Blue Study

One of the things I like to do sometimes is to review my colors. These are my blues. I feel like I have a nice range from cools to warms and even some leaning toward green. I also have a range of light to dark. Some are staining some not. Some are opaque. I don't really use a lot of blue but I wanted to review and see if there might be any I would eliminate.

These little exercises are fun to do. They get you painting and it's always good to keep learning about the characteristics of each color because they all are very different.

Some Thoughts on Plein Air References

Leslie on location at Point of Pines

Salem, Ma

About two years ago my friend Leslie and I started going out painting regularly. This was the start of my personal campaign to start making an art habit.  I soon found out, I painted too slow, or concentrated on too much detail or what ever the reason, I needed to also take a reference photo to finish up in my studio.

Today, I decided to try to paint the same scene again from that reference photo. I was interested in comparing the two paintings to see how I've changes, and how I am the same.

Change indicates growth where sameness indicates style.

Add caption

My reference photo

Painting From June 2015

Plein Air Drawing is Enough for me

I decide a week or so ago to try just drawing when our Plein air group got together. This way I can focus on value and speed. I actually did not complete this drawing in our time frame, but we talked more that we made art this week so our work time was cut short. That's ok. It's also an inspiration group as well.

The waves were rolling and the ocean was churning. I believe for an artist to capture this plein air, they need to be experienced with the subject in general. I think next time I will photograph the waves and look at how they are structured. They roll, with a dark underbelly and splash a white spray then collapse into a pool of light. 

There's always something to learn. 

Tree

This painting started out as an exercise I read about in The Complete Watercolorist's Essential Notebook, by Gordon MacKenzie. The exercise uses masking fluid, and salt. There are lots of layers and drying time. I started it Sunday morning. All the trees were masked out in multiply layers, so the tree shapes are all made from masking fluid. Then the salt was applied to the foreground when the paint was wet. Here is a close up of the effect. I've used salt before but it generally goes agains my "purest" grain. It looks kinda cool though. It adds a unique texture making the ground look like fallen leaves.

When I pulled the masking fluid off and looked at the stark white trees, I had to let the painting sit for a few days. Today I finished it and I'm pretty please with the way it turned out.

Six Lessons I've learned so Far

I began my focus on watercolor painting in 2013.  Lately, I've been feeling a little frustrated. I feel like progress is slow to come. Reading the bios of some of my favorite water color painters, I realize most have been on the journey for many years.

When I get my new studio, later this year (building a house is another journey that can be frustrating at times) I will spread out all of my work and really evaluate my progress, because although I am not where I want to be, I have made progress.

I like to start with a sketch value study. It
helps me get familiar with my subject and
lets me workout the value range before I
start painting.

In the meantime, these are some lessons I've learned along the way.

ONE. Be patient. When it's time to give it a rest and let it dry, give it a rest and let it dry. Fiddling is the worst mistake you can make with watercolor. (Especially too soon. If you have to fiddle, at least war until it's dry.)

TWO. Don't rely on  the reference material too much. The reference is just for inspiration. It's a reminder of what inspired you about a particular scene, person or thing. Lately I've been sketching on location rather than painting. I am trying to use my sketches as references rather than a photo. My sketches remind me of the sweet spot that captured my attention. Plus I like my sketches. They are very loose, free and easy. This is my goal for my watercolor paintings.

I concentrated on the center of interest
painting much of the detail wet into wet

THREE. Use colors that work together and create the mood you want to convey. There are many beautiful colors in nature. I happen to love green and almost every shade of green there is. The green in nature inspires me to make my own shades of green and use them to create my painting, not reproduce exactly what I see. And sometimes I might use a color I don't even see at all. How about that? As long as the colors harmonize and complement each other on my PAINTING, all is good.

FOUR. Use good paper. Use good paint. Watercolor is hard enough and inferior "student grade" supplies are enough to make the student give up before they even begin the journey.

FIVE. Value study value study value study. I have the most successful paintings when I figure out the values before hand. Having that sketch as a reference really helps to keep me on track.

