Hopefully everyone was able to get the drawing
onto their paper. One of the things I did forget to do is to add in the plants
in the planters in the background and the plants underneath the chair so you
may want to draw both in before you get started. It no big deal you can adlib
as you go, just be aware that you will need to leave some space for them before
you do the darker colors.
The first thing I did was to paint the entirepaper with a mix of my Cad yellow light with a little touch of orange and a lot
of water. I want this to be a very pale color so you need to add enough water
to really dilute the color and then I painted it onto the entire surface of my
paper everything else in the picture is darker then that one light wall so
painting everything with this color is not going to bother or hurt the things that
go on top of it.
This next part you do not have to do but I like to do it, so while my paper was
wet, I mixed up a ugly grey which, in my case, I just took water and mix it
into the dirty part of my palate and got a soft dirty grey but if you don't have a dirty
palette, mix blue, purple, burnt sienna and any other color you want plus a lot
of water, you just want a soft blue/purple/gray. Then splattered or throw this
color on your paper with a big brush you want big splatters, overall your paper.
I didn't do a lot of splatters I did some splatters, I want the finished
painting to look like an old photograph like you found it someplace and it's
got mold and dirt on it but it has a lot of memories as well. Then I let it dry
completely.
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| PV version |
When my paper was dry I wanted to know where the
chair was so I painted the chair with a touch of orange and burnt sienna and
water you don't want to get too dark color, so use lots of water and I painted
in the entire outline of the chair with this color we will be going over it
with darker colors this color ends up being the light paint is still hanging on
to this poor beat up old chair. I also used this color to under paint the
planter box and the window divisions on the sunny wall. Again, I let this dry
completely.
When my paper was dry I needed to mix color for
the wall behind the chair. This is just a wash. Again this has a lot of water
in it and just a little bit of color the color, more of a tint. What I used was
a mix purple with a little touch of blue in it and lots of water and I painted
the wall behind the chair with this wash of color, painting around a chair and
between the slats.
I love to paint old dirty broken nasty things
and one of the things I like about the photograph was the mold that was growing
on the wall behind the chair it gives the chair a sense of having been there
for a long time and maybe neglectful but I like that mold so while paper is wet,
right behind the chair, make up the dirtiest ugliest color you can using green,
purple, blue, brown… just mix it up ugly and then tap it into the wet don't
paint it in. Tap it in and let the paint just spread on its own the way it
wants to, that's the way mold grows, you can even drop some water back into
that wet ugly color area and that too will help it look just like mold growing
then you let it dry again. Salt would also work.
While the wall is drying you can under paint for
the plants that are in the planter box the planter by the door and the plant
under the chair. Again we are dealing with a wash which is a very thin
application of color. Using either of your greens - either sap green or
Hooker's green - with a touch of yellow and a little touch of orange and a lot
of water, under paint your plants, this becomes the highlights for your plants.
Also, remember that what you are painting is a wild, living, growing thing it
doesn't grow in nice symmetrical clumps it branches out, it is irregular shape so
when you are painting your plants, be sure that the edges of the plants you are
painting our irregular as well: up down sideways lot of movement in your brush.
When your wall is dry you're going to start on
the walkway that is next to the sunny wall. Using orange with a little touch of burnt
sienna and water, maybe not quite as thin as we've been making it but still it
is a wash, and with flat strokes, this is going to be more like calligraphy
then painting, you're going to make a series of little shapes that will
represent the flagstones or cobblestones of the walkway. When things are
further away they are the smaller and closer together as they come towards you
they get further apart and larger, this is part of perspective. The light
yellow that we put on there at the beginning becomes the highlights on the top
of the flagstones or cobblestones so don't paint over all of it you must learn
to save your lights for the highlights.
Look at the reference photo and you will see
that there is a shadow being cast by the wall into that walkway but you will
also see that there is a transition area where it's not light and it's not and
shadow yet it still has a warmth but has a richer color about it, because of
the reflected light. Look at that area before you start painting the next part
which is the shadows the shadows go in and over some of that light area because
of the rough texture of the flagstones so there isn't a hard shadow line on the
ground it is a soft line and very irregular.
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| Note how the shadows follow the shape of the bricks |
To mix the first of the shadow colors for the
walk around the chair, you are going to mix a cool grey color which, again, will
be your blue, purple, and burnt sienna. It can be a little more to the blue
side but be sure that you use enough water we aren't going for the deepest
darkest parts of the shadows just yet we are only going for what will be the
light parts of the flagstones or cobblestones around the chair so please don't
make it too dark. When you're in that transition area you can take some of that
shadow color and into parts of the sunny your area just and leave some sunny
spots in that margin area between your sunny area and the shadow area. You can
also use this color for the shadow in the doorway around the outside of the
window because these are both recessed into the wall, then you can add a little
touch more blue and use that start the window panes.
The red door can be any of your reds and a touch
of blue, you want it to still look red but the blue makes it look as if it's in
shadow. That should get you caught up to where we ended in class this week. Remember
with watercolor it is better to sneak up on the finished look of your painting
then to try to go straight to the finished color or value. Learn to use thin
washes and glazes rather than mixing up dark paint and then having to try and
lift it off. This knowledge and skill comes with practice so in time, as you
become more familiar with your paints and how they work it will become second
nature, however, as a beginner you need to remember work in thin washes and
glazes. Keep painting and I will see you
in class.
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| Torrance Version |
