model sessions

Here's the schedule of models for the next two weeks:
Beginning  -  Model 3/21
Intermediate - Model 3/14, 3/21
Advanced - Model 3/13. 3/20
Madrona - Model - 3/20

Where's the homework?
You take it from here. What do you need to work on? Pick just one thing - seeing layers, getting the darks dark enough on the first try, controlling wetness - whatever it is, stay with it, and don't spend your energy trying to make a pretty painting. When you put your efforts on the wall, please be prepared to tell us what you were focused on.
Have fun

intermediate homework 3/1/12 The List

In the interest of becoming your own best teacher, remember to keep your goals realistic. Here's an example of using the list to narrow down the focus of your efforts toward refinement of a work in progress.

If you are unsure of part of your subject, or if something you have tried looks wrong, you can either practice it on a separate piece of paper, or attempt something on the painting in progress. If your experiments don’t lead to increased confidence, slow down, and make sure you understand the problem. Go down the list: Color, Value Wetness, and Composition. When the dust has settled, you should have a plan for what you will do differently. Limit the changes to just a few, so you can see whether you have resolved those issues. Taking on too much at once obscures your progress, and increases the odds that you will be overwhelmed.

147             Study, Barrio Azucenas, Oaxaca                        Tom Hoffmann

There is a mountain at the end of every street in Oaxaca. I wanted this one to feel distant, but to display the afternoon light. A hard edge for the profile, but soft edges for the shadows seemed right, as did carrying on the blue/orange palette from the rest of the picture. When it was finished, though, something was not right. The scene did not feel as peaceful as I intended.

Going down the list, I started to assess color first: Are there too many colors? No, that’s not the problem. Is color temperature an issue? Hmm…could be. The mountain may be too closely related to the blue and orange in the buildings, pulling it forward in space. And the big orange building on the right is too insistent. Maybe ease off of the complimentary palette. It seems a little harsh.

How about wetness? The big building is all in shadow. Maybe the doorway should have a soft edge. That would make the whole shape less intrusive. I like the soft, blue shadows on the mountain, but maybe soften the profile a bit to make sure it stays back. That’s enough for now. Time for another try.

148            Barrio Azucenas                        Tom Hoffmann

Softening the blue doorway was definitely a good move. As a separate bit of painting, I liked the orange mountain better than the green one, but it didn’t work as well in the big picture. In all, I’m satisfied, and don’t feel the need for another version. This was a quick enough painting that I did not have to think twice about making a new version rather than try to rescue the first one. Actually, I’m glad I left the study alone. After some time passed, I found that I liked them both.                

Do you think I should put the rest of the phone wires in this version?

Give this process a try with your latest painting.

Make sure you are clear about how you intend to revise the painting before you begin a new version. At some level I seem to believe that I should trust entirely to instinct and not analyze my efforts at all, so I often rush through my assessment. There may be some wisdom in this, since painting is largely done from the gut, but, realistically, there is no danger that I could eliminate instinct even if I wanted to. Honing in on one or two issues that need to be clarified will not make the next painting a dry, intellectual exercise. As soon as you make the first stroke, the current begins to flow.

beginning watercolor homework 3/1/12 layers upon layers

When this assignment is finished, you should have three versions of a painting. The first will show the major shapes with just the first layer for each shape. The second version, on a separate piece of paper, will be the first and second layers, and the third will show all the layers. In any given area of the final version there should be no more than 4 layers.

Those of you who took photos home this week can use those for the project, or one of these:

Millind Mulick

Beginning watercolor homework 12/22/12 refining your image

To sort out what is essential and what is optional in your subject, nothing works better than painting it several times. You get to see which bits bring it to life.
Choose a simple still life object. An onion works, or a mango. You can look around the house for something with a wide range of values (the kitchen is a good place to start), and a simple form. Keep the lighting simple. Sidelight works well. A cast shadow helps create three dimensionality.
Begin with a monochrome value study, in which the subject is radically over-simplified. Where do you need more subtlety? More specificity?
Paint the subject a few times, working toward a version that only includes the most telling strokes. After you've painted several versions, try painting one from memory. Please bring all of your studies to class.

Add caption

Have fun.

Beginning watercolor homework 2/15/12 Seeing in layers

Here are a couple of images that suggest a series of layers as a means of translating them into watercolor.

