WINTER 2013 WATERCOLOR

Project: Clay Pots and Chilies, Torrance Edition

This point in the project is one of refinement, it is also where you, as an artist, need to decide just how much refinement you are going to do. Some may like a more pastel look, others may like more detail or less detail depending on your own personal likes or preferences. I personally like more color and stronger light so that will be what I demo but if you reach a point where you like what you see then stop, it is your painting.

I darkened the background, deepened the
color on the pots and started the
texturing of the ground.

I decided that I wanted my background darker so using the same colors I used to begin with – ultra marine and cobalt blues, Hooker’s green, and purple – working on dry paper (if I weren’t working vertically, I may have wet the area first so the colors would blend better), I painted around the pots and the chilies. I did leave a light area next to the tall vase for now, I may do something with it later.

While the background was drying, I moved to the foreground to give it a more textured look. My pots are sitting on dirt there will be an area of light around the pots surrounded by shadows, what that should tell you is where the sun hits there will be warmer, lighter colors and in the shadows, cooler, darker colors. As always we work light to dark so what we have already put down will be our brightest highlights, the next colors we put on will be the next lightest and so on until we get the desired effect we want.

Ground close-up. Note the light areas they are from
the original under painting, which now becomes
highlights.

In the sun lit area it was a mix of sienna, a touch of orange and yellow with water, in the shadow area it was sienna, with blue and/or purple with water, neither is the darkest dark for either area, it is just the next layer. I used my ½” angle brush but you can use a round brush or a flat brush just, please, don’t get out the one haired brushes just yet, no smaller than a #8 round or ½” flat larger if you have it otherwise you spend way too much time on something that should go very quickly. I made long, overlapping, flat “U” shaped strokes going over more of the area but leaving some of the under painting showing, like the tops of mounds of dirt that might catch a bit more light. These strokes should be parallel to the top and bottom of your paper so your ground looks flat, if the strokes angle so will your ground. I also will work some in my light area and switch to the shadowed color when I get into the shadowed areas. Be sure to rinse your brush before picking up you lighter color, it isn’t really necessary to clean you brush when going into the shadowed areas.

The rest of the day I spent deepening the colors on the pots and the chilies, adding shadows and under painting the chilies on the ground and the bowl. We should be able to finish this up the next time we meet but not to worry, I will bring the set up for a couple more weeks after in case you haven’t finished and still need the setup. There is also more info if you go down a few posts to the PV posts if you have questions because at this point it is virtually the same technique. Any questions, bring them to class because you probably aren’t the only one with a question.

Water.

Distant rocks

PV Class I showed how to use wet into wet to create water and also distant rocks also using wax as a resist, check out the picture page for examples, I think we are going to explore this further. See you in class.

Wax resist.