Watercolor over casein

[llawrence]

Hello friends,

I mentioned in another thread about my experiments laying watercolor glazes over cured casein. Here are my first few attempts in master studies of portraits. I think it gives a cool effect.

Prussian blue glaze, after Diego Velazquez:



(Just couldn't resist adding the jaunty cap! Poor Diego is likely rolling over in a fit...)

DS Diopside green glaze, after Jose Maria Acosta:



Rose madder glaze on the couch (and a bit of the shawl thing), after Robert Henri:



I'm now experimenting with using casein and watercolor mixed directly together, with some success. I think both techniques could be used on the same painting.

Thanks for looking, feedback and crits quite welcome!

[Trikist]

Did you lay down a casein grisaille first? The colors are very rich. The green glaze in the second is really beautiful to my taste. And, the definition on the faces worked well to my tastes. Gary

[llawrence]

Thank you, Gary. The green girl had a grisaille for the dress, raw umber and white. The Velazquez blouse and cap were painted in black and white before the blue glaze. The rest of the caseins were in earths, white and black.

[laika]

Wow, these look good. I'm not quite sure what is what paint-wise, (you should do a WIP on the next), but the outcome is impressive!

[llawrence]

Thank you Lamar, I may do that at some point. I'm pretty sure I'm going to continue using watercolors with casein paints in various ways, it's an exciting combination for me so far.

[Ted Bunker]

I suppose there's no reason you can't also tint White casein paint with watercolor paints , the casein being the stronger binder and both are water-based. I tend to think of gouache and watercolor as part of the same spectrum of water-media paint, rather than as opposites. Both use Gum Arabic binder.

[llawrence]

Ted, I've actually begun doing that. I can't stand the drying shifts of some gouache and casein paints, so I've begun using watercolor, especially for some of the darker colors. I'm currently experimenting with white and yellow ochre (some combination of which tends to get mixed in with most of my colors) in casein; lighter-valued opaque pigments—bismuth yellow, cads, cobalt teal and violet—in gouache; and darker transparent pigments—ultramarine, indigo, vandyke brown, hooker's green, rose madder—in watercolor. I'm liking this configuration so far, though I have to do a lot more paintings before I'll know for sure.