Look them over with an eye toward which layers carry the narrative content and the illusions of light, space, and substance. Squinting helps.

Just in terms of total space, the middle values dominate this scene. Are they also responsible for the content?

Here there is more dark than middle value. Would the darks alone tell the story?

If you were making a painting of one of these in layers that progress from light to dark, at which stage you would have to start being careful. 

Many of you brought home the images you were working on in class. Using those or one of the above, make a simple version of the scene by blocking in the lights, laying the middles over them, and, finally, adding the darks. Try limiting your palette to just three colors - one red, one yellow, and one blue, and make all your colors by combining the primaries you have chosen

Have fun

intermediate homework 2/15/12 Solutions

This will be a two week assignment. 

First, identify a problem you have encountered in the process of translating a subject into watercolor. It can be a purely technical issue, like this one:

" I am making a shape on dry paper, and I want to soften part of the edge, but not all of it, so I can't wet the whole area in advance. When I try to pre-wet just the part I want to soften, the edge of the pre-wet  strip shows through. When I soften the edge after it's painted, it blooms into the wash, or it just looks over-worked."

Or, it could be a question of interpretation, such as:

"The gravel bar alongside the river is made up of millions of cobbles, each of which casts a little shadow. This is not meant to be the center of interest of the painting, but it is in the foreground, and all the stones are plainly visible. How can I do them justice without distracting the viewer's eye from the boat?"

Your mission, should you accept it, is to come up with a solution, and save the evidence of your efforts to share. Hopefully, some of these will be ready to discuss by our next class time. 

D. Alanson Spencer                                             Oatman, Arizona

Spencer's strokes are hard edged on one side and perfectly soft on the other.

Intermediate homework 2/8/12 Prioritizing the information: What not to paint

Whether you are working from life or from a photograph, there is usually lots more information visible than you can cram into a painting. How do you decide what to include in your interpretation, and what to leave out?

Some of what appeals to you in the source image belongs in the painting simply because you like it. If something connects you emotionally to the scene, it must be important. You may still want to change it in various ways, but, by all means trust your feelings. 

Most of what you see, though, is not so easy to place on the scale of what is essential and what is optional. This is where it helps tremendously to make sure the painting progresses from the general to the specific.

Generally speaking, there are only a few major shapes in this image: sky, street, 2 cars, big triangular group of buildings on the right, strip of middle value buildings in the background, and the pale, cool skyline in the far distance.  In order to understand where these shapes are in space, I need to make them different enough from each other to stay separate, but similar enough to feel like part of the same scene.

At the early stages of the painting it is not necessary to look more closely, or more specifically at the shapes to begin planning how to meet those general requirements. How would you separate the skyline from the strip of low buildings, for example? You are not trying to do any more than locate the shapes at this point, which can be done without including detail. The skyline could be a flat shape, in a single color, with no texture at all. The nearer buildings would then need only a little color variation and a second layer suggestion of windows and doors, or a slightly wider value range to meet the immediate need.

What about the dark wedge of buildings on the right? Once some of the other shapes have been described you have a basis for deciding how much of what you see in the next area will be needed. Start by identifying the most general aspect of the shape (big, dark, triangular). Would that be enough to get it to do its job? If you are unsure, try it as simple as it can be. If it feels like it needs more information, look for the next most general aspect. Since these buildings are closer, you may expect to see more specific information. In that case, it would help to at least suggest that the shape is made up of several smaller shapes. What would make this simple triangle look more like a collection of individual buildings, without calling too much attention to it? In this photo, there isn't much to draw from. Instead of peering more closely, in the hope of seeing something there that will provide an answer, you can look to your own sense of what makes a building a building. How about vertical strokes, diminishing in size as they step back in space?

The movement from very general to increasingly specific can be made in increments. Thinking minimally like this allows you to make decisions about what does not need to be included. If the job you have set for yourself has clear parameters, it will be easy to know when it is done. Standing back from the picture, then, you can tell whether you want to add another layer of information.

The skyline seemed to need a very subtle second layer, which made it necessary to turn up the contrast in the middle distance. That, in turn, increased the need for drama in the closest buildings. Everything has an effect on everything else!

Please find an image that resolves well into a few shapes. Make a simple version that includes only what needs to be there to tell the story you want to communicate.