Tag: beach

Misty Coast – 2 Versions

Seldom are my watercolors subtle in color. Instead, they tend to be bright and rather garish. Today, I focused on a softer color while painting, meaning more delicate colors, more muted tones. The reason for this is I was driving down to the Valley for an appointment, and I was noticing the soft, hazy qualities of the air. Greens were light and delicate, flowers alongside the roads, while strong, were not a brilliant yellow. In the distance hills and mountains were soft, blurring into the distance – still clear, but very, very soft.

This motivated me to see if I could accomplish something a bit more subtle. I looked at a picture of the northern California coastline, which can be rugged and foggy, with mists rolling in and out, obscuring and revealing at any given time.

Below, is the first painting. I used a lot of water to paint with as well as dilute my colors. This makes them more pale. It seems to have worked fairly well.

To test my theory of a softer, more grey image – longer grey scale – I turned the painting into a black and white image by both desaturating the same image above, as well as removing all vibrancy.

As you can see, there are a few areas which are very dark, but there are a lot of shades of grey, most of which fall into the arena of middle values.

Below is the “revised” version of the first. Here I added some white gouache to the rocks on the lower right, helping define them and to give a sense of breaking water. I cleaned up – removed – the turquoise streak sitting in the middle of the painting. Finally, I mixed some bright yellow and gouache to add dots of color to the lower left of the painting, creating a bit more defined foreground and to break up some of the edges.

I prefer the second version. However, you will note that the values remain the same for the most part below.

To tell the truth, delicate watercolor frighten me! They require a more delicate approach to the paint and water combinations. This was really a good exercise for me and I can see some more follow up paintings along this line. They do not even need to be misty, but just perhaps more pale but still with good contrast.

Where I live, it is quite dry, so those of you who live in more wet and damp climates have more water vapor in your atmosphere than we do. You can see this when you compare watercolorists’ work from other parts of the world, such as Britain or Holland.

Haystack Rock

More of the northern coast along the Pacific Ocean. Here, Cannon Beach in Oregon, possibly one of the most dramatic beaches I have ever seen. Sea stacks, tide pools, sand, mist and fog. When the fog lifts and the sky brightens, there is a glare that cannot be explained. It’s not a summer day brightness as we have in SoCal, but a brightness that is cold but not like on a snowy day. There is a lot of moisture in the air, from sea and fog, and perhaps that is what magnifies the light to such a degree.

If you look closely, you will see some of my ink bled into the paint. I used my iron gall in, not my waterproof micron pens, and a stub nib to draw. From there, I wet the sky, dropped in colors, and then let things dry to dampness. I wanted to create soft edges for the mist in the distance which blurs and softens edges. The rocks themselves were painted wet-in-wet initially, and then other colors applied to either dry or damp paper. The sand and the rivulets were painted in the same manner. In the end, I drew again with my iron gall ink to add texture or detail.

Keeping this sketchbook is so much fun! I have room to paint as the sheets are big, the paper is strong so I can use both sides, and I can paint with a lot of water should I wish. It is proving to be one of the best decisions I have made of late!

The Strange Edges of the Sea

I got a few painterly goodies for Christmas, and one was a new tablet of watercolor paper, one which I have never heard of before. Of course, it needs checking out. How does it handle wet paper and washes? Dry brush? Bleeding? Etc. It is not an expensive paper – $20 for 32 pages of 9×12 pure cotton paper – but it is actually a decent one. I can lift colors from it pretty easily, too! It is a rather nice bit of paper overall, and while not Arches or Fabriano, I think it will do quite well for studies, and probably gouache as well.

Besides playing with new paper, I have also attempted to lead the eye in the composition to a small area of white. Rocks, waves, clouds, land masses, sand, whatever are all designed to catch your eye. I think it worked out pretty good. I also am rather pleased with the movement of the sand in the lower right hand corner.

9×12, CP 140# paper, watercolor.

Along Mystic Creek

I cannot believe it has been over 3 weeks since I last posted here! Suffice it to say I have been busy with learning how to handle oil paints and some drawing, and really not in the mood to look at the computer much.

That said, today a trip down to Pasadena’s Blick store was a fun morning’s journey and got my mojo going again. I didn’t spend too much, but did pick up some colors in oil and watercolor from brands not available locally (and that is not to say we don’t have a fantastic store nearby), and just had fun wandering around a well-stocked art store. The esposo did the driving as I am not a big fan of driving in L.A., even on a Sunday morning.

Anyhoo! I am trying a more subtle approach to my watercolors – perhaps less bright, more delicate? As well, trying to convey depth better along with leading the eye of the viewer where I want to go. Not too sure if it is working, but the process is fun.

9×12, Fabriano 140# CP.