Intermediate Watercolor Homework, 10/3/19 Foreground, Middle Ground, Background

When a scene resolves neatly into a foreground, middle ground and background composition it has a ready-made structure that can make it easier to paint.

Thanks to the size of the figures, it's pretty easy to read the space in this picture. Everyone is either big, medium, or small. The shapes do get a little bit tangled to the left of the vendor's cart. I'd consider putting some of that same purple glow the figures on the right have on the woman on the left. It's no sin to change the composition to make it easier to read sometimes.


Here are a few images that could use a little tweaking to make the space more obvious. You can adjust the color, value and edge quality as well as the composition to strengthen the spatial structure.

Beginning Homework 10/3/19 Translating Your Subject into Watercolor

At first glance this watercolor by Lars Lerin looks like it was painted with great attention to detail, but a closer look reveals that the artist used an economy of means to make the goblet so real.
It's not so much that he was careful and thorough, as that he knew what mattered.

Taking care to put the darkest darks and the lightest lights where they work makes it unnecessary to get all the middle value shapes exactly right. Lerin has an eye for the essential, which allows him to be carefree with the optional.

To see so clearly the few parts of a subject that have to be correct is a tremendous help in translating it into washes and strokes. For us mortals, it takes more than one attempt to sort out what matters most. For homework, find a simple object, like an onion, or a teapot. Use an actual object rather than a photo. Set it in a spot where it is lit by a single light source, so the shadows are not too complicated.

 First try painting it in monochrome, using a single color straight from the tube rather than a mixed color. Make sure your choice is inherently dark enough to represent the darkest parts of your subject, like carbazole violet or pthalo green.

Once you have a sense of the relative values, paint a color version, then a couple more. With each study, see if you can let go of more specificity. Pay attention to where the darkest and lightest bits occur. They usually play a more important role than the middle values.
After you've gotten to know what comprises a good representation of your apple/beachball, put the subject back where you found it and paint a version from memory.

Bring in all your studies.
Have fun!

Intermediate Watercolor, 9/26/19 What is Style?

Style is what makes one artist's version of a subject different from another's. How we use color, value, edge quality, composition, and complexity varies from individual to individual.

George Post

Tony Couch

The trees in these two paintings are similar in composition. In both they form a band of green across the top half of the page. But the feeling we get from one version is very different from the other. What have the two artists done differently?

Let's consider one variable at a time, edge quality, for example. Couch lets his trees merge where they meet the ground, making them into a single shape. Post maintains a hard edge between the individual trees, keeping them more separate. As a result, Couch's trees play a supporting role in the scene while post's are the stars of the show.

Try looking at The differences and similarities of color and value. 

Style emerges from our distinctive use of the medium; How  one painter loads a brush, which brush is selected, where on the handle the artist holds the brush, everything, in other words. You don't need to deliberately seek your own style. It will find you.

Here are two images. Choose one or paint both if you have time. We will see how we approach the subjects in our own way.

Beginning Homework , 9/19/ 2019 What color is a shadow?

                                         


These shadows are not all the same color, or are they? If you're making a watercolor painting of this array of shapes couldn't you use the same gray  to darken the shadows of the grass and the pavement, and let the local color show through?  Or would you have to make separate colors, one dark green and one dark blue-grey?

Try it both ways and see which technique you prefer.

Below is a painting by John Singer Sargent. Can you tell which method he used?

Here you can see that not only does the color change as the shadow passes over different local colors, the value of the shadow also depends on how dark the local color is. The shadow on the red shingles is darker than the shadow on the white window trim.

Here are some images with sunlight and shadows. You can make a painting from one, or you can just paint patches of local color and the appropriate shadow color. 

Have fun

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Intermediate Watercolor 9/19/19 Light, Middle, Dark

In terms of  the progression from light to dark, this is a very well-behaved image. You can easily tell what is lighter or darker than what. There really are just 3 values. With a good grip on value, then, perhaps you could play around a bit with color or edge quality.

I see a little more complexity here. It still progresses nicely from light to dark, but with more stops along the way. How few values would you need to keep the feeling of light and space?

Does the tree need to be black? For that matter, does it need to be so tall? What about the range of values in the group of buildings? A bit of adjustment could improve the composition. Limit the palette? Expand the palette!?

Beginning Watercolor, 9/19/19

In class yesterday, we experimented with working wet into wet. We also spent some time mixing neutral colors. The next step is to practice juggling both those balls at the same time.

The horizon in this photo is the only hard edge. All the clouds are soft. If you were painting a version of this scene, therefore, the first step would be to wet the paper.
You may have found yesterday that mixing your colors took quite a while, and by the time you were ready to apply the first layer of paint the paper was dry. If you intend to make soft-edged shapes and you get hard ones, stop painting as soon as you notice. To be sure, you can make a very small mark toward the edge of the paper to see whether the paper is still wet. If that test mark comes out soft, carry on. If it comes out hard-edged, stop painting. You are in charge, not the paper. Remember, you can re-wet the paper once it's thoroughly dry and create just the kind of edges you intend.


I wet my paper on both sides so it would stay wet longer. It helps to think of the wetting as a process of getting some water into the paper, not just on the surface. I go over the sheet lots of times with a BIG brush, in both directions. Put a little extra on the edges. They dry faster than the middle. After the clouds had all been painted the paper was still wet, so I dried it thoroughly so I would get a hard edge on the horizon.

Still soft?

I

Here are a couple more good skies to consider.

About those colors:
My one sentence theory of color mixing goes like this, "To get the color you've got to look like the color you want, add red, yellow or blue".

For this exercise, limit your palette to one each of the primary colors. That is, one red, one yellow, and one blue.
Please bring in all your attempts. Part of what we're practicing is diagnosing what went wrong in a failed study.
Have fun!

Everybody's Homework 6/7/19 What Looks Tricky?

The last homework of the term has traditionally been "do it yourself", where each individual designs their own exercise. This term I want to suggest that you assess a photo for difficulty by asking "What looks tricky?". When you believe you understand the nature of the challenge, practice it until you become confident.
For example, this photo looks clear enough at first, but when I imagine putting in  that tree I get the feeling that it will take over the painting. The buildings and the sky are subtle and soft edged, while the tree is harsh, all black and hard. I'd like to find a way to make it more gentle.

If I make the tree soft maybe it can stay very dark. Or maybe it can stay hard if I make it lighter and greener. Either adjustment will turn down the impact the tree has. Maybe a little of both; adjust the value and the edge quality.

You get the idea.

Here's another image to analyze:

Finding your own image or painting from life gets you extra credit. Feel free to move or remove anything that creates unwanted ambiguity.
Have fun.