Apple Blossoms In Spring Watercolor

Title

Apple Blossoms In Spring Watercolor

Artist

Conni Schaftenaar

Medium

Painting - Watercolor On Masa Paper

Description

Apple Blossoms painted in watercolor on masa paper with batik-like crackle, by Conni Schaftenaar.

This is watercolor on Masa paper, which gives you a faux "batik" crackle for your background, which you do in the prep stage. I did one version and my crackle was too pale, and when I was painting the image, all my crackle disappeared. I did another background to paint the same image and got pretty good crackle. It's an interesting medium to paint on, for sure, and every time I do, I learn something new about what NOT to do! Painted using Ultramarine Blue, Aureolin, Gamboge, Permanent Rose, Burnt Umber, and a tiny amount of Quin. Gold.

For any of you painters interested in Masa, here are some things I've learned:
Masa, being a type of rice paper, is semi-translucent. A good way to get good crackle on Masa is to put a penciled X in the top corner of the back of the sheet, which feels "fuzzy". The front side feels smooth. Then, after you wad the paper up and soak it in water to begin to add the crackle color, you lay the sheet out on paper towels with the fuzzy side UP. The X is important because once you wet the paper, you can't tell which side was the fuzzy side. Use fairly dark colors and paint on the fuzzy side. The cracks and creases that were formed when you wadded the paper up and soaked it in water will create the crackle, and the rest of the color will show through lightly. Once you've got the colors you want placed where you want them, place the paper smooth side UP on a prepared backer sheet that you coat with glue (2-1 mix of school glue to water works well. Depending on the size sheet you're working with, it would help to have a second set of hands to lift the very wet Masa, flip it over, and position it on the backer. I staple my backer sheet to a work board so it's all ready for glue application as soon as I get my color laid down on the back of the Masa sheet. You can use multiple colors, judging where you want crackle in different colors to appear. The more tightly you wad the paper and the darker you paint on the back, the more crackle you will get. Let this wet, glued sheet dry thoroughly before you begin to paint on the smooth side. Although I will say that many artists who paint watercolor on Masa prefer to paint everything, crackle and all, on the fuzzy side! I like having the dark crackle on the back because it prevents those colors from lifting and blending when you're painting your image. So you can paint yellow over a blue crackle and not have part of your yellow flower turn green, for example.

In this painting, I put a pretty dark green mixed from Aureolin and Ultramarine Blue and straight Ultramarine Blue around the whole perimeter and put Permanent Rose in the middle area where the blossoms would be. You can see how dark the green and blue crackles are on the outer edges, but the rest of those colors, painted on the back but not settled into the cracks, shows through as a soft green and blue background.

I took the reference photo of apple blossoms on my farm in West Michigan close to a year ago, in 2018.

