Watercolor paintings, tutorials, and videos
Inspired by Marilyn on the Summer Roses group I decided to work up the color study a little. This gives me a little practice in readiness for the bigger version on Monday. Although softening the edges was tricky I think I’m fully prepared to dive into the real thing.
Here it is before I worked on it
I tinkered with a couple of rose paintings today and had a bit of time left so why not paint along with The Foxton and paint an egg. Mainly an exercise in mixing and blending but quite satisfying.
Apparently I was gone for a long time as James came up to find me and was very amused that all I was painting was an egg.
It’s session 5 already! And we’re now onto putting some detail into the roses. We worked on the two main roses and it is extremely tricky. I think I’m happy right now but I’ll take another look tomorrow. I just about kept the form without losing value in the shadows or gaining it in the lights. And the inside curled petals just about came together.
Here’s where I started – all smooshed edges
We first worked on the big left hand rose. Sharpening up some edges and leaving others loosely defined
Then the right hand rose which was trickier but just about kept together.
And a detail of the two almost finished roses
It was a huge pleasure to attend a Wendy Artin still life workshop. For me she’s the best watercolor artist around right now so the fact the Newton Watercolor Society managed to nab her for a workshop was fabulous!
When taking a workshop it’s best to fully embrace the teacher’s methods whether or not you fully agree with (or understand) them. And one of the best things about in-person workshops is that you get to see the teacher demo paintings in real-time. Videos never really capture the process especially if they’re sped up or edited. They often make things look overly straightforward and, if parts are left out, the process looks seamless and effortless.
In practice of course paintings rarely proceed that way. The most interesting thing to me is how another artist makes decisions and solves problems. Where to start, what to start on, which things to put in, which things to leave out. Where they focus on detail and where they simplify – all these things are what makes the painting theirs. People often focus on materials and ‘techniques’ and the physical application of paint on paper. For me the most interesting things are what goes on in their heads before the brush is put to paper.
Wendy’s way of painting doesn’t involve any drawing. This is pretty terrifying for me as I almost never work that way. But we were 100% on board so no drawing it was. She also precedes a painting with a number of small compositional sketches. She prefers scrappy drawing paper for this which isn’t designed for watercolor in any way. The surface is smooth and doesn’t absorb water so anything involving lost edges or blending was right out. The advantage of doing it this way is that you can work really fast and work out a number of ideas in quick succession. She was very hot on us trying out different compositions and framing things well on the page. It’s something I don’t really do but I probably should.
The other advantage of these quick studies is that you really get to know your subject. The colors, the structure, how the light falls and shows the form – all is usefully getting into your brain for the ‘real’ painting.
And some preliminary sketches for the radish
And some sprouts! Who knew they were so difficult to paint? I have to admit when Wendy walked in and brought out a big bag of sprouts I was pretty disappointed. “I’ve paid hundreds of dollars to paint a sprout?” I said to myself. But I was wrong. They’re really quite interesting little critters. Can’t imagine many sales resulting from them though.
And a preliminary sketch for the sprouts.
Next a kohlrabi!
Next some figs!
And a turnip!
And finally another radish. This really was a stinker. Not so bad in the cold light of day but still….
I’ve painted some fruits and vegetables before. Some were for classes and the result is good for teaching but a little ho-hum artistically. But some like this fennel and the cherries below have a lot of charm about them.
I heartily recommend a Wendy Artin still life workshop if you have the chance to go. In my book she’s the best watercolor painter out there today and I loved every minute of it.
This was an experiment to see whether I could translate the oil process back into watercolor. Partially successful although I did lose the form a little on the left hand rose.
Here he is half way through. There’s a nice softness to it which I like.
We planted three David Austin rose bushes this year. Our track record with plants is hit or miss to put it generously so I was pretty pleased that they all flowered albeit sparsely and with tiny blooms. However – these are our own roses grown by our own fair hands. I don’t think this is quite finished yet. I need to leave it on the easel and see what it needs in the next couple of days. I’m pretty happy at the moment though. The values are good, the edges have a nice variety to them and they have some life.
Here are some intermediates:
This is the block in stage with the major values. Pretty much 2 or 3 for each flower, 2 for the leaves and 2 for the background. All hard edges right now and it looks pretty nasty.
All the edges are now softened with a combination of a comber brush and a soft sable. At this point I can start to see which areas will be left soft and which will be sharpened up.
This is right at the start of the process of refining and sharpening up the edges. Only a few edges have gone in but you can see it start to come to life. This is the magic bit!
This is the current state. The edges have been redefined, some petal detail has gone in and some extra values. A good day’s work I think.
