress photos. This time I was making two big illustrations to nursery rhyme about winter going away and a beginning of spring.

In the first picture there was a lot of snow and ice shown so I had to use plenty of masking fluid to cover it, just in case. My way of making first two layers of watercolour paint is rather spontaneous so many areas are painted even if they shouldn't ;)

For applying masking fluid I use old and cheap brushes. Those are the three I've used this time (I have a big bunch of them). From the left: used to make masking fluid outlines, used for smaller parts, used to covering bigger things.

Easy way to add details and make picture look more complicated - spots on bushes or trees or grass. Then you can leave them white, colour them so they look like flowers or fruit or cover the whole element with another layer of green paint and it just makes a nice texture.

Almost finished painting. It's hard to paint with light like that - paper's texture is too visible and disturbing.

 See what I mean? You can overlook some details and forget to paint them ;)

 And, at last, finished pictures :) I've taken this photo at night with my table lamp so the colours look actually a bit different. Don't you think that those clouds are fabulous? :D

And Marie Antoinette again! :D I must say, I had no idea her tail has got a brown end! Lately, she hasn't been sleeping in her bed because there was not enough sun here. However, spring started today and it's already more sunny :) So I hope she will come back to her pillow, just next to me.

A.