My project in Experimental Watercolor Techniques for Beginners course

I was fascinated by the creative interconnections and have chosen this as a final project for this course. It took a while to create the drawing and I was a bit afraid to loose the lines so chose to outline in graphite chaulk, then washes of watercolor, a final layer of some white gouche and details in black and white gel pens.

The first image is of my drawing. My concept was a swan on the lake superimposed by the last pose of a ballerina in the Dying Swan ballet. I watched several videos and decided to use the one of Natalia Makarova. Her body in the final pose was compact and would fit within the swan's body. It was difficult since the video was old and grainy and the final pose, well the curtain and lights were down. Her hand is not as defined because it was still moving into the final stillnesss. I had to try the swan several times to get the lines to flow together with the ballerina and to decide on the head position.

Next I defined the outlines with graphite taylor's chaulk in carbon black and added a light blue watercolor wash along with some other very light colors, pale yellow for the swan's beak and the dancer's hair, and some shell pink on her toe shoes.

The final painting here, has a layer of white gouche on the tutu, some shimmering iridescent paint on the swan and some detailing with black and white gel micro pens.

This painting was inspired by my love of ballet and animals, birds in particular and all the new techniques I learned here in Ana Santos' course. Thank you Ana for inspiring me to create something so beautiful and unique.