Tag: preliminary drawing

Chatter Watercolor

Tracks Across the Fields

By -N- on

I do love the bleak look of winter. With watercolor, a limited palette of 3 or 4 colors can express so much. Admittedly I used more, but I usually like alizarin, ultramarine, burnt sienna, and Hooker’s green for the colder time of the year.

Following through on points for some of the classes I have been taking, I am working to simplify subject matter, colors, and lead the eye. I think I managed to do this here, leading through the fields to the houses on the hilly horizon. I tried to contrast warm and cool colors, with a bit of warm on the buildings with the hope it will draw the viewer in. I also used wet in wet and dry brush, working from general shapes to more specifics; light to dark in general.

In addition to the painting, I am trying to make myself do a preliminary drawing before I touch brush to paint to paper. I did this one today. Lesson – it is actually worth the time, and I have been a silly bunt not to take on this fine habit sooner!

Watercolor, 9×12 CP Extra White Fabriano Artistico 100% cotton paper.

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Chatter Drawing

Thirty Days

By -N- on

I just finished a course on drawing as a preliminary to one on brushwork, and then color theory. Between will be challenges, and the challenge between drawing and brushwork is a 30-day challenge to do small, preliminary sketches in pencil.

Day 1

One of the things I have enjoyed about the course, taught by Ian Roberts, is the development of drawing as a preliminary to a painting. Initially, as in the first few weeks, shapes were simple and the point was to carve out space on a 2D surface to create a 3D image. We ended with a challenge of doing one such sketch a day for 30 days – or however many sketches we could do. I have time to do 30, so 30 it will be.

Day 2

I never do value studies, but I admit to laziness and impatience on my part. So, I decided that I needed to do something which will shake up my approaches to painting. As well, values are always hard for me to see as color always gets me. Roberts says, “Color gets all the attention but value does the hard work.” Or something like that. So true!

What I have enjoyed in particular is how Roberts approaches composition – leading lines, horizontal, verticals, and all leading to the focal point of the picture. I think I am getting that. The direction of the pencil lines indicates, too, the vertical, diagonal, and horizontal. Brush strokes can indicate the same.

Obviously the first picture has some verticals – and things we expect to be vertical, even if tipsy, such as the fence posts on either side of the road. The second one, a picture of low tide at a local beach, doesn’t seem to have any verticals except in the cliffs. But wait! The lines of the ocean and beach are nearly vertical – something I never considered until Roberts pointed them out.

I admit, I am curious how I will get my black and white studies onto a painted surface in color, but I guess that will come with time and practice. All told, I will be in his class through August, and I hope by that time to see some improvement.

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Chatter Watercolor

A Class with Rick Surowicz: “Abandoned” (Day 1)

By -N- on

I’ve long wanted to try one of Rick Surowicz‘s online watercolor classes, but haven’t felt focused enough to take the time to do so.  Yesterday I decided I was ready.  His classes are not expensive compared to other artists’ classes – $39.00.  I think that is a worthwhile investment.  And a bargain.  Surowicz has a number of videos on YouTube which I find so informative and educational that I thought a class with greater depth of what he does, how he thinks, would be a great benefit.

The class I decided on is called “Abandoned.”  I can do okay with water and trees, but buildings and perspective are a problem.  This was the primary reason for this choice.  Additionally, there are structural elements, such as planes and angles and deciding proportions.  I am not good at this at all!

So, today I sat down, downloaded and printed out the PDF files.  I got out my sketchbook and did the preliminary work – sketches of four different compositions and value studies of two of them. (Click on one to see the gallery.)

Four Compositions for Consideration.
Studies of 2 of the 4 for Values.
Value Studies using White, Medium, and Dark Values.

I am full of good intentions, but very bad at executing them!  I keep telling myself to do value studies, but don’t.

Making all these sketches -12 in total – came with an amazing “ah ha!” moment:  drawing the same thing multiple times gets you familiar with it.  I started learning where the chimneys were, the slants of the roof, the arches.  The house became like a friend who you haven’t seen for awhile – but the features are so familiar.

