Beginning Watercolor Homework 9/22 Limited Palette

Using the photo you took home, or one of your own, paint a simplified version using only one set of primaries to mix all the colors. Choose any red, yellow and blue, and stick with that set. You can switch to different primaries on the next version. Have fun with it. This is more about color mixing than it is about making a painting. In fact, it is NOT a painting. Take your time with the colors, but don't correct the paint application. Let the mistakes show, take notes, and make another version. The second one will take half the time of the first.

Color mixing: Beginning Homework 9/15/11

If you haven't yet gotten your good paper, you can do this exercise on just about anything. The object is two-fold: to awaken your instinct for color mixing, and to strengthen your awareness of the role the primary colors play in creating neutrals.

Part one:
Choose one red, one yellow and one blue, with an eye toward the ones that will "go both ways". Look for the yellow, for example, that will make good greens and good oranges.
Mix together two of the three colors, adjusting and fine-tuning until neither one dominates. Make a small patch of the new color on your paper.
Now add the third color to the mix, until none of the three dominate. Make a patch of the new color on the paper.
Make the darkest version you can of the three color mix, making sure no one color dominates. Just keep adding pigment to the puddle (but no more water). When the paint is so thick that it looks shiny even after it's dry, you've gone too far. Add a little water, and try a patch on the paper.

Part two:
Look in magazines for pictures with areas of solid color about 1 1/2" square, or bigger. Cut some out, paste them onto your paper, and try to mix a perfect match. Use the same limited palette you used for part one. Make patches of your attempts beside the cut-out.
Now try to match the same colors using a different set of primaries. Write down the colors you used near the patches.
Have fun

Intermediate Homework September 15, 2011

What Not to Paint

Finding the essential elements of your image

Since so many of us tend to put more information in our pictures than we intend, we will concentrate for a while on ways to distinguish the essential from the optional. Here are two potential approaches to sorting out what has to be there in the finished painting and what does not. They can all be thought of as deliberate over-simplifications of the image:

   

1) If the image or scene has a pronounced dark/light pattern, try just painting the darks as a collection of black shapes, and leaving out everything else. The result should reveal how much of the job of telling the story is done by the darks. If the narrative content is clear, then you know you can be casual with the initial light and middle value layers.

2) Make a version of the scene in which the major shapes are simplified almost to pure geometric shapes, eliminating subtlety of outline. Treat each shape as a flat wash, with no texture at all. When you assess the result, look for the places that really need more subtlety or specificity, and take note of any places where what you thought was too little information turned out to be enough.

Both approaches can help you see at what stages of the painting you can be carefree, and when you will need to be careful. Write down what you discover, and have fun.

Beginning and Intermediate Homework

The "two minute" studies appeared to shake loose many assumptions and blow away distractions. There is a lot to be gained from letting go of the need to do justice to the details of your subject.
Ideally, you come away from this brief exercise with a more objective view of what really needs to be in the painting, as well as some evidence of how fresh and exciting the paint looks when you don't have time to "perfect" it.

Using the images you brought home, or ones you already have in mind, make one or two very rapid studies. If you find yourself slowing down as you get farther along, this probably means you are becoming invested in the study as a painting, and trying to make it a good one. Let go of that, too. Instead, leave out too much, and use what you learn in the next version. Keep refining the image, one version after another, adding a little of what you feel is missing, and editing out what seems to be unnecessary. Work small - no bigger than 1/4 sheet - and stay swift. Oh, and have fun.

Intermediate Watercolor Homework 5/26/11

Letting Go 

Charles Burchfield

We have practiced several approaches to deliberately oversimplifying an image, with the goal of discovering what needs to be in a painting, and what can be edited out. Somehow, though, the information often remains elusive.
I would like to see what happens if you get really serious about refining your image down to its essence. Make a study of the major shapes in which you assign each shape a single color and value, with no texture. That should strip away anything inessential, and probably some of what you wish were still there. Take notes about which is which, and make a more personal version, putting back the minimum amount of what you feel needs to be included.
This isn't new stuff, but I think it bears repeating.

George Post

Beginning Watercolor Homework 5/26/11

Put the paint down and leave it alone

Most of you brought photos home from class, I believe.
Make an oversimplified study from your image, and then spend some time taking note of what needs to be included in a painting, and what can be left out. Actually write it down.
Now make a more refined version, working from general to specific. For this one, please don't correct anything. Let the mistakes remain, and take note of what caused them. Try a more efficient approach to the problem areas on practice paper, then make another painting. Keep it VERY simple.

Do as many versions as you have time for.

Intermediate Watercolor Homework 5/19/11

Letting Go

This twenty year old picture resurfaced today, and I saw it with new eyes. But this was not one of those lucky moments when you discover that the painting is really good, you just had to forget your original intentions. Unfortunately, it is at least as bad as I thought when I painted it. The good news is that now I know why. 
All these years the painting has puzzled me. If you had suggested that there were too many focal points, I would have said that the buildings in the background were very simple, with no detail, so they shouldn't be the problem. But, in fact, they are even more assertive than the ones in the foreground. They have more intense color, a wider value range, and sharper edges.
This is a perfect example of why it is often helpful to combine shapes.
Imagine if I had painted a single shape to represent all the background stuff, reserving a few hard-edged lights, and inserting a couple of accents. It might have looked something like this:

To my eye, this is a more cohesive picture. In the original version, I had to actively ignore parts that were shouting for attention. Now, instead, I can imagine them if I want to know what else is going on inside that shape, nome sain?

Here are a couple of familiar images that lend themselves to a similar treatment. Look them over, with an eye toward what can be hinted at, or left out altogether. I think it's fair to say that more than you think is actually optional information.

Many thanks to Alvaro Castagnet, whose work helped make this clear.