Diving Back In

 

"Layers of Leaves II"

6.75x5.75"

This watercolor is the second in my "Layers of Leaves" Deep Dive series. The leaves are smaller, tighter, and the layers are more defined. 

In "Layers of Leaves I", my first experiment with negative painting, I used a blue/green for the vines and leaves to imply a shady area—this time I selected a sunny, yellow/green to portray a warmer spot in the bright sun.

These leaves could have been painted in the same static green that the eye perceives—receding darker and darker by adding more black. However, using values of lighter green tints helped me imply depth with light more effectively. 

Thus, proving once again, "less is more"! 

Thanks for viewing my work. 

Nancy

Click to view this watercolor in my gallery and to explore all categories of oil and watercolor paintings. 

Deep Dive Discovery

9x12”
Live area 5.75x6.88”
©2026

This watercolor painting is the first in a series of smaller pieces that will explore painting multiple layers around a given subject. This intriguing technique was new to me. I watched an online video demo of this negative painting process; I was excited to give it a try. 

For this piece, I began drawing the top leaves and painted the entire area with a wash of color. Then I drew more leaves and painted another wash over all except for the top layer of leaves. This process was then repeated one more time so that the lightest leaf values were on the top layer, over midtones, and the final darkest values on the other two layers.  

I love working in this new, rather contemplative process, but was even more surprised to realize how the painting could easily be viewed as a metaphor for the inner self. The lightest leaves represented the side of me that the world sees —sometimes known as our "false self". The background and other leaves in midtone and dark values could likewise be viewed as our “true self,” the side that we most likely hide from the world.

This was a very interesting technique that I plan to continue exploring. If you’ve never tried a negative watercolor, it is worth the time and may produce some cool visual and perhaps emotional effects.  

Oh, life is such a daring adventure!  lol

Thanks for viewing,

Nancy