Another study in Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber. These are really good colors for portraying cold and wintry conditions. Brr! Where I live, we have had weather in the 80s for much of January and February, so a break from the heat is much needed. Today, though, it’s a whopping 52 F.
I used six of Peter Sheeler’s videos to create cards for my sister-in-law’s Christmas present, along with using them for practice. Doing all of these has proven to be more thought-provoking than I realized. Copying by watching a video is really informative.
In many ways, this was perhaps the most deceptively simple in appearance, but in reality the most complex. The reason for this is the stream. Water is never easy to express (at least for me). There are ripples, reflections, shifting colors to reflect the sky and scenery above. Besides all this, there is the snow. It also reflects along the banks of the stream, which you can see in Peter’s video, but which never made it into mine – this is on the center left of the stream.
Mine below has some good areas – certainly there is white! – but bits of it are a tad overworked. The scan is not as subtle as the painting, either, but I am not really sure how to deal with that. I decrease some areas of saturation in the image using Lightroom . . . and I am not sure if I am going to include this card in the set because of the smudges and such.
My sister-in-law requested hand-painted cards for a Christmas present. She’s getting them! Out of all of these, 6 were from exercises I did following Peter Sheeler’s YouTube painting tutorials. What made them particularly useful, to me, was that many of them had a lot of white space in them, such as white snow or flowers. The other thing was the simplicity of composition – a few trees, a stream, some flowers. While they look easy, I did need to focus on the videos to follow the sequence of painting, as well as to focus on what I was seeing. Of all of them, I think the stream was the most challenging.
From using Peter’s videos to practice with, and to create cards, I went on to do two based upon photos I have taken. One is a prickly pear which really does sit on a heart-shaped paddle, and the California poppy fields at the State Preserve. The latter made me think of Monet’s painting of a woman in a poppy field – the brilliant colors against a sea of green. Our poppies in California are orange and yellow, so no reds, but mixed in with these colors are blues and whites and so many other colors it is hard to imagine that much of California once looked like that in the springtime!
Below are the different cards I did. Click on one of them to start the slide show.
This morning, in a room only lit by the light of my monitors, and a half-drunk cup of coffee at hand, I decided to go ahead and watch Peter Sheeler’s video above, and try to do a painting. I dragged out a bowl for water, a few brushes, and my travel palette. I sort of know where my colors are, so what the heck – paint and draw away.
I pretty much followed what Peter did, but obviously his work is better than mine. Despite that, I did learn a few more things. One thing I have always liked – and will continue to like – is ink with color. Using a limited palette is also fun as it really helps you keep yourself under control. I think – remember, it was dark, and I was only half of cup of coffee into my morning! – I used yellow ochre, quin gold, a bit of viridian, a bit of alizarin, indathrene and ultramarine blues, and burnt sienna. Some of these were just little dabs because I couldn’t see very well, but the main colors were the sienna and blues.
That said, below is a scan of my painting before putting in the final lines.
Objectively, it’s okay. There are some nice areas, and there certainly is some white space (yay! white space!), which is why I am focusing on snow painting practices. Some good light – dark areas. A nice bleed or two. Other areas are dreadful, such as that greenish area on the mid-right side.
Below, the inked in version.
Frankly, I like the final one better as there is more definition. Now – finish that coffee and jet off to work.
Have a fun day!
If you have been reading along, you know: I make mud, I need lines, and I cannot get white space at all. Well, in a moment of mad inspiration, I realized snow is white. Let’s paint snow! In my part of the world (California), we are in the midst of a hideous wildfire, which fortunately bypassed our neighborhood, but which could be visited by a fire any time. Crazy winds and no rain make for dry and dangerous conditions, and certainly the last place where you will expect to find snow.
Thus, snow. I went to my favorite place (YouTube) and searched for “watercolor snow” and there we were! Lot of them. In particular, I found Peter Sheeler, whose videos are simple to follow, and quite lovely. He uses a minimal palette, and just paints. Subtitles let you know the colors and the technique. Pleasant music moves you along. Here is my version of his painting.
Peter Sheeler has another video that I used as well. It was a bit more complex, but not only was it great for shadows on snow, he has very strong light – dark colors, another problem I struggle with.
And here is my version of it. I was really intimidated by the dark trees and the rocks. Besides using only Ultramarine, Yellow Ochre, and Burnt Sienna (even though Sap Green is in his video’s palette), Peter uses a 1/2 inch flat brush. I have some flat brushes, and they scare the hell out of me. I think people who love flat brushes are nuts. No more: I bit the bullet and pulled out my flats and did the entire painting in a flat brush, varying sizes as necessary. And I used micron pens, too, as did Peter.
I am feeling a lot more confident now about colors, white space, limited palettes, and flat paint brushes. I think I will continue to follow along with Peter Sheeler’s videos – he is a really good painter, I like his style, and am confident I will get a lot out of his videos. And Peter, if you should come across this, let me tell you, “Thanks!”
Ink, Yarn & Beer 