Scroll down for more..

This is an example of watercolor glazing. Feel free to click on the image to see a larger version.
This is how we will be building the image, but very simplified.

We all started off today by taking the largest area and washing that large area with Transparent Yellow. I find it easiest to work the big shapes first, and then break them up into smaller shapes. 

Adding more Transparent Yellow to the main koi in this painting. For the ease of the class we are naming the fish. "Spot" is the one with white and orange, the one on the other corner is named "Pumpkin", and "Goldie" is the one underneath them both.

Starting with Winsor Orange - Red Shade, we glazed lightly over "Goldie" as shown, and then worked over to "Pumpkin". 

Still working with Winsor Orange Red Shade, I started glazing over the background shadows and more of the fish named "Spot". Notice that where I've added orange over the white of the paper, it reads as "pink".

We really accomplished a lot today.  

Starting with thin amount of Thalo Blue I worked wet onto dry just to find the spots on "spot". 

Since we worked on small areas on the koi named "spot", I wanted us to feel like we accomplished something so we painted larger areas. Also note that where we painted with thalo blue over yellow - the color is slightly green; and where we painted over the plain white paper we ended up with a vivid clean thalo blue.

With Thalo blue we are continuing onto the fish named "pumpkin" and filling in the eye and all the freckles and painting around the bubble on top of his head. We are also painting the darker areas as noted to the left. 

Get out your permanent rose and lets paint the upper middle shape and add a light amount of rose and paint around the fish food.

Now work on Pumpkin and work darker and with a saturated brush and with one fell swoop paint the underside and then clean off your brush and move the color out to indicate the ripples just like in the reference photo. 

With a light amount of permanent rose we are adding to the fish named "spot". We are working inside of the shapes as indicated, which will show the ripples of water and light.

With a light amount of Permanent Rose, finish where we left off last week. Hint: on "Spot" finish painting the stripes and work down to the bottom of the center area as shown. Add more permanent rose to the pectoral fin and the dorsal fin as shown - on "Spot" 

With a dark amount of Thalo Blue, working wet on wet, add it to the left bottom area under "Spot" as shown. Work quickly and keep the edges wet, so that we can have a deep amount of color.

Now on the other side of "Spot" we are going to be adding Thalo Blue again, but this time we are working wet onto wet. Please use a clean brush and add water around the right hand side of "Spot" we are just adding to the background and not any of the fish. Once the area is wet, drop in the Thalo Blue and let it travel, as shown. 

With a light amount of Thalo Blue we are adding to the "dark" spot on "Spot". And also add a thin amount to the left underside also, soften the edges with a damp brush. 

With a light amount of Thalo Blue we are now moving to "Pumpkin" and adding a thin glaze to give that face some movement and dimension. Once the paper starts to dry you can spatter some thalo using a #2 round brush. Dip the brush in the "well" and hold the brush by the end of the handle and hit it with your index finger. Pretend it's a cigarette holder and you are flicking an ash off.

For homework, add the darks on Spot and Pumpkin.

Working on "Spot" to bring out more of the oranges, we are working with Winsor Orange red shade. I've added the orange in the sections, and added wet onto dry and then softened the edges out as needed. I'm always looking at my reference photo to tell me what I need to do next. I also wet areas and dropped orange in. I also added the orange over the blues that are going to be real dark, the ones inside of the orange shapes.  

Now working on "Pumpkin" and with the same color, Winsor Orange red shade, lets add where it's needed. Working wet on dry and on the left hand side and then working to soften the edges as shown. We even went over the eye. We also added to the bubble but careful to leave the "lights" inside of the bubble. Also add some heavier orange around the perimeter of the bubble and start darkening some of the spots.  

Some of you folks were concerned that we didn't have enough yellow in the fish named "Spot" so we went ahead and glazed Transparent Yellow over the big shapes, which brightened the colors but softened them down a notch.  

Same thing for the water, some of you wanted more of the greenish yellowish color, so we added Transparent Yellow over the color area as shown.  

We are going to start making this image POP. We are working with indigo blue and neutral tint. we wet the area on the left hand side and then added a creamy amount of indigo and let it spread as shown.

Then we worked on the right hand side, working wet onto wet and added the creamy amount of indigo to the bottom edge. Then while the paper was still wet, we added a thin amount of  indigo as shown to get that dappled look.  

Working on the upper right hand corner we added indigo again but we wanted to keep a little distance from the edge. We are painting just "inside" of the shape. 

I wanted to clean up the lower left hand corner so I added more Indigo wet on wet and worked really quick to finish the corner.

On Pumpkin we added more to the face and eye and then softened the color out as shown. 

Add Transparent yellow to the background. I added this wet onto dry into the big shapes and then painted the smaller transition shapes. Work quickly, and loosely. Don't try to make these shapes exact, we want to simplify these shapes. 

Now with Winsor Orange Red Shade we are doing the same thing. Working the big shapes and playing with the transition shapes between the larger shapes. Pay attention to the direction and the curves, and make them random. It's ok apply the color wet so you can drop more color into the shape as needed. Work at just adding some transition shapes not all.

Go over the shapes again, and this time we can add more transition shapes to join the larger shapes. When working you shapes, notice whether you need soft edges, and or hard edges. Notice also whether the shapes have value changes. How are going to paint them?   

Now we are adding a brand new color to the mix: Winsor Violet. This color reacts differently than some of the colors we have been using, so play with it on another sheet of paper before applying it to our image. It goes down brilliantly and then dries much lighter, so you can safely apply this darker than usual. Again working lightly (color) and wet add to the shapes and then drop in color to build a deeper value. If you need harder and darker edges, just put the color down wet onto dry, and soften the edges. Remember work the big shapes first and then the transitional shapes.  

Here we are adding more Winsor Violet to the mix.

I will now brighten the colors of spot and pumpkin and then work on getting the colors on the under fish "Goldie"   

I had an hour to spare before setting up for our Saturday Evening ArtWalk, so I decided to paint a bit.
I added a deeper amount of Yellow to the background fish named "Goldie" over the Purples. and then I added more Winsor Orange over that, to give it more of a punch. I also added more orange to both "Pumpkin" and "Spot" to brighten them up a bit, and also added perm rose, and then thalo blue to add to the darks. I also added a perm rose wash to the left hand side of "Spot" from the tip of his head down along his side including part of the fin. When that was dry I added more thalo blue to the bottom side of "Spot" where we just added the perm rose. When I added orange to "Pumpkin" I also added it to his fin.