WATERCOLOR FALL 2015 Project: Cool Refuge Week 4

Torrance class I want to remind you that I am using the PV class project to write the blog do not worry we will cover everything that you see in the photographs from their class you're just about a week behind them so be prepared to finish up your project this week.

This week was all about finishing the project so I wanted to concentrate on the areas I thought needed some work so that when I started doing detail I didn't have to stop and fix something else.

First thing I did is I wanted to darken the moss that's on the wall behind the chair if you look at the reference photo you will see that the moss is quite dark in between the slats of the chair and I like that look if you don't like it don't put it in but I do so I did. The color is a mix of Hooker’s green, blue and burnt sienna to make a ugly dark green color, there wasn't much water mixed into the paint that will keep it dark.

 

While that was drying I started working on the chunks that are out of the wall we had under painted them in last week now I'm going to detail them. There are several ways you can add bricks into the wall the first is the obvious way - you can paint them in. The second way is to lift them out and the third way is to paint the mortar that is between them or lift out the mortar that is between them or a combination of several techniques. You might want to experiment on a separate sheet of paper and see which method will work best for you, for me in the closer wall I lifted out the mortar between the bricks leaving the original color as my bricks. Remember that bricks are offset over each other for strength so they are about halfway across the brick below them. For the few bricks that show on the sunny wall I lifted the bricks this time and left the original color as the mortar between the bricks you are not limited to one way or the other you just need to figure out what technique will work best in the area you are in.

 

Next I wanted to add some detail to make the cracks in the chunks so they look three dimensional. Where you have plaster lifting up off the bricks there will be a shadow underneath stucco so using my shadow color which is my blue, purple with a little touch of sienna to make a very dark purple/blue color and my liner brush, I painted right up next to the edge of what should be the wall. If you make the mark thick it will look like the stucco is further away from the wall; if it is thin it will look like it is right on the wall, this is how you create three dimensions on a two dimensional surface. Using the same color I also created cracks in the wall I did a similar thing on the sunny side but just added a little bit more water because it is in the sun and it is further away. I also used this color to create a little bit of texture in the bricks. The bricks will also have little shadows around some of the edges and they will have cracks in between them, you are only limited by your imagination, this is why I suggest you look at things so that you have a lot of information stored in your head when you get into situations like this, it makes your painting a lot more fun and interesting.

I also lifted out some areas in the vines above to put in some flowers I realized that white flowers were not going to happen so I just made them a red flower using my alizarin crimson and a touch of blue to create a cool red color. This will also work with your napthal red as well, try not to line them up, give them different shapes, different directions and different sizes so that it looks like there are flowers in all stages of development.

I added cracks and detail to my chair I did a demo on how to create the texture in old wood and I suggested that you look at old wood but knowing that you probably would not go out and look, I took some photographs of an old picnic bench I have in my yard so that you can see how the grain and the cracks change direction when they reach the end of a board this is important because it helps to create the effect of a third dimension on a flat surface. If you can't see in your mind what I'm talking about when I'm doing my demo it won't do you any good, this is why you need to create your own reference file whether it is cutting pictures out of magazines and newspapers, taking your own photographs, searching the internet, doing sketches and creating a file on your computer - all of these things will help you as an artist and the more you understand what you are looking at the easier it will be to paint them.

The rusted nails we're pretty simple you just take and put a little bit of burnt sienna and then

a little bit of orange where you want the rust to be, then take your finger or a damp brush and smudge downwards it should look like rust dripping from the nail and the nail is just a very dark color, whatever is on your palette that is very dark.

Finally we get to flagstones or cobblestones in our painting. I wish I had an actual photograph of what I'm trying to get across to you, when you are looking at something that is flat and it looks roundish when you are looking down on it, it is going to be longer across than it is wide when you look it is from and angle so it looks flat, this is called foreshortening. When you are painting in the separations between the flagstones, no matter what size your flagstone is, it will be longer across than it is wide and you will mostly only see the front part of the flagstone and only on those that are close to you, the ones in the background you may only see parts of  because you don't want to draw attention to the background with too much detail, keep the detail around your subject.

Using that same dark mixture I used for the cracks, the shadows on the chair and wall, I used to create the edges of the flagstones. It is mostly the front of the flagstone that you see and that is what I painted. I didn't paint them all, I just painted some and left a suggestion for the others. Look at the detail work that I did to see how much and also how little I put in, you don't need to spell out everything for your viewer let them do some of the work.

 

Finally I did use a lighter version of my shadow color by adding some water to create a shadow for the vines on the wall. Look around your painting see where you need to make adjustments, where you can add detail and where you can leave detail out, this will finish out your painting. Please have something ready for next week that you want to paint and I will help you get started. Torrance class we will be finishing up this project at our next meeting so you might also want to start look in for your next project. Keep painting and I will see you in class.