Watercolours
My watercolours technique is bright and vibrant, using the rainbow colours in a unique way, with warm (yellows, orange reds and yellow green) for highlights and cool colours (blues, purples blue greens and magenta) for shadows or dark colours. This gives them that WOW factor. I use good quality paints such as Windsor Newton, Art Spectrum, Daniel Smith, and also Gouache – Windsor and Newton Bengal Rose is my favourite.
There are two ways of painting with watercolours, Wet-on-wet; wetting the paper in the area to be painted, then applying paint and allowing the paint to run, this creates the amazing mixing of colours you will find in my backgrounds. I love the way the colours blend using the Wet-on-wet technique, they can be manipulated by moving and tilting the paper. Wet-on-dry is the application of paint to dry paper, the result is more controlled, I tend to use this for the subject of my painting.
I paint on a good quality rough watercolour paper, (Archers, Saunders, Langton) so the paint holds. I work on 185gms to 300gms in paper sheets.
I like to paint on stretched watercolour paper for my larger commissions and art pieces, this allows me to produce large pieces up to 700mm x 550mm. However, most of my commissions are painted on a “Langton watercolour block,” a pad of 12 or more sheets gummed together at the edges to form a block, this allows the paper to dry flat again after its finished. Stretching the paper does the same, a piece of paper is soaked both sides, then laid onto a damp board, it is them taped using stretching tape, a gummed paper tape, and allowed to dry. Once dry the paper is perfectly flat, ready for painting. This means that I can soak the paper with water and paint confident it will regain the flat surface once dry and not buckle.
Watercolour commissions are usually one of two sizes, 9×12 inch, great for single portraits, and 12 x 16 inch for multiple subjects or for larger more striking portraits. I can also work with natural tones and colours.
Paintings in watercolour are particularly vulnerable to the effect of external factors like light and humidity. Never hang your painting opposite a window or on a wall where it is exposed to full sunlight for most part of the day, they are best framed behind glass and using an acid free mount to prevent the paper from discolouring.
A selection of Yvonne’s world renowned and unique rainbow background artwork. It is her honour to paint animals, and this is a popular request by those who have lost beloved pets.
Yvonne’s artwork is commissioned worldwide. Two main sizes in watercolours, which are easy to post worldwide in rigid, reinforced envelopes.
9×12 inch (22.86cm x30.48 cm) or 12 x16 inch (30.48 cm x 40.64cm).
On request larger sizes available up to a full sheet of watercolour paper 700mm x 500mm (approx.).
