Intermediate Homework 2/22/20 The Easy Way

There's a long-term benefit to finding the easiest way to translate a scene into the language of watercolor. When you start looking for the most efficient route, you end up devising solutions and strategies that display a real economy of means. 'Easy' somehow turns into 'Magical".

The appeal of a very simple interpretation comes from the role the viewer plays in recognizing what he or she is seeing. When the artist presents just the essentials, the viewer supplies all the details.

John Singer Sargent describes the important aspects of the laundry very efficiently. He knew he wanted to show us the drape of the linens, - the weight of them, and how they hang - and he clearly intended to depict the bright sunlight. Once those essential aspects were present, he stopped describing the subject. 

Surely there was more information available, but Sargent knew that this simplification of the light and shadow told the story well enough. By no means has he told us everything he could see. He has treated the collection of linens as a single shape, for example, even though here was plenty of evidence that the individual items were separate from each other. The feeling that the sheets look "real " actually comes from our surprise at learning that this was all we needed to be shown. We - the viewers - are participants in the interpretation. Sargent provides what he sees as the essentials. Anything else, we  project.

The job of deciding what is essential and what is optional is not necessarily all about the "true nature" of the subject. It has more to do with being very clear about what you want to say. One artist's essence will probably not match another's. To choose which elements of your subject you want to display, you need to check your own feelings. The answer, as the cartoon guru says, lies within.

What do you think Edward Hopper wanted to communicate about the cars or the rocks? Was there more he might have added?

If you were getting ready to paint this scene, what would you want to be sure came through? Pick just a couple of aspects. 

How about this courtyard view? What seems essential to you?

Once you have fulfilled your intentions, the rest of the information you see can be left out. Just because you can see it doesn't mean it has to be in the picture! For example, if you wanted to communicate a feeling of serenity in your painting of the courtyard, it probably would not be necessary to make sure the viewer could tell what kind of plants are in the pots.

Before you begin painting, ask yourself if your intentions are clear.

If you use one of your own pictures, please bring the original in for the critique.

Sorry to be late with this. It never posted yesterday

Beginning Watercolor Homework 2/22/20 Prolonging the drying time

Yesterday we experienced some rapid drying conditions while we were trying to paint multi-layer skies. The edges of the clouds were hard before we could even get two layers applied, making the shapes look more like baked potatoes than soft clouds. What can we do to keep the paper wet as long as possible? Is there anything we should do if hard edges appear before we're ready?

Let's look at the second question first. If you see hard edges where you intended soft ones, stop painting! It does no good to keep making hard edged marks. Instead, let the painting dry thoroughly and re-wet the area where you want soft edges. Then carry on making the soft clouds. Re-wetting is a powerful tool that takes away the feeling of panic. Just remember the paper must be all the way dry before you lay on a new layer of water. A little practice reveals the techniques and puts you back in charge.

Now, back to the question of prolonging the drying time. More water seems to be the obvious solution, right? What if you wet both sides of the paper? Or let the sheet of paper sit in the sink for a few minutes. You'll probably need to use somewhat thicker paint for the second layer to keep it from feathering too far.
 Here are a few paintings and photos to guide your experiments. Try counting how many layers it would take to paint them.

Intermediate Homework 1/15/20 Foreground, Middle Ground, Background

Conventional watercolor wisdom insists that soft edged shapes appear more distant while hard edged ones advance to the foreground. Is that true?

What about color temperature? Do warm colors really come forward and cool ones go back in the illusory space?

Then there are the effects of atmospheric perspective, which compress the value range as we look farther into the distance.

How important is it to always "follow the rules"? How much does the illusion of space depend on making sure the viewer knows what your subject is?

Below is a gorgeous painting by Frank La Lumia that has a deep sense of space. He makes sure there is no confusion about where the shapes are relative to each other. What would happen if the foreground were cooler and the background warmer? How about softening the edges of that shed in the mid-ground and sharpening those of the background mountains? How much can we defy convention without destroying the illusion of space?

