Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Watercolor Musings: More Explorations with Ink and Watercolor
Watercolor Musings: More Explorations with Ink and Watercolor: "I have to admit that the element of design that most speaks to me is line. I love the quote that says 'drawing is taking a line for a walk''..."
More Explorations with Ink and Watercolor
I have to admit that the element of design that most speaks to me is line. I love the quote that says "drawing is taking a line for a walk'" although I prefer thinking of it as a dance! My fascination with ink and watercolor is long term and I enjoy playing with all the possibilities. The image selected for this blog came from a barge trip from Prague to Berlin in 2008. We had a very brief time in Torgau on the Elbe River so I only got photos. The town is most well-known as the place where during the Second World War, the US Army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union coming from the east during the invasion of Germany on April 25, 1945.
Since I'd had no time to draw on site, I sketched from the image on my camera after returning to the boat. From that drawing, I created the other versions after returning home, each using a different pen or watercolor and/or paper. I like to replicate the same image for teaching for two important reasons. First, I can re-draw each one with increasing speed since it is familiar territory and secondly, my students focus on the lesson without being distracted with different subject matter each time.
I've included the photo reference, initial drawing in a small sketchbook and subsequent explorations with various tools and applications, the most recent being 24 hours ago.
Sketchbook drawing - The sketchbook is 5 1/2" x 11" when open. I've been surprised to be able to get drawings from the camera and it helps in future work.
Torgau#1 - The drawing was first and done with a permanent black pitt pen. The underpainting was added next followed up with watercolor, loosely applied. No movement of ink here!
Torgau#2 - Underpainting came first here since I drew with the pentel color brush in sepia which is water soluble. Watercolor was added and since I'd lost the white with the underpainting I added white gouache for the roses, etc.
Torgau#3 - Pentel color brush in sepia was used here and I added hydrus liquid watercolor to the line drawing. The smoother paper makes the watercolor sit on top and perhaps the liquid watercolor too. I've only experimented a bit with it so I have lots to do yet. The watercolor didn't move as much as I thought it would, but then again with my inexperience it may be "operator error" and not the medium at all.
Torgau#4 - Underpainting was done first with a line drawing done with a stabilo brown pt. 88 pen which is water-soluble. The first step after the drawing was a wet brush over the line to establish a value pattern. Then watercolor was applied, more drawing, more watercolor and finally white gouache.
My painting buddy, Brenda Swenson and I are always on the lookout for new and interesting tools, especially ink pens and brushes. It's thanks to her that I have the stabilo pens which I am going to love using! At the end of yesterday, after exploring with this new pen I was energized in spite of a having cold and fatigue from a large family party at my home two days prior. That's about as good a recommendation for this sort of activity as I could make.
Since I'd had no time to draw on site, I sketched from the image on my camera after returning to the boat. From that drawing, I created the other versions after returning home, each using a different pen or watercolor and/or paper. I like to replicate the same image for teaching for two important reasons. First, I can re-draw each one with increasing speed since it is familiar territory and secondly, my students focus on the lesson without being distracted with different subject matter each time.
I've included the photo reference, initial drawing in a small sketchbook and subsequent explorations with various tools and applications, the most recent being 24 hours ago.
Photo reference - I crouched down on the path so I could get the sharp angle with the roses in the foreground. My drawing is fairly detailed in the blooms on the drawing but much less so in the drawing/watercolors.
Sketchbook drawing - The sketchbook is 5 1/2" x 11" when open. I've been surprised to be able to get drawings from the camera and it helps in future work.
Torgau#1 - The drawing was first and done with a permanent black pitt pen. The underpainting was added next followed up with watercolor, loosely applied. No movement of ink here!
Torgau#2 - Underpainting came first here since I drew with the pentel color brush in sepia which is water soluble. Watercolor was added and since I'd lost the white with the underpainting I added white gouache for the roses, etc.
Torgau#3 - Pentel color brush in sepia was used here and I added hydrus liquid watercolor to the line drawing. The smoother paper makes the watercolor sit on top and perhaps the liquid watercolor too. I've only experimented a bit with it so I have lots to do yet. The watercolor didn't move as much as I thought it would, but then again with my inexperience it may be "operator error" and not the medium at all.
