Sunset Over the Harbor #hahnemühle #hahnemühleexpression #dinawakley #schmincke

I have had the most fun over the weekend working on this piece I am calling

Sunset Over the Harbor.

Let me walk you through it. 

I used a block of Hahnemühle Expression Cold

Pressed Watercolor Paper to create this piece on. 

It began with a large sheet of Canson Watercolor

paper and I  just rolled out a lot of 

Dina Wakley acrylic colors in stripes. 

(Just squeeze a dot of color and brayer it as

far as you can make it go.)

 Then I used the Hahnemühle Expression Cold Pressed

watercolor block to 'clean' the brayer.

I just rolled back and forth after each color until the brayer was clean.

You can see in the shot above how the color

looked at the beginning. 

Just kind of blotchy and patchy and pretty.

Then I used a pencil and started the placement of

the waves I wanted to use.

 I tried to use a micron to add ink, but the texture of this Expression paper was intense enough that I changed to a regular black sharpie pen to ink over the lines for the waves, and to make the lighthouse and the start of the sun.

 I really love the texture of the Expression paper

and the bright colors showing through the bones

of my drawing.

 A couple boats and the rays of the sun rounded out

the drawing, then I started adding color with my

favorite Schmincke watercolor pans.

You just can not go wrong with their color

and they worked so wonderfully on this Hahnemühle paper!

And I love how you can still catch glimpses of the

underlying brayered color. 

And that texture! It's amazing!

 I have never done a lighthouse or boats,

so this was a first for me. A lot of fun

and I am really happy with the way it

turned out!

Those little white highlights on the waves

are a simple white gelly roll pen. 

I thought you might like some detail shots.

This piece is approximately 9" x 12".

I left it on the watercolor block until it was completely

finished and the paper was totally dry.

Then I removed the page from the block with a metal

palette knife. 

I like that most of Hahnemühle's papers come in block

form, so you can let your art dry in place before removing it.

That way your page doesn't curl or warp,

it dries totally flat and stays that way when

you remove it.

I am working on a review of the

Hahnemühle Expression Cold Pressed Watercolour

Block - making enough art using various media

so I can give it a fair overall review.

So far the paper is batting 1000.

Want to pick up some Expression 

so you can give it your own review?

You can purchase some here.