Molly Barker

A Shell: An Introduction to Watercolor

Beautiful Laney and the story makes is so special :)

Thank you so much Diana, appreciate your comments. X

Absolutely stunning painting! I love the story behind it as well. The shell from my class was one that my husband found when his parents took him to the beach when he was 4, and all these years later, he still had it. The little things that seem unimportant when they’re small often are the most special things when they grow up…As for the shape and the depth, I think it turned out really well - in the future, don’t be afraid to go darker (like on the very right side of the shell), and also, oftentimes, the shadow on the surface that it’s sitting on is just as important to showing depth as the shell itself (since the light source appears to be from the front left, the shadow should be mostly visible behind the shell).But really, I love this painting. Excellent job. (and your daughter has great taste in shells!)

Thank you, much appreciated. After I took the photo, when the painting had dried 24 hours, I saw it needed darkening and have done that. As for the shadow, the light is from the left so attempted to increase the depth of the shadow to the right. However, granulated paint doesn't like glazing and had to pool paint in layers as best I could.. glad we're both looking at it the same. Thank you.

Granulating paint is so tricky!  We are certainly on the same page!

She is. With regards to the painting, I found it difficult to get the curve of the shell right. What do you think? Does it come across as curved?

Yes it looks curved to me. The marks in various directions where you lifted paint and the dark section on smaller portion of shell. 

Thank you for your observations, really appreciate that.

She collected shells ... bucket loads ... when she was 8. This weekend she found this blue one and asked me to paint it so I used it for this tutorial .. she turned 50 this year ... old habits die hard<img srcset="https://static.skillshare.com/uploads/project/5eef853cfcb87c55f1e89b72a39cdc20/3dbdf32a.jpg 600w, https://static.skillshare.com/uploads/project/5eef853cfcb87c55f1e89b72a39cdc20/3dbdf32a.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 100vw" src="https://static.skillshare.com/uploads/project/5eef853cfcb87c55f1e89b72a39cdc20/3dbdf32a.jpg" loading="lazy" alt="My daughter's seashell. . - image 1 - student project">

My daughter's seashell. .

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