Calm Under Tension by Gwen Gyldenege
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Painting the Hawaiian Tropics in Watercolor

2/27/2015

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I'm working on a commissioned piece that is to be colorful and tropical among other things. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the "ugly" stages a painting goes through. It takes courage to proceed beyond any one of these stages. 
The progression of a water color painting. Original watercolor artwork by Gwen Gyldenege
I believe a good painting also requires some time to ponder it, study it, and get lost in it. I could see this place in my minds eye before I ever painted it. I studied light on waves from awesome photographers like Clark Little and several painters such as Claudia Nice.  I also looked over my own photographs from a recent trip to California where several of the same kinds of flora (flowers and plants) are found.  Spending time with the plants helped me connect with and study their nature (waxy, smooth, hairy, soft, spiky, etc) and then more easily learn to draw them from my own photographs.

This piece is not quite done yet, but I've been in love with it every step of the way.  I keep hearing Mount Kilhuea in my head as I paint the hills, but I don't have a clue what it means yet.  What I do know is that I would love to have this on my wall and gaze upon it daily.  I can hear the waves crashing when I look at it.  And I'm as tickled pink as the clouds because I was able to paint a heart shaped cloud in the same manner I've observed clouds forming. What a true joy to dedicate myself to this work. 

Before this, I had never painted anything tropical.  Most of my watercolor experience was in my elementary years and very little at that.  The remainder of my watercolor experience is in the belly dancer series & cartooning I did between 2005 - 2010.   I'm blown away by what I can do. I feel like this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm so, so, so excited to see an idea from my imagination based on input and inspiration from a new client turn into something this magical and colorful.  


Stay tuned... I've more watercolor pieces in the studio that I will be sharing soon!
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    Gwen Gyldenege

    Author: 
    Gwen Gyldenege

    I'm a one woman circus.  
    I'm curvy and athletic.
    ​I am a dancer.
    My last name translates 
    to "Golden Oak". 

    I'm an artist, intuitive, engineer, seamstress 
    and performer.

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Except for sources otherwise stated beneath images or bottom of the page (Creative Commons), all images and works are copyright Gwen Gyldenege, all rights reserved.  Contact Gwen to request permission.
Photos used under Creative Commons from I Robertson, DoNotLick, Gustty, Jayson Emery, Nbepko, Gamma Man, I Robertson, Lars Plougmann, RowdyKittens, Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious, The Wandering Angel, VasenkaPhotography, quinn.anya, Léa Chvrl, Lost Albatross, Guttorm Flatabø, BEST PHOTO, RowdyKittens, allistair, BozDoz, tanakawho, Navicore, Bilal Kamoon, D-Stanley, Kris Krug, glasseyes view, essers, Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious, Alex Pepperhill, Found Animals, adactio, Office Now