Watercolor

Carnavale di Venezia

| Gisele

I’ve been missing home, as I mentioned on my last post. This time of the year, for the last fifteen years, is always hard for me for two specific reasons. First being how cold and snowy it usually is. Second being… well, it’s Carnaval. Although I was never the one into all of the heavy partying situation while I was still living back home, I always enjoyed the days off (nobody works or goes to school for about a week during the celebration), summer, the beach, hanging out with my family and friends, all of those sweet moments I could never forget.

I was never into the parades, but I have always been intrigued by the other rituals that happen to celebrate carnival in other parts of the world. Most catholic countries have some variation of carnival. And this year my dear father reminded me of probably the most ludic party of all, the Venetian Carnival. We are Italian by blood, and that inspired me for today’s painting. ‘Carnavale di Venezia’.

The mask, the face. I was not totally sure how this one would turn out.
What I knew for sure was that no carnival happens without feathers.
Lots of feathers…
…seriously, LOTS of feathers!
Painting a face is very difficult for me, so I figured going for a profile would reduce the challenge at least…50%. It was a very good idea since I was freehand painting. Otherwise I would have outlined the picture first.
When I first started watercolor painting I didn’t think I’d enjoy using metallic paint. Well, I found out I actually LOVE it. So painting the details of the mask was super relaxing and enjoyable!
I also absolutely love using the black paint. It’s so pure, and it dries beautifully.
More golden details on the mask, and then I decided to use it to also highlight the feathers.
I love the effect of the highlights depending on the angle you look at it. It’s mesmerizing.
I am so absolutely in love with this piece! Don’t mind me tooting my own horn, I’m never this confident about my art, put I am proud of this one. I even put it up on my refrigerator (no joke!). I also think the solid bright colors on the background look so festive!

So that’s it for my carnival 2022. I hope you are having a great one too!

Gisele

Brazilian Toucan – ‘Tucano Tupiniquim’

| Gisele

I have been missing home very much lately. It’s been almost three years since I last visited my home country. So I decided to start a new series of paintings that remind me of it, and that make me feel closer to it.

Here’s my inspiration, a picture off the internet.

One of the exercises I’ve been doing is to watch and replicate. The very first paintings I have done required outlines as step one. I was not confident enough to freely strike the brush onto paper. I needed some sort of assurance that the work would be “under control”. Eventually, I learned different techniques of watercolor painting and I’ve been able to freehand paint ever since.

I started by painting the toucan’s chest – wet on dry. Always start with the lightest areas of your paint, if needed use the paper as your white. I love using white paint because of its texture and finish. Art is all about personal preference.
As I waited for the chest to dry out I began painting its beak. Honestly, it was my favorite part. I love the yellow and orange combination.
As the other parts were still drying I worked on the branch that my toucan would sit on. (The weather has been nicer here in the Midwest, one of the signs of it is the paint taking longer to dry – it means the humidity levels have gone up! Thank goodness!)
Then it’s time to work with the black paint. I started off with the smaller details on its beak, eye and then body. I purposely left some areas unpainted and used the paper as my white for some highlighted points, dimensions and texture.
Painting the foliage around the toucan was fun and so relaxing. It was the step that didn’t require much precision. All I needed was my carefree imagination and a combination of greens and yellows that felt good – that was easy, green and yellow are the National colors of my home country. I just painted the leaves away…
‘Tucano Tupiniquim’

“Tupiniquim” is the name of one of our tribes. We often refer to ourselves, our culture, and anything we love and enjoy from our country as tupiniquins. It’s a culture for us. So, there it is! My Tupiniquim Toucan, a little bit fluffy, but a very happy one!

I hope you enjoyed it!

Gisele

Pilot Episode

| Gisele

Hi there! I’m happy to be writing this blog post today. I hope you enjoy this brief story, definitely not an extraordinary one, but very meaningful to me.

Back in October of 2021 I decided to move to a new town, not very far from the one I used to live in, but for someone like me even a mild change is a change. It didn’t take me long to settle into my new place, I don’t have a lot of things, in general. So there came November, and I was ready to try something new, to go along with my new life.

My first watercolor painting…!

I woke up in the morning with a persistent thought that I should just try to paint, specifically with watercolor. So I got up, got dressed, drove to a craft shop nearby and bought some supplies.

When I got back home I decided to try to paint a leaf. It took me about an hour, and I realized how great it felt to concentrate on the movement of the brushes and clear my mind about everything else. For that one hour the outside world didn’t matter at all.

Looking at this picture I can see I’m far from being gifted – I’m not a natural, I need to devote myself to learn the right techniques and improve the quality of my work. However, my heart is there. That I can clearly see. And talent without emotions could, very well, be worthless. Techniques with emotions, on the other hand, is often a fruitful combination.

So that’s my story. Well, at least the very first episode of the series of my artistic adventures – the pilot episode. I’ll keep telling this story here on my blog from time to time.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Gisele