Quite a few years ago I read a really great spy novel that took place during WW2 in Norfolk, England, and this just happens to be the place Edward Seago lived most of his life. Looking at a lot of his paintings, I get the feeling that sky is quite amazing and huge over relatively flat countryside. I’ve never been there but a bit of research shows it is largely rural and has about the same population as my own county here in California.
Once more, a study from a watercolor Seago did. I think, as with the one yesterday, the paints have faded a bit and so I tried to replicate them to a degree, but also chose to make them a bit more intense, as perhaps they were when he originally painted the farm.
The use of wet washes works really well here. In the building, the light from left to right on the roof and building show excellent control – the gradation from light to dark is subtle. This take a bit of work – getting the paper and paint at the right stage of moisture to make this work. My own attempts were quite awkward and it shows. The sky to the right of the building has what appears to be very gentle streaks of rain coming down – maybe it is just warped watercolor paper – but I thought I might as well give it a shot! What I find especially wonderful is the foreground – a cloud shadow drifting across the scene.
In many ways I am pleased with my master copy of Seago’s “Norfolk Farm”. I managed to maintain a bit of subtlety in color. I also tried to match the values of light and dark and mine is a bit stronger than the reference image. As well, my steeple or whatever to the right of the farm house is a bit too big and a bit too dark. The simplicity of Seago’s painting was challenging to replicate but I think I managed.
The colors I chose are ones I know to be available in the time period in which Seago painted this watercolor. I used cobalt blue and ultramarine blue for the sky and water reflection. Burnt umber and burnt sienna are my browns. Yellow ochre and cadmium yellow helped make greens, but I do use Hooker’s green a lot as a stepping stone for green, and my preferred on is made by Winsor Newton. Additionally, the info I have on Seago’s painting indicates it is about 10×14 inches, so I used rough 140# Arches paper in the same size.
Master copy, Edward Seago, limited palette, Arches 10×14 rough 140# paper.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 