Tag: cliff

Outgoing Tide

After considering the intensity of colors of my last posted painting, I thought about trying something a bit more subtle. In landscapes that usually means fog and damp – and that can be a challenge in itself. Muted colors, subtle gradations, diffused light, soft edges – with watercolor, a lot is chance and a lot is forethought, and a lot is knowledge acquired by experience. I see each watercolor painting as an experiment and adventure and while sometimes things “just happen” or I am too impatient, a bit of thinking ahead doesn’t hurt.

Here, a pretty limited palette of indanthrene blue,ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, burnt umber, and perhaps a dab of this or that. I use carbazole violet often when I make deep darks, sometimes a bit of ivory black to neutralize a color a bit. Here, I also used a bit of liquid frisket to keep some areas of paper white, such as in the water and along the shore. Titanium white gouache also was applied intermittently for a bit of bright white.

Watercolor, 10×14, Arches Rough 140#.

1. The Cove Below

Siena Blue did a series of 30 gouache studies – and she/he did a beautiful job! Inspired, I have decided to do a series of gouache paintings over the next several days, but I am not setting myself a goal as to how many. Gouache can be returned to easily enough as the paint re-wets quite well. As I have not worked in gouache lately and my life is going to be rather crazy over the next few weeks, it seems like the perfect medium for playtime.

So, a view looking over the edge of a cliff (I assume) taken somewhere on Capri – thus states the Pixabay description. As it is now summer, a rocky coastline, and a moored sailboat on a turquoise sea is quite a pleasant thought!

When I first began exploring gouache I found the work of Lena Rivo, observed her YouTube videos and took her short course. Both really helped me get a sense of how gouache works – it’s not watercolor nor oil or acrylic – and has an odd opacity that takes some getting used to – the colors are unique in many ways as there is a lot of white filler in the colors. Good quality gouache paints are opaque and cover well. All of my colors here are the same Lena Rivo uses, made by Holbein.

Gouache, about 8×10.

Estuary

 

This is a pretty small painting – but most gouache paintings are as the medium almost seems to demand it.  After the disastrous flowers of the other day, the feeling of overworking my paints, I decided to simplify.  Yesterday’s beach scene is a good example of simplification.  And today is a bit more complex of a painting, but it is still simplified.

To simplify things, I looked at the big areas.  This meant the sand in the foreground, the sky, and the masses which make up the middle ground, both light and dark.  Those were laid in first.  From there, more details in a middle stage, and final details – the small stuff – were done.  This also matched the brushes I used – big to medium to small.  “The Three Bears” and the Goldilocks effect.

I also was a lot calmer when I did this painting, and I was in the studio, not in 85F weather with a steady breeze to dry out my paints and raise my temper!  Lesson learned there.

The Slough (Pastels)

I have been busy sewing masks for friends and family, and it’s been a slow process, taking a lot of time. However, I am back to my determination to paint or draw something every day, either in the morning or in the afternoon. As I had an appointment this morning, I used this rainy, rainy afternoon to paint the Goleta Slough. Or part of it. Generally speaking, I rather like it – all those little dabs of white, grey, and black are seagulls and other critters. The sand jutting out needs to be fixed – seems like it is riding upward or something, but …. ?