Watercolors on the Computer

This is two versions of the same painting. I am taking a Japanese Inks class at the Digital Art Academy.  It is an on-line school that teaches art using Painter by Corel. We are studying sumi-e painting.

The idea behind Asian art is that less is more.  The negative is as important as the positive.  Just like the yin/yang symbol.

At the same time, over at Skip Allen Paints , Skip has put up some demos of new watercolor brushes for Painter and videos explaining the brushes.  Skip is also doing sumi-e painting with his new brushes. Please check them out.  They are gorgeous.

Taking what I learned at DAA and from Skip, I did this painting with Skip’s new Wet Water watercolors.

Then, I added a texture on a layer under the painting.  On a layer on top, I added black and used composite method on the layer and turned the piece to gray-scale.

I am struggling with the concept of leaving white in the painting and letting that act as part of the piece.  Asian art is also about letting just a few strokes tell the story.  That is something I am working on in my abstract paintings and the reason I took this course. I think I am not alone in finding it difficult to do less in my art.  I always want to add a bit here, a bit there.  The next thing I know, it’s overworked. I couldn’t make up my mind which one I liked best, so I posted both.