Winter 2015 Watercolor Classes

WATERCOLOR: Class Project: Safe Harbor

(Torrance watercolor class the posts I do for the PV class will be the same posts you will review if you need to they will be a week ahead of you so you can read what will be coming up in our class.)

I started my watercolor by first transferring my design onto my watercolor paper using a

pattern and transfer paper. Next I went over the areas that I wanted to save with my masking fluid which included some of the netting, the crab pots on the dock, both of which are just suggestions of net, quick strokes, and sparkles on the water.

When the masking fluid was dry I started in my sky area and painted the area with water so that my paints would flow. I used a light yellow near the horizon painting all the way across the horizon, painting around the boat and around the buildings, though it really doesn’t matter if you go over them.  For the next color I used a red which could be a alizarin crimson or napthol red and then finally I used all through marine blue in my sky area. If you want, you can paint this with your paper turned upside down so you don’t get a green or muddy sky. Let gravity work for you so your colors blend naturally.

To create the backgroundI used water to wet the area because I had let the background dry, if you want to save this step, wait until the background color is just starting to dry and then you can do this step but, if like me, you waited too long rewet the area and then I used a cool red color (alizarin with blue will work) and I painted shapes along the horizon. It doesn't matter what the shapes are because it’s just stuff. It could be a city back there; it could be the rest of the harbor; it could be mountains or trees or whatever, it doesn't matter, they're just shapes. If you paint the background in and the sky is still too wet and your shapes blur, don't worry, just let it dry a little bit more and go over it again it will look like layers of all those things in the background but don't try to create any definite shapes just stuff and let the people decide what it is.

Next I painted the water and you can wet the area for the water as well if you want, it'll help make the colors blend a little better for the water. I used my ultramarine blue and touches of Hooker’s green and a little bit of dioxazine purple starting at the horizon, I painted over parts of the dark areas of my boat and I painted under the pier, I also painted over parts of the crab pots sitting on the foreground dock, you can paint over things that will be dark because it won’t matter and you can paint things like the crab pots because, 1, you should have protected the bright areas with the masking fluid, and 2, they need to have this color behind them because they need to have the color coming through them so don't be afraid of painting over items in your painting because it either doesn’t matter or it needs to be there anyway. I added green and I added purples to my water because water isn't just blue, it has many different colors in so don't be afraid to use more than one color in your water. I did keep this this wash very light by adding a lot of water to my mix, you don't want to get too dark too quickly this will be highlights later on and where you put the masking fluid in the water that will become sparkles but for right now this is just one layer we will have several layers as we progress.

This is where we ended and we will continue next week. Keep painting.