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To demonstrate DANIEL SMITH Watercolors and my appreciation and understanding of their characteristics, I have used my favourite 18 colors to complete this painting – Tinkus Dancer at the Oruro Carnival, which was part of an International Exhibition organized by the Bolivia Watercolor Society. I chose a colour theme that represent the national colors of Bolivia. I will share my creative process in 6 simple steps.

Step 1:  Drawing / Sketching

I have a lot of ways to start my paintings. Sometimes I like to use a pencil to sketch out the details, other times I start with just a general sketch, and occasionally I paint directly with a brush. I wanted this painting to appear more realistic, so I drew the face very carefully with pencil, but only a few strokes for the background as I wanted to keep it more carefree and simple.

Step 2:  Mixing the colors directly on the paper

I personally do not like to mix the colors too much on the palette – I prefer to mix the colors directly on the paper. I first freely applied paint on the paper to add color to the face of the character and the hat with the colorful feathers, with a combination of thick and thin applications.

Step 3:  Completing the main subject

My usual technique is to leave the highlights of the main subject white, to capture the reflecting light rays. I then slowly painted the important portions of the main subject and applied more details to about 80% completion.  Often artists will focus on completing the main subject to about 100%, but for me, I usually focus on completing it up to 70-80% so that there is room to add in more colors and strokes as the overall work is nearing 100% completion.

Step 4:  Application of the background

I used Payne’s Gray to color the background in an easy and free way with the brush and water spray technique. The grey background contrasts sharply with the main subject’s vibrant and fresh colors. During this process, I pay attention to the space treatment and try to complete the background in an interesting manner during the application of colors by keeping some white spaces.

Step 5:  Gradients of the background

I gradually added my favorite 18 colors both carefully and freely through lighter brush strokes. You must use a softer brushstroke with the right pressure and direction to show greater space contrast between the background and the main subject.

Step 6:  The Finish

In addition to the strong light illuminating part of the main body through the white space left earlier, I used watercolor brushes of different sizes and types to apply all the colors on my palette with different strokes – from treating the light to dark areas, to applying bright to dark colors for the details and background of the main subject. Upon completion, you will see that this piece has a strong sense of music surrounding the main subject, because of the colors chosen and the brush strokes applied. The overall feeling of this painting is warm and happy! This really achieves the emotion that I want to express through this painting – that the world is beautiful!

I have always liked painting this beautiful and colorful world with rich texture and colors, and DANIEL SMITH paints make it very easy for me to achieve that effect in my artwork. They are beautifully made, colorful and offer lots of choices. Most importantly, unlike other brands of paint, the richness and vibrancy of the colours assist me in capturing the beauty I see in this world so I can express that in my paintings.