The colors that I have used are Schminke’s indian yellow, translucent orange, pthalo blue and krapprot tief. Masked a few stems. Wet the upper wing area and brushed in the blue and red, then wet the body area and stroked the same colors in curves to show the roundness of the body. I find this white round plate a lot more useful than the regular palette with wells. This allows me to mix many subtle variations of colors without the hindrance of wells. The whiteness of the plate also helps me to see the mixes without testing them first on a swatch of paper. For large washes, I bought another tray with 3 divisions and a couple of white shallow dishes.
Painted the head with a mix of the orange and the blue on a slightly wet area, taking care to leave white edges. The black is a mix of all the four colors.
The cob (male swan) behind the swan is in sunlight and painted with a weak wash of indian yellow. While this is still wet, I sroked in a mix of red and blue for the shadow at the right hand side and a grey mixed with red, blue and yellow at the neck area.
Deepened the colors and added shadows along the belly of the swan. I have decided to leave this at this stage and move to the rest of the painting before adding any more details. The photos have been taken at different times in different lights, hence the difference in colors. The background is still white in all 4 photos.
Watercolor Journal 
