Water-color Roos

I found this old water-color of mine which dates back to the 70's.  I remember this was done after reading about Maxfield Parrish who had experience with color printing.  He painted in color separations like a printers plates, using a layer of varnish to separate each color layer.  I don't remember if he had any order to which color got applied first, but essentially he did a blue, yellow, red, and black layer, all separated by the varnish. It allowed him to wipe off or alter a color without disturbing the color layer below. Then he would commit the whole thing by sealing it with a last coat of varnish.  I guess to see one of his painting was almost like looking into a 3D image because of the depth achieved by the many layers he used.  Pretty cool, huh?

Well, now, back to my picture.  I tried a quicker version using a translucent water color and doing a red, yellow and blue wash just to see how it might work.  I did the kangaroos and laid in the background but never felt inclined to finish it for some reason.  Anyway, having rediscovered this picture, I kind of like the dreamlike quality to it now, so I'll frame it and hang it on my wall.

I tried two other water-colors using this technique and they have appeared elsewhere on this blog, but here they are again.  I'm not sure if it's more effective than mixing colors using water-color, but I think it may be cool to try in oils, like Parrish, and using the varnished layers.  Maybe one day I will finally try it.