Day 29 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Today I've worked on two paintings that are painted on different surfaces and the the backgrounds were painted earlier.  
The Aqua Leopard Pump  6x6 Watercolor on Yupo.  I sprayed the background with several of the turquoise and aqua Dr. Ph. Martin Hydrus Watercolors -- even a little of the Payne's Gray which helped to darken parts of the background.  I babysat my painting and swirled it as often as I could to get a difference in the color as it was drying.  I even applied some additional Aqua after the shoe was completed to get a little different texture on the right side.  The shoe was painted with Lamp Black, Burnt Umber and Blue Aqua.  I do love "slings" so this shoe appealed to me from the beginning.  With a love of Africa as you can see over time in my paintings there had to be some wild animal influence in the shoes as well.



Aqua Leopard Pump  6x6 Watercolor on Yupo


Being resourceful I cut up one of my painting's from last year's challenge that wasn't one I was totally happy with trying to make the design better.  The background was perfect for this shoe when I was trying to match it.  My Mom loved polka dots and as I was growing up she made me a little fur jacket with red polka dot lining and when I saw this shoe I knew it had to be painted.  I also wore a one shoulder black and white polka dot with three tiers of lace short dress to one of our formals in high school -- so the polka dots bring back good memories.

I used Dr. Ph. Martin Hydrus Watercolors:  Ultramarine and mixed a little black with it in the shadowing on the shoe.  I used White Gouache to make the white stand out from the underpainting. I used Vermillion Hue for the red.  It does take several layers of intense paint to cover when you have backgrounds like this one if you don't want it showing through.  

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Navy Red and White Polka Dot Pump 6x6 Watercolor and Gouache on 300 lb Watercolor Paper