Red, red wine...

...leaves such beautiful purple tones on corks (probably Cuvee Rouge and Roaring Red, two faves from this excellent winery). Pencil, watercolor and a wee bit of water soluble pencil, 5 1/2" x 8". I tried this subject again to make sure, but yes, corks are surprisingly difficult. Bear with the artist notes here - even though they are a basic cylinder shape, the color is hard to achieve with watercolor. If I was using oil or acrylic I would go to town mixing titanium white with yellow ochre and burnt sienna and just a smidge ultramarine blue for what I imagine would be the right color, but in watercolor, without the opaque white (or any opaque for that matter) their elusive color just isn't very strong. I am determined to try again because the wine color, the shadows, and the reflections created are just wonderful to paint.