LEARNING
After starting to draw the spider, I found this drawing tutorial. It helped me understand the structure of spiders. It may help as I am painting.
INSPIRATION
I wanted to paint an animal that made a structure and immediately thought of a spider. Sister spider launches herself into space to connect existing structures so that she can create what she needs to nourish herself.
This species is known for its orb webs, which include a stripe with a distinctive zigzag pattern called a ‘stabilimentum’. The functions of the stripe is unclear, but may be to help stabilize the web. It’s called a wasp spider because it looks a little like a wasp, confusing predators.
STRATEGY
where are the whites? There are areas of the spider’s body that look white. The web is white. It’s hard to see in the photo and doesn’t follow a pattern I expect. I will have to keep referring to the photo as I paint.
What’s light and dark? Areas of the spider’s body and legs are yellow. I want to paint them first.
In what order should I paint? Background first, using yellow and green, hopefully in a watery mix. Leave room for the web! Then paint spider’s body, then legs.
CREATION – session logs
- I drew the spider today. I decided not to draw the web, but to refer to the photo as I paint. That will be a challenge. Drawing the spider, I was aware that her body is not familiar. I don’t know what to expect.
- I ordered some masking liquid, but there was a mixup so it did not come. I started painting today intending to leave white space for the spider’s web. That didn’t work. PCA Amber wondered if light blue would work. I discovered that a blue would work over the background green. When I started painting green, I realized I could center the spider. After that, I got lost in the joy of painting. Next time: paint the web and the colored parts of the spider.
- I painted the web today. There were areas that were unclear so I made up a webby structure. I also made up lines for the stablimentum. In the photo, it’s a dense cluster of webs that is almost pure white. I didn’t know how to paint it so I approximated.
- I finished the painting today. I painted the legs and body of the spider. The yellow wasn’t “reading.” It just looked like the legs were incomplete. I decided to use orange to connect the legs and added some to the body as well. I regret my choice of blue for the web. I don’t think that communicates. (Looking back, I could have used some acrylic white. I didn’t think of that until after the blue was done.)
- For electronic presentation, I scanned the painting and replaced the blue web lines with white.
INSIGHT.
- What surprised me?
- How difficult it was to leave white space.
- What have I learned?
- To choose my subjects with an eye to how easy it will be to paint them. (Is that a copout?)
- What do I want to learn or try?
- What makes a watercolor look waterier? (splooshy?)
- How can I loosen up?
- Thoughts about the theme.
- The spider uses her web as a structure to gather nourishment. What nourishment am I lacking? What structures can I put in place to gather it?