So we come to the end of the course.  I started a watch painting in Lesson 5, and will show the finished product here in Lesson 6.  The hardest part about this watch, frankly, was trying to replicate the colors that were caught in the reflections from the original room in the metallic parts of the watch and the wristband.  I struggled with this and my result is shown below.

It is not a bad painting, and I was pleased at the upper portion of the watch and wristband.  However, I was disappointed at my inability to replicate the links in the lower portion of the band. Notice how the lower links do not compare well with the photo of the actual watch, shown below.

I posted a message on Janee's Message Board, asking for help, and Krisse and Sophie came to my rescue. Krisse showed me how she would do one of the links on the wristband.  She used a base layer, gradients, layers for shadowing, and duplicate layers to set bevels.  In other words, she took the time and the number of layers it required to make the painting of the layer look right.  I also went back and looked at what Janee did in Lesson 5 with her links.  Janee used multiple colors in her gradients and she sometimes used reflections and sometimes used the regular gradient. 

So armed with this material, I tackled each of the links in the lower section of the band as individual paintings.  By the time I was through, each of the links required from 3 to 8 layers to set it apart.  I built gradients for each of the links, some with up to 9 colors in the gradient.  I applied each gradient to a base layer that contained the average color for that link.  I used every brush trick I knew and invented some more  to get what I thought I saw in the photo.  I used the scatted capability of the brush to randomly spread color across key parts of a link ( I had never done that before), and varied the size and color of that brush, generally at an opacity of less than 50% and with the airbrush on and a flow of 60%. Sometimes I turned the airbrush off to get a more direct application of color.  At times I drove the scatter to over 1000% to get the distribution of color that I wanted. Then I would overlay broader soft brush strokes at lower opacity in the airbrush mode and no scatter to get the shading of colors I needed on the link.  I added beveled edges, generally at a depth of 20% to give a more gentle image of roundness to the link (that trick was thanks to Krisse). 

 I would take the layers that had the scattered brush strokes and the shading and then I would directly add a Filter > Blur > Motion with the angle following the link to get the streaks down the links (that trick was courtesy of Janee). I did a direct application of the Motion filter to these layers because I needed to streak my intentionally laid down spattered painting instead of a uniform or gaussian distribution of noise.  I duplicated a lot of layers before I added additional effects. Then I would add another layer and paint the outer edges of the link to drive them into deeper, more narrow shadows. I did a lot of stuff, but the most important thing I did was to force myself to take the time to paint each of the links as it's own separate painting.  I like the end result.  It is not a duplicate of the watch, but now I think it is a good painting.  See what you think.

Course Conclusions.  I never knew how important Paths were until I started photorealistic painting.  Being able to control the selections using paths is very important.  Being able to adjust a path in specific areas after the path is done beats the heck out of trying to totally redraw a new selection.  I learned a lot about how to use brushes and shadows, but I still would like to learn more from Janee on  how to use tailored brush shapes. I found that I went through a lot of trial and error (mainly error) in choosing what style brush to use (size, opacity, jitter control, opacity control, hardness, etc.). when I was trying to paint any particular scene.

I am, as I have been in past courses, thankful for the supportive style of instruction that Janee and Joanne bring to this course.  Learning how to paint is a daunting challenge and would be so terribly frustrating without the help of Janee and Joanne.  They both bring a high level of professionalism and talent to this course.

I would also like to thank the other students in this class.  Your work was inspirational and your advice was exceeding helpful.  But most of all, I appreciated your attitude.  I have never experienced such a supportive, friendly, and talented bunch of people.  You, more than anything else, made this course a treasured experience.