Torgau#4 - Underpainting was done first with a line drawing done with a stabilo brown pt. 88 pen which is water-soluble. The first step after the drawing was a wet brush over the line to establish a value pattern. Then watercolor was applied, more drawing, more watercolor and finally white gouache.
My painting buddy, Brenda Swenson and I are always on the lookout for new and interesting tools, especially ink pens and brushes. It's thanks to her that I have the stabilo pens which I am going to love using! At the end of yesterday, after exploring with this new pen I was energized in spite of a having cold and fatigue from a large family party at my home two days prior. That's about as good a recommendation for this sort of activity as I could make.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Watercolor Musings: No Excuses Travel Set - Part II
Watercolor Musings: No Excuses Travel Set - Part II: "In an earlier blog, I described the small palette made of an altoids tin and empty palette pans filled by colors of my choice. Recently I wa..."
No Excuses Travel Set - Part II
In an earlier blog, I described the small palette made of an altoids tin and empty palette pans filled by colors of my choice. Recently I was showing some students the wee set when one of them (Thanks, Bill!) took the cap from his water bottle and put it in the tin. Eureka! Six caps fit perfectly in the 2 3/8"x 2 3/4" size. I first taped them to the bottom but magnetic tape, sticky on one side, works a treat.
I had been looking for a way to help my beginning students make a color wheel successfully. Their travel kits, purchased for the class, had two reds, but one was warm and the other cool. Not adequate for the task. This tiny palette with the 3 primary colors and 3 secondary colors was the solution to my dilemma. I can keep the tins full for each class and save my students from an additional expense. I tested the colors and made a color wheel from them and am satisfied with the results.
In the sample above, I used ultramarine blue and quinacridone burnt orange - actually 2/3 of the California Watercolor School's favorite triad - burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and yellow ochre. The two colors are plenty giving me a warm, a cool and a gray when mixed together. The drawing was done with a Marvy Le Plume pen and I could have made it more travel-friendly if I'd used a water brush. Interestingly, today is Earth Day but that is not the motive for my collection, albeit a good one. I want to have the right tools for what I want to do and I confess to having an addiction to palettes.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Watercolor Musings: Green!
Watercolor Musings: Green!: "Greens in the landscape are so utterly lovely, especially in the spring. Because of their dominance in most landscapes and the variation in ..."
Green!
Greens in the landscape are so utterly lovely, especially in the spring. Because of their dominance in most landscapes and the variation in each hue amazingly complex, these lovely colors can be a very real challenge for the painter. Because so many of my students have expressed their frustration with green, I developed a workshop to address the problem.
First we mixed greens from blues, yellows and black:
Then we altered tube greens:
Then they matched greens in leaves. This sketchbook is from a workshop I taught in Tuscany. I had some painters who were just beginning and this was a nice way to begin.
Next I demonstrated the use of greens in trees. The example was from the same trip as the image above.
Finally, if time permits, we use the information in a landscape. This one was done on location at Rancho Los Alamitos, California.
The only way I know to figure something out is to go from the simple to the complex. The first step can be tedious if you don't pay attention to what you are doing and these charts can become valuable on location, especially for the grayed greens.
I LOVE painting trees so this workshop is a delight to teach!
First we mixed greens from blues, yellows and black:
Then we altered tube greens:
Then they matched greens in leaves. This sketchbook is from a workshop I taught in Tuscany. I had some painters who were just beginning and this was a nice way to begin.
Next I demonstrated the use of greens in trees. The example was from the same trip as the image above.
Finally, if time permits, we use the information in a landscape. This one was done on location at Rancho Los Alamitos, California.
The only way I know to figure something out is to go from the simple to the complex. The first step can be tedious if you don't pay attention to what you are doing and these charts can become valuable on location, especially for the grayed greens.
I LOVE painting trees so this workshop is a delight to teach!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Watercolor Musings: Final Step - Integrated Collage
Watercolor Musings: Final Step - Integrated Collage: "Formerly Known As Dietrichs by Judy Schroeder The final step for this piece was somewhat going back to the beginning. I didn't like the for..."
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