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My Steps as an Artist
Step One
Each painting I create involves an extended research process. It starts onsite with photographs, sketches, and whatever else I can take with me about the subject matter. Luckily, my husband, Joseph Held, is a photographer and he helps me get a variety of perspectives.
Step Two
Once the photos are taken, it is time to start getting my supports ready. My supports of choice are illustration or watercolor boards. I find that they are the best for the way I rough them up! I add gesso to the boards with a thick hard bristled brush to lay down the underlying textures.
Step Three
Next I run a watercolor drip wash on the background. There is a lot of hurry up and wait that goes into each piece. I try to develop a series of supports at one time to lesson time wasted.
Step Four
Now on to the outline! After going through all of my photographs, manipulating and creating the compositions I want I lay down the outlines on my boards. Then comes the extensive wipe on wipe off phase. I take a smaller hard bristled brush and dig. Dig all of the paint out in my subject to get the highlights, lowlights, and midtones.
Step Five
After all of the sections are dug out, I go back over the painting with watercolors glazing and layering each section. If I don't like it, I dig it out again. I have found that watercolor is actually a very forgiving medium. Unlike acrylics, that dry to fast and are permanent, watercolor can actually be manipulated to a certain extent. As with all media, too much can give you a big pile of mud just like any oil painting.
Step Six
Next, is my favorite part adding the watercolor pencils! My pencils of choice are Prisma Color Watercolor Pencils. They are soft and pick up my background textures quite nicely. They give you a transparent texture affect when you add water to them. I get the hard edges underneath the watercolor paint they disperse.
Step Seven + (There are more?)
When I am finally happy with the piece and chewed up all I could on the board, it is time to ad the conte’ crayon. I love conte’ because it is like a pastel/pencil/charcoal. You can manipulate it, erase it, and smooth it. I get into my work and I am never afraid to get my hands dirty! So I can actually use my hands to manipulate each piece. Once the highlights are on and I am happy, I end the process with my signature. The whole thing is quite meditative.
Mission
By natural influences, create affordable original artwork that people can enjoy and bring into their homes or work space.
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