                                    Would you be willing to give it a try?

Here's one by David Taylor

Switch the color temperatures, making the reflections warm, for example.

See what happens. Maybe put some strong darks in the distance? Maybe not.

This one was mostly done with a credit card, but held to convention regarding color and value.

Have at it!

Beginning Homework 1/15/20 Making a Smooth, Even Wash

 
A watercolor wash is made from two or more strokes that touch or overlap.
 A smooth, even wash presents consistent saturation, where the whole shape has the same degree of concentration of pigment. The wash in the illustration is not obsessively perfect, but for my purposes it is "perfect enough". It  has no overlap marks and no blooms, where paint already on the paper is pushed aside by excess water.

                                         
                                                  Here's a bloom, usually undesirable
                                                                 

The homework exercise that follows is simple. Draw a rectangle about 4 x 8 inches and paint it as smoothly and evenly as you can. Simple, right? Easy? Maybe.

Make as many attempts as it takes to be able to make a smooth wash dependably. As you experiment to improve your attempts, compile a list of the variables at work. For example,

 1) the angle of the paper
2) mixed color or right from the tube
3) Quality of paper

You may be surprised by the number of variables you discover once you start thinking about it.
Please bring your washes and lists in to class next week.

Have fun

Everyone's Homework 11/12/19 The Illusion of light

When it comes to creating a convincing illusion of light, watercolor has a head start. Light passes through the transparent washes of color, then bounces back to your eye, making the page feel as if lit from within.

Making a believable feeling of light is mostly about getting the values right. Color plays a role, as in the scene, above, but even with the color removed...

...the illusion remains.

Note that as the mountains step back into the distance, the range of values diminishes. The darkest darks and lightest lights are in the foreground. If the background shapes were as dark and as light as those in the foreground the sense of space would collapse. This phenomenon is not just a painter's trick, it is what we actually observe. The intervening atmosphere is full of reflective particles of moisture and dust that act like a translucent veil. The complexity of the scene also diminishes over distance, as you can see in the furthest mountain.

To be sure that the values you apply to each shape are relatively correct, remember to "bracket" the darks and lights by comparing them to each other. For example, the shadow on the mountain needs to be darker than the sky, but lighter than the trees in shadow. If you can't find anything darker than the shape you are about to paint, it must be the darkest thing in the scene. Converting the image you're working from to black and white makes this job easier, so go ahead and give yourself a break. Sooner or later, though, It would be good to know you can make value comparisons even when color is there complicating the task.

Feel free to make any changes you want, especially where you are simplifying the image. You won't really need to put in all the bricks, for example.

This one looks pretty easy, right? Can you please make it more apparent that this is hay, not rock?

Thank you, and have fun

Beginning Watercolor 11/6/19 Essential or Optional?

Here are a few images that might benefit from some editing before being interpreted in watercolor. Or, maybe not. You decide.

One of the big trees has a shape similar to the leaning rock tower. Does it need to be removed? 

All that texture in the dark green trees could be a distraction. What if you just painted it all as a simple green shape, with no texture at all? What about removing all the trees? 

The silhouetted hills just across the water are very dark. Should they be lighter? Should they be dark brown instead of black? And what about the pointy saw teeth along the top edge of the hills? Would it be better to have fewer of them, like, none, for example?

Too many shapes!

Some of them have got to go. Big ones, little ones? Near? Far? 

How will you decide what you can afford to edit out and what you ought to keep?

The best way to see whether something belongs in the scene is to leave it out. If you don't miss it, it's optional.

Have fun

Intermediate Watercolor 11/6 Fill in the Blacks

Having practiced inventing and exaggerating last week, you might be ready to liven up some deep black holes in the images below. In an attempt to display subtlety in the lightest areas, cameras often make the darks into empty spaces, devoid of imagery and information. Your job is to adjust the color or value or edge quality to awaken those dead zones. You can look into the dark shapes and exaggerate whatever you think you see, or invent the kind of life and movement you think belongs.