Here, on the one with 3 values (white, medium, dark), Rick had us consider light from the left and light from the right.  There are similarities and differences, and if you look, you will see them.  This was fascinating as I have never done anything like this – I’ve done value studies, but not with a changing direction of light.

So far I am really pleased with the course content.  Rick has an even pace when he speaks, and his reasons are clear.  As someone who taught for many years, I tend to be highly critical of online courses.  So far, I am very happy.  Content is clear, and progresses logically.  I am looking forward to continuing more tomorrow!  Thank you, Rick!

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Chatter Watercolor

Frustrations with Contrast

By -N- on

Sunday, 3 September 2017

It’s sort of a quandary.   Should I blame myself, the weather, the paper?

First, we have been housebound, not by hurricanes, but by interminably hot and stinking weather, weather so fiercely hot that heat stroke is easy to come by.  Temperatures have been soaring to 112 F and 30% humidity – for a desert gal, this is not fun.  Dry weather and moderate heat is okay, but living in the darkened house, in a house filled with air conditioned air, and melting outside, is getting old very, very fast.  Tempers are short around here, and hopefully the weather will break tomorrow with 85 F and begin to cool.  I hate being inside and being inactive.  I don’t belong to a gym, but it is too hot to go for a walk or a run, probably even in the middle of the night.  So, it pisses me off!

Next, I am impatient and annoyed – a lot because of forced inactivity because of this disgusting weather.  This doesn’t help when watercolor paper needs to be used up for practice, but the sizing is so crappy it buckles and creates weird areas that show poor quality – and possibly poor quality control.  And the practice itself is hard to do – in part because of my monkey mind and my need for some good aerobics to rid myself of the wiggles so I can focus.

Oh, poor me!

But now that I’ve bitched a bit, maybe I can look back at what I am doing . . . working on my ever-present nemesis:  contrast.

Monday, 4 September 2017

Okay, I got over myself.  I tell you, though, that a week of unrelenting heat and humidity of 110 F and 35-100% humidity is not fun.  Today, humidity has dropped because of rain, the temperature is down to about 85 F.  I am in a much better mood.

Yesterday, I walked away from my abominations, knowing full well that contrast was the real issue I have.  Like I have said many times, I am drawn to color.  Color.  COLOR!  I don’t like doing the “basics” in knitting (i.e. swatching) and I have never given much credence to monochrome studies, even though it has been stated and re-stated multiple times.  Finally, I gave in, and did some grey scales in pencil and watercolor.  In watercolor I did some wet-into-wet, and then layered washes.

And finally I did a watercolor.  The grey-scale study was invaluable – lesson learned!

There are parts of the preliminary drawing and final grey-scale study which are good, and some which are bad.  I followed a video on YouTube by Paul Talbot-Greaves that was very clear.  He has a few others I will look at as well.  Seeing something done always helps me to learn.  A book is good, but watching the steps a painter takes is even better, especially when recorded and you can go back again and again to do the studies.

The steps I took here began with a simple light wash over all parts of the building – very, very light – into a lot of other areas in the picture.  Then I did some medium layered dry washes, just to do them.  These are on the bushes and foliage behind the two trees on right.  the building had wet-into-wet, moving it into the bushes in front of the door.  At this point, I had my white and middle value established, so I thought it would be fruitful to do the very darkest areas next.  I think it was a good idea as it then allowed me to then return to shades between the whitest and darkest shades.  This study was in Payne’s Grey on a student-grade Strathmore paper.

I also found another video, but cannot find the link for it.  There was an excellent suggestion of creating a grey scale, and holding it against colors as you paint.  What shade is your yellow or red?  That will help with the contrast.  Right now, let’s see what I can do with a few colors . . . this is gonna take a lot of discipline!  But, I am doing it, which is more than I was a few weeks ago.  Yay!

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