This morning we are experiencing rain – a rare event in Southern California. Strange as it may sound, it made me think about painting something without lines, wetting the paper first, and working wet-in-wet, just to see what would happen. As a kid, I lived in upstate New York, out where pine woods and lakes were more common than people. I miss that solitude – walking in a snowy woods, flakes falling, listening to the silence, all alone in a cold, lonely, and intensely beautiful environment.
Painting light and dark – contrast – values – is a hard one for me in watercolor. I want to do it wet-in-wet, but maybe layering will work better. I just don’t know. So, when in doubt, look to YouTube!
Here is one video I found that I think does a very good job on both highlights and shadow, discussing reflected light and so on.
Another video which is also good, with a look at only the shadows on a spherical object, discusses the use of analogous colors to create the shadow on the surface opposite the light source. This video can be seen below.
Because I was having problems with making grapes believable (see here), I decided to research highlights, shadows, and round things. These two videos proved very helpful. Rather than describing them in detail, they are definitely worthwhile watching. The top one addresses shape and shadows on the object, as well as the cast shadow. The lower one uses analogous colors to deepen the shadow on the sphere itself, which keeps the color of the sphere rich, rather than neutralized by a complementary color or an added grey, such as Payne’s or Davy’s.
That said, I spent a bit of time on these old spheres today and yesterday. Here are some of the results of my practice.
The image above is based on the exercises in the first video. The ones with the red and blue spheres are the most believable, I think. The spheres and shadows are essentially wet-in-wet, with the final thin lines of darkest shadow done with a finely pointed brush on a dried image.
Here is another round of studies, trying slightly different techniques, such as wetting the paper first, then applying color. The techniques followed were the same as in the first video, with greater success.
Here, the spheres were made as in the first video, but then I went in to darken the shadows using analogous colors. The blue spheres were done in ultramarine blue, and the deeper shadows were a glaze of indanthrene blue. Below the 4 spheres is a bunch of spheres, sort of like grapes. The spheres were done with quinacridone rose and ultramarine blue, with analogous layers in the shadows to include carbazole violet and then Payne’s grey (see note on lower right of image). The shadows were done wet, and linked to the grapes to bleed color in. I deliberately left areas of white, even if they didn’t make sense, just to create areas of white between grape and grape, and grape and shadow.
Finally, the above image. I have a bunch of oranges I want to paint, so I thought it was now time to incorporate all my lessons into one little orange. The one on the left is the example, with, I think, the best orange colors. These were hansa yellow, pyrrol orange, and organic vermillion – all three are colors new to my palette. The ink is carbon ink from Sailor on the left, and just a fountain pen with regular black ink on the right, just if you are curious.
My orange is my favorite of all the exercises as it pleases me the most. The grapes are OK, but they are glazed, which I am not too excited about. It could be that I am just not adept at glazing. Anyway, there we have it: Thanksgiving morning exercises.
The Book and the Paints
I’ve been doing sumi-e for awhile, and now with my return to my Chinese painting class, the urge to paint is getting stronger, and the need for color is making itself known. However, it never hurts to refresh one’s skills; given this, I dug out a book I’ve had for some time: Watercolour by Patricia Monahan. This is a good book for standard watercolor techniques. So, I’m going through it, front to back, in my spare time. It’s a good refresher. As well, these techniques are important to remember as I know many will be used in any subject done in the Chinese style.
In watercolor, I’ve encountered different approaches to how to work – light to dark (Monahan’s approach) and dark-to-light. Personally, I find that I work more logically light-to-dark, but the truth is that working dark-to-light just confuses me. Maybe it is something I should deliberately try. For now, though, I will hold that thought and practice a few simple techniques.
Monahan’s book is broken down into sections. Currently I am on Washes (having read the introduction and chapter on equipment), which include techniques and then subject matter, such as rain clouds and the beach. I’ve done a solid wash, into which I’ve done
I’m using pan paints, made by Pelikan, and I think they are technically opaque, but I find that they work fine and have a nice degree of transparency when diluted. They are convenient and easy to use on my crowded desk. For paper, I have a 7 x 10 inch block of hot press, 140 pound, Arches. I’m using both sides of the sheet for the exercises.
Washes: Solid, Wet-into-Wet, Dry-onto-Wet
The very first exercises in the book are reviews, or introductions, of the wash. The solid wash is explained, and demonstrated. From there, the author moves into wet-into-wet. Below, you will see it in the upper left corner of the picture. Wet-onto-dry is also done, with a wash laid down, allowed to dry, and then another color applied over it. This is illustrated by the weird circles in the lower left corner. Finally, layering of color is done, which you will find on the right. I kept the same strength of color for the layers, and applied about eight. The results are quite nice.
Diluting a Dark Wash
This next exercise was actually one I’ve never encountered before. This consisted of creating a fairly dark wash, and continuing to dilute the wash with the same amount of water. Each stripe in the picture below shows what occurs as the intensity of pigment is weakened. I was not scientific because I did not measure out specific amounts of water, but I did add two brushes full of water to the pan as I moved along. It seems to have worked out well.
Gradated Wash Using Flat Brush and Round Brush
Next was the ever-popular gradated wash. Onto dry paper, color is placed at the top and diluted as the color is worked down. I did this twice, using a flat brush on the left, and a large round on the right. Both have their merits.
Two Gradated Wash Methods
This next exercise consisted of placing a gradated wash onto dry paper and moving it into damp. This is on the left side of the picture below. I used a small sponge to dampen the lower half of the paper, and then at the top began my wash on dry paper. As I moved down the dry section, I added a bit of water, and then continued on down into the damp section, moving left to right and back. When I got to the damp section, I did not add any more water, nor pigment, but just let it become weaker. This was a brand new technique for me. On the right I did the dampened paper with a gradated wash. The paper was dampened with a sponge, allowed to dry a bit, and then a standard gradated wash done.
First Exercise: Monochrome Rain Clouds
Finally, the first exercise: monochrome rain clouds. Using black, I laid down a gradated wash onto dry paper. Before I let it dry, I used the sponge to lift up some of the color. I squeezed the sponge out into my waste water jar and continued. After I let this area dry, I laid down some medium and darker washes, doing some wet-into-wet, some lifting, and so on.
I was pretty nervous doing this as I was sure it would all be a disaster, but decided to trudge on rather than freak out! I always over do my watercolors – or nearly. I get sooooo frustrated! However, I am rather pleased with the results, and will do a few more monochromes before moving onto the next exercise which is the same thing – rain clouds – but with a limited palette.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 