More Swan Boats

I had such fun painting the swan boats last week, that I decided to paint some more of them! I think these paintings look good as a pair, don't you?
Like my previous painting of swan boats, I painted this one using only Sennelier watercolor paints. These paints have a smooth creamy consistancy, and the colors are very rich and saturated, giving my paintings an added vibrancy.

Swan Boats II

Swan Boats I

I masked the boats and dock before I painted the watercolor in the background. After the background dried, I peeled off the mask and reapplied it to the details that I wanted highlighted, and I began painting the boats. This photo shows the first washes of color and value being added to the boats, using Cobalt and Violet.

Here, I've deepened the colors and values of the boats with more layers of tranparent watercolor, and I've begun to layer a few colors to define the wooden dock.

The lightest areas of the painting are still protected by masking fluid while I layer the paint to develop the bills of the swans using cadmium orange, ochre, and cad. red. I spread a little of the warm colors down the neck area of the boats to show the reflections in the shadows.

At this point in the painting, I still need to deepen a few of the values even more, so I layer more of the cobalt and violet and add a little indigo to the darkest areas.

And here's the finished painting, after all the final details are painted at the last stage.