Cobalt background

SIX. Mix up plenty of color. I know paint is expensive, but you want your washes to be wet and juicy so you have time to work with them. If you don't mix enough paint, fear of running out will influence you to paint too dry. This really cuts down on the open time to make the paint move and do it's thing. Related to this is good paper, as mentioned in point (4.) I bought some Fabriano "studio" watercolor paper and it drys too fast, preventing an even wash. This painting was done on the Fabriano "studio" paper. See how the background of cobalt is splotchy? That is totally because of the paper.

Well that's it for now. I want to give credit to some of my recent teachers for some of this advice. Dewitt Harding and Russell Whitten specifically. Oh, most important point of all, keep painting.

Cerulean Blue

Today is Plein Air Tuesday. I am thinking I will draw today and not paint when we go to short Sands beach in York. Instead I played in my Pad Pad book. This is a tree I did–quick study, wet in wet. I was thinking about all the pretty trees in blossom I saw yesterday. I'm also trying to like Cerulean blue that everyone else seems to be mad about.

Cloudy Day in Spring

I did a painting today that I wanted to do for a long time but didn't quite know how to approach it. I decided to just go small and just do it in my Pad Pad book. I also used this painting as an opportunity to try out my new liner brushes. I also used the the Noodler's Ink that my friend Leslie got me for christmas awhile back. I like the way the ink dries flat and the only indication of close and distant branches are their sizes.

Sunflower Painting

I decided to start something new on my blog today. I am going to document the process of a painting I am doing in the studio from a reference.

I first drew the image on my paper and then wet it and stretched it–a process I usually do in reverse.

Since I had the drawing and the paper was wet, I decided to drop some color in and then I waited for it to dry.

After the initial wash, I continued to drop color into wet paper. I want to keep this loose and free and try to capture the dappling light.

I started to approach this with negative painting to give some definition to the flowers

I was really interested in the vein of the leaf, the petals of the small flower 

To finish, I just added some more darks for detail.

Creativity Workshop

In my watercolor magazine there is a challenge to paint with a three step approach. It's called tea, milk and honey, referring to the consistency of the paint. This is a sketch I did one Tuesday at Perkins Cove. I never had the chance to finish it so I did this morning using the tea, milk and honey approach.

The goal is to paint faster when painting outdoors from life, A.K. A plein air. It took me only an hour and a half to finish this and that includes drying time.

Quick Sketches with Paint

Two quick sketches done Plein Air at the Blooms and Heirlooms flower shop in Kennebunk on Tuesday. Both in my 6X6 Pad Pad.

Flower Shop

Last Tuesday we went to a flower shop to paint. It was packed full of flowers, fountains, little statues and trinkets. So much eye candy, it was hard to focus. I sat down on a sofa in front of this window with  the sun was streaming in. I am trying not to paint so much detail, but this flower shop demanded it.

Practice Practice Practice

Last Wednesday I went to a class at River Tree Arts in Kennebunk. Very cool teacher, Russel Whitten, is teaching back to basics watercolor. All my friends really like him so I decided to go. He had us painting cloth. Now cloth, with folds, and hard edges and soft edges, is very challenging, and it's even more so with watercolor. I admit, what I did in class was terrible. So I decided to spend the rest of the week doing small studies of dishcloths. I also decided to do them in my favorite little watercolor pad from Artists and Craftsmen called the Pad Pad. So here are my studies.

Beach Day!

Yesterday we took our grand dog to the beach. Still snow covered. I painted this today from a photo. Just a quick little paint sketch.

Tuesday Plein Air Group

One of my friends in our Tuesday group lives on the water and we often go to her house when the weather is cold. Spring is in the air, but it's still chilly. This is her back yard.

Does it bother any body else that the horizon line is not straight? I think I might take the risk of ruining the painting and try to fix that.

The Prep is Where All the Work Is

My granddaughter, an artist in her own right, took pictures with my camera one day and when I downloaded the pictures there were all these photos of her Heehos.* I decided to do a mini series of Heehos. This is a preliminary painting to test colors. This was done is 3 colors: Quinacridone Gold, Prussian Blue and Perylene Violet and a touch of Permanent rose.

