Watercolor Artist - USA (2019-04)

ArtistsNetwork.com 33

Artist’s Toolkit

PAINTS

• Daniel Smith:
  Payne’s gray,
  perylene maroon,
  pyrrol orange,
  ultramarine
  turquoise


• Golden QoR:
  Indian yellow,
  quinacridone gold,
  transparent pyrrole
  orange


• Holbein:
  sap green, shadow
  green


• Sennelier:
  phthalo turquoise
  SURFACE


• Custom-made
  clay-surface panel
  (applied to
  hardboard)
  BRUSHES


• Blick Scholastic
  Wonder White
  synthetic rounds,
  sizes .03 to 12


• 1- to 4-inch
  synthetic
  housepaint brushes


• Sponge brushes
  (other sponges)


• Inexpensive
  synthetic craft
  brushes. “My
  brushes aren’t
  fancy at all,”
  Cavanaugh says.

and bleeds are so natural—but the
color is permanent, which can make
things harder in the end.” A clay sur-
face, on the other hand, is more
durable and forgiving, and can handle
the application or removal of numer-
ous layers of paint easily. “Th e push
and pull of the surface is revolutionary
for watercolorists,” she explains. “You
just have to be light with your touch
and let each layer dry well before add-
ing another, or it will all lift up.”

Th e remarkable luminosity in her

portraits, each of which takes about

two weeks to create, comes through

the delicate layering of as many as 50

layers of paint. “I only apply very

small amounts of paint and layer

slowly, because if I have to restart,

I have to scrub it all out,” she says.

Cavanaugh acknowledges that it’s

most challenging when the paint just

doesn’t want to do “pretty” things, or

when the water keeps drying in the

wrong area or in unattractive ways.

“Th is can throw off the composition,”

she says, “but many times it’s the

unexpected blooms that watercolor

creates that make a painting sing.”

LOOKING BACK,

LOOKING AHEAD

Cavanaugh’s artwork, which has

received worldwide acclaim, is show-

cased in a new retrospective book,

Confi dante (watercolor on clay panel, 16x12)