I am really happy with the Garuda above!
I wanted him to come alive, and not be a statue on a dais
as he is shown in my post from earlier this week.

I began with a pencil sketch in Pentalic 2B. . .

and inked over that with a Platinum Carbon pen.

I was determined to be patient with my wash layers.
I began with the yellow ball behind his head.
I let that thoroughly dry, then applied layers of blue together.

I didn’t let that completely dry, because I wanted just a bit of run,
when I added a very pale Hematite/Sepia wash and Quinacridone Gold.

I let that completely dry (patience, patience, not my virtue) before coming in with a darker hue of the Hematite/Sepia wash, adding a little Quin Gold as I played the edges.
Mitchell looked over my shoulder and said the moon was distracting
(drew the eye) so I also softened the bright yellow with Quin Gold.

I let the him dry completely, then added many layers of basically the
same colors in varying depth, except for the green wash created from
Sap Green/Serpentine and whatever was left in the trough.

One of the things I’ve learned from listening to so many good watercolorists is not to worry about purity of a color, but to let other pigments mix in these deep washes for interest.

Splish-splash, I loved him.  But he needed to pop!
I added DeArtramentis Document ink for just a bit of definition.

A slide show from statue to final Garuda, below.

Strathmore journals, with a Pentalic 2B woodless pencil,
Platinum Carbon pen, Platinum Preppie Pen, De Artramentis Document ink,
and Daniel Smith, Holbien, and QoR watercolor paints.

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