Planning you colors ahead of time can really save a painting from becoming ruined when a wrong color is introduced. It also allows you to see if the colors are capturing the mood that you envision correctly.

It also helps to plan the values ahead of the final painting–especially with watercolors. The whites are saved, rather than put in afterwards and this takes careful planning.

I used to just jump in and start painting, and I still do sometimes. But I'm learning that planning helps to avoid disaters. Also, with so much planning, you become more and more familiar with the subject. In watercolor, this helps you to keep the painting fresh.

The final painting may only take minutes to finish, but the simplicity and spontaneity would be next to impossible to capture without the preliminary work. (unless you're just lucky-but then again, luck is when preparedness meets opportunity, right?)

*Heehos are imaginary creatures she invented that are kind creatures that eat candy and hate vegetables. She currently is writing a book about the Heeho adventures.

The Thrill of Winning a Prize

I don't enter too many juried shows. I just don't think I'm ready and it takes too much left-brain time to do it. But after one of the Saturday Workshops, my friend encouraged me to enter my paintings into the York Art Association show that opened in March. So I did.

Last night when I went to the opening all of my friends from our Tuesday paint group met me and walked around with me to view the art. They knew I had won second place, but they didn't tell me. They wanted me to be surprised. What a thrill. The best feeling was that my friends were all so proud of me. It's as if I hit a home run for the team.

A Few Interesting After Thoughts

An interesting thing about winning a prize is it's validating and influencing at the same time. Artist's like to do what we want but we also like to please others. (most artists anyway) 

Exploring this medium of watercolor is a constant tug between doing what is comfortable and stretching the limits by doing something different. This painting was truly different for me. I think my style will become something in between. 

Anyway, it was a very happy day. 

Spring is in the Air!

I hope. This winter is really getting to be a drag. I love February when the daffodils become available in the grocery stores. Tom always brings me home a bunch. He knows it is my favorite flower.

This is also the time of year I begin to paint my flowers. Here are this years daffodils. (a painting I started a few weeks ago but just finished today)

Workshop Challenges Part 2

This week's workshop was lots of fun–like last weekend. I really like Dustan Knight as a teacher. One of the things I missed since being out of school is the group critique. I'm glad that Dustan does them in her workshops. Below are some of the paintings from the group during critique time.

In last week's workshop, we used sticks and ink in our paintings. This week we used stencils to create patterns in the background. Using new tools and techniques adds to the fun and freedom and gives the artist permission to explore and stretch the usual. White this won't completely change how I paint, it will inform it and expand the possibilities. I can't wait to get back to painting more next week. (now that my huge paying job is at the printer)

Below are my paintings from the workshop.Tom thinks they are not as good as the paintings from the previous workshop. During the critique, other students suggested I add a pale wash of violet, to make some of the flowers pop in image one. Dustan likes the way the flowers blend into the background. These two paintings are still on boards so they are not "finished" so I'm open to suggestions. What do you think?

Workshop painting one 

Workshop painting two

Workshop Challenges

Today I took a workshop with watercolor artist and teacher, Dustan Knight. Below are a few of the paintings I did in this workshop.  The true beauty of watercolor is in the freeness. While I may not stay this free for ever, it is good to stretch the boundaries sometimes and challenge myself like this. Very different than what I usually do, right?
Anyway, I will be taking a workshop with her next week as well.

Henniker Bridge

I spent all day yesterday during the blizzard painting this. I was asked to do this for a poster. It's a little different when you are commissioned to do a painting. It makes me nervous. I spent more time than I should. This is actually my second try. The first one became my value study. I tried to get away with painting without one but found it's not worth winging it. I also painted this from another persons photo. When I take reference photos I aways have the end painting in mind, so I pay attention to value and composition when I'm photographing.

This painting ended up being my value study for the final painting.

Final Painting Henniker Bridge 11X9