Isle of Skye
While working on the revision of The Rose Guardian, I’ve been mucking around with a new painting. I think I will call this one finished. (One never knows about these things. I’ve looked at paintings years later and thought: Oh, I could have done that differently. But yes, for now it’s done.
The painting is watercolour on an eighth sheet of d’Arches 300lb cold pressed paper, depicting a stormy dawn on the Isle of Skye. I’ve always been drawn to dramatic skies, even in life. They somehow inspire hope, sometimes awe, definitely always opening a broader, grander perspective than looking down at your feet.
Anyway, here it is:
Isle of Skyewatercolour on d’Arches 300lb cold pressed
Copyright 2018 Lorina Stephens
In the meantime I have new novella releasing March 1, Caliban. Hope you’ll buy it, enjoy it, review it. I’m perhaps shooting myself in the foot by writing new concepts in each novel I produce, not building a following through a series in which people can get invested. But I will be honest and say I never took up writing for fame and fortune. I just write about people in situations I find interesting, and hope anyone who reads that story will find a similar interest. Same reason I paint, I suppose.
But again, I digress. Waiting for reviews for Caliban to come up on LibraryThing after an advance giveaway Five Rivers did.
So, back to the painting: I returned to some pigments I hadn’t used in years, particularly ultramarine blue. And now I know why I abandoned it. While I love the colour, it tends to be grainy and not play well with other pigments, thus often separating in solution and rendering a grainy or muddy effect. I really detest that. I’m always striving for luminosity in my paintings, and ultramarine thwarts that every time until I use it straight up, no additions.
I also decided to coat the entire painting with gum arabic, and then work in fine detail onto that transparent surface. What ends up happening on the micro-level is almost like putting a cellophane skin between layers of colour, and that allows light to travel through layers in a different manner. It allows greater luminosity, and sharp detail.
So, there you have it: my latest painting while working on the revision of The Rose Guardian.
And go preorder a copy of Caliban!