4th Place Tie in Half a Year has Passed Traditional Mediums Contest
1st Place in Your Favorite Painting of 2019 Contest, January 2020
3rd Place in Spring To Solstice Contest, March 2020
Top 5 Finisher, Your Absolute Best Piece of Artwork, April 2020
Top 3 Finisher, A Woman's Touch contest, May 2020
3rd Place Tie in Spring Images contest, May 2020
1st Place Tie in the In Apple Blossom Time - Painted Media Only Contest, May 2020
Honorable Mention placement in Contest Winners contest, September 2020
1st Win in the Color to Black N White Paintings Part IV contest, September, 2020
Honorable Mention Tie in Something Remarkable in Watercolor Contest, October 2020
1st Place Tie in the New Year contest, January 2021
3rd Place Tie in Woman Painter of the Year 2020 contest, January 2021
1st Place, Ground Hog Day - Winter or Spring 2021, February 2021
3rd Place, Floral Painting contest, February 2021
Honorable Mention Tie in the Your Best Work Contest, February 2021
Honorable Mention Tie in What’s the BUZzz Blog Series- SURFACE CHOICES-ALL Media Contest, March 2021
1st Place, Masters - Spring is Near contest, March 2021
1st Place, Your Art Your Walls contest, April 2021
Honorable Mention Tie, What’s the BUZzz Blog DESIGN and COMPOSITION, May 2021
Honorable Mention Tie in 150 Comments Or More Contest, May 2021
Honorable Mention Tie in the Best of the Best contest, May 2021
3rd Place Tie in the Inner Beauty Within contest, June 2021
2nd Place Tie in the Vertical Images contest, June 2021
1st Place Tie in the Paintings Watercolor Drawings Pastels Only contest, June 2021
2nd Place Tie in the Flowering Tree Paintings contest, August 2021
3rd Place Tie in the Whatever You Want contest, August 2021
2nd Place win in the Something Botanical contest, September 2021
Honorable Mention tie in the Watercolor Only contest, September 2021
3rd Place tie in the KTBuzzz Art To Go contest, September 2021
Honorable Mention tie in the My Personal Best contest, September 2021
1st Place win in the My Best Work contest, November 2021
2nd Place win in the Get Noticed Paintings I Will Never Sell contest, December 2021
Honorable mention tie in the Holiday Gift Guide contest, December 2021
3rd place win in the Think Spring and Summer Blooming Trees and Flowers contest, January 2022
Honorable Mention tie in the KTBUZZZ- YOUR ART- MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE Contest, January 2022
Honorable Mention in the It's Beginning to Look Like Spring contest, March 2022
1st Place win in the Art From The Heart contest, March 2022
2nd Place win in the Love for Kay contest, April 2022
3rd Place tie in the Loveliness of Spring contest, April 2022
3rd place tie in the Just For Fun Multi-Process 2 contest, April 2022
Honorable mention tie finish in the Fine Art America No. 1 contest, April 2022
2nd place tie in the Floral Paintings contest, May 2022
2nd place tie in the Traditional Artists - For Inspiration contest, September 2022
2nd place tie in the Top Paintings for Public voting contest, December 2022
3rd place win in the Your All Time Favorite Art contest, January 2023
1st place tie in the Spring is Here contest, April 2023
3rd place win in the April Showers Bring May Flowers and Mother's Day contest, April 2023
3rd place tie in the Watercolor Wonders contest, April 2023
2nd place win in the Apple Blossoms Fruit Tree Blossoms in Spring contest, May 2023
1st place tie in the Your Personal Masterpiece contest, May 2023
2nd place win in the Artistonish Magazine 34th Issue May contest, May 2023
2nd place win in the Your Best Works 3 Personal Masterpieces contest, June 2023
2nd place win in the Your Favorite Painting contest, August 2023
2nd place win in the This Is My Best Work contest, August 2023
3rd place tie in the Baby-Pink Flowers contest, February 2024
3rd place tie win in the Your Three Best Paintings contest, April 2024

Featured in:
Everyday Wonder, April 2019
Created by My Hands, April 2019
Fine Arts Watercolor, April 2019
Painting the Old Way, April 2019
Art District, April 2019
Images That Excite You, April 2019
Beauty in Art - No Photography, April 2019
Midwest America Artists, April 2019
The Art of Watercolor, April 2019
Exclusively Drawings & Paintings, April 2019
Art - It's Good For You, April 2019
Women Painters - Hand Paintings Only, July 2019
Art Forever With You, July 2019
The World We See, March 2020
1000 Views on One Image, May 2020
Spring Summer Fall Winter, May 2020
10 Plus, June 2020
Beautiful Watercolors, December 2020
Hand Created Paintings, Drawings, and Mixed Media That Excite You, May 2021
Your Best Work, August 2021
The ARTIST BUZZz, August 2021
Special Feature, The ARTIST BUZzz, April 2023
A Woman's Touch, April 2023
The Art Workshop, April 2023
Closeups of Flowers Beautifully Painted, April 2023
Fantasy Flowers, April 2023
Fine Art Prints - Artist Boutique, April 2023
Non Photography, April 2023
Original Art, April 2023
Vertical Images, May 2023
For the ART of It, May 2023
Over 3000 Views, November 2023

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April 9th, 2019

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