The Artist Magazine : Watercolour Competition "Yellow Challenge" 2014

 Yellow pigments used as a background for primroses, Negative painting on top of the initial wash makes the primroses come alive.

Win Brushes and Watercolours!

 Wouldn't you like to win a  fantastic watercolour set by Schmincke Horadam as well as a set of mygorgeous watercolour brushes? All you have to do is paint in yellow.  Anything at all. Any subject, any technique as long as your work is in watercolour. Show me a beautiful way to use yellow shades and make me smile at the same time! Schmincke Horadam have generously donated five fantastic sets of watercolours and I am giving away my own personalised brush sets as prizes. The value of each prize is  approximately £100! So its' time to get painting but what? Read on!

My competition is in the  April issue of the Artist Magazine. You can read my feature by following this link 

http://www.painters-online.co.uk/Features/How-to-Get-More-From-Your-Watercolour-Pigments/_ft431_mg13

This doesn't mean you have to only paint yellow subjects. My challenge is all about creating a painting by using yellow somewhere in the composition. As a judge I will be looking for the most exciting result where yellow plays a huge part in the painting. I am sharing a few ideas in this blog post to inspire you to enter. The painting of primroses above uses yellow as a first wash all over the paper, then  I have worked around negative shapes of primroses to bring them alive. In the painting below yellow brushwork also directs  the eye to the flowers, adding hints of sunlight in the background.

 Hints of sunlight in the background add warmth to this painting of primroses

But please don't feel you have to paint the obvious , as in yellow subjects like flowers. How about painting animals with drops of yellow in spectacular eyes. The surrounding colour then makes the eye come dramatically to life.

  Cats eye with tiny hints of yellow add  extra life to an animal painting.

However I do need to see the yellow in the competition entries. It has to be obvious as a colour, in the results. The landscape below for example could have been enhanced with a transparent layer of yellow ,added over the finished painting as a layer when it was dry.

 Soft watercolour of a bridge that could be worked further, by the addition of a transparent layer of heavily diluted yellow. Not suitable for my competition as it is !

BUT.......... this following painting works!

 

 A hint of  sunshine reflecting in the water adds interest to this cool blue boat scene.

 Yellow shades flowing from the bag being carried on the head in this figure painting connects to the figure. Colour flow throughout the study is a useful technique,  the yellow also acts as a backdrop to detail on the dress

 A quiet yellow shade was used as background for this painting of Venice. Creating soft atmosphere and a sense of mystery.

Cadmium Yellow here is used boldly to highlight strong sunshine  on these colourfully dressed women in a market scene.

There are so many ways of using Yellow in a composition. By layering, as the subject, as the foreground or background, in a section or all over the painting. How about you show me your favourite way to paint in yellow and I will be sending five sets of prizes to the five most interesting entries. This challenge is open to all levels of artists. 

If you read my feature you will find out more

Have fun painting and submit before the deadline!

 http://www.painters-online.co.uk/Features/How-to-Get-More-From-Your-Watercolour-Pigments/_ft431_mg13