Fall 2017 Watercolor Classes

Watercolor Plus - Using Washes and Shading

The following are the instructions for the past 2 weeks of class starting with the second phase of the Fall Leaves followed by 2 kinds of shading round objects.

I do want you to note that even though these subjects are very different - leaves and pumpkins - the technique is the same: A series of washes or layers of color to achieve a goal. The techniques may be few but their applications are limited only by the artist.

Starting where I left off leaving more and more leaves leaves unpainted, I added 2 more layers of wash each time leaving more leaves unpainted. I stopped here only because I wanted to move on but wanted to show that once you got your own leaves to a level where you wanted to stop, then you could start adding detail.

I also did some lifting when I added the 2 new layers by using a clean damp brush to lift out leaf and twig shapes (I was using my angle brush), rinse and dry often when doing this technique or you will just move paint from one place to another. I let each new layer dry completely before adding the next, this is important or you could end up mixing mud when you stir up previous layers of color.

I looked for places like the curls on the leaves to add more color to make them darker or to suggest one leaf over the other.

Basically at this point I am starting detail and I am looking to see where I need to add shadows and color and textures. This, for me, is the fun part because if you stick with it and increase depth with shadow, color and detail the painting starts to come alive. Depending on how much detail you want to put into a painting will determine the amount of time it will take, if you are detail oriented you must be patient with this process.

Adding color to the leaves will give them character adding things like bug bites, holes and cracks just adds to that character of the leaf. The holes and bug bites were made with just a darker color (sienna and blue), which represents the bottom of the leaf that is in shadow.

Go out and look at leaves on the ground and see how they are decaying and changing color and shape. Take photos and keep a reference file either on your computer or a physical file of photos (you may end up with many files if you do this right). The more you see as an artists the more you will understand what you need to do to accomplish your goals for your paintings. Doing studies and drawings will also hope you along your artistic path, don't overlook doing studies or drawing because you "just want to paint" they are all connected.

This is where I stopped in class because we ran out of time. If I get a chance I will do some more work to make it look a bit more finished. I could make this look very realistic from this point, we will see.

Like I said, do as much as you personally feel like doing, this is an exercise to show you how to use washes to create depths and values in your painting, the detail is the fun stuff but you will learn a lot from doing it.





Shading Pumpkins

This Pumpkin actually has 2 washes of color. the first wash is the light orange you see near the top where the pumpkin will receive the most light, the yellow will be the highlight for this pumpkin. The second wash is the darker orange, leaving part of the first wash on the pumpkin the light orange 

On the stem, the first wash is the light green was the first wash, the darker green was the second wash.

Note the little mark of orange on the side of the pumpkin, both the first AND the second wash were that value. The second wash appears darker because of the layers of color.

It is important to let the layers dry between washes.

The second pumpkin was done a different way using washes of grey to just do the values of the pumpkin first and later we add the color.

Note: the orange on the stem is because I had some orange on my brush at the time. It doesn't hurt anything.

The grey I use is usually a mix or ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, leaning more to the blue side. this time I was using that mix along with the "pallet" grey I get from adding water to all the paint in the cool section of my pallet, so it may have had a bit of everything to start.

Again, this is a couple of layers of the grey, I started with a bit darker mix (see the dark mark on the side) starting in the darkest area of the pumpkin which will be the bottom and the side away from the light source, then I took a damp brush and moved the color up the sides of the pumpkin, rinsing often until I had just a faint wash of color at the top. I left an area unpainted for the highlight. I repeat this process until I get the value in all areas that I am looking for.

Several layers later and adding a bit of blue to the final wash for the shadows, this is the result for the first pumpkin. I also used a dark mix of UM blue, a touch of sienna and alizarin crimson with enough water so it would flow (still needs to be transparent) to create the shadow on the ground and the shadow of the stem on the pumpkin. 

I also use that color with a bit more water to suggest the ribs of the pumpkin.

This is the second pumpkin with a wash or two of orange and yellow for the highlight. Let it dry between washes, you may not need to add more than one layer if you did the under painting correctly and use a wash of orange that is a bit stronger than the washes on the other pumpkin, remember the water to keep it transparent.

I used the same mix as before for the shadows on the table and from the stem, but lifted the highlights on the ribs of the pumpkin. Where it goes darker on those rib lines was just the color from my brush.

Below is a comparison to the 2 techniques.

A Fall Proposal Weeks 3 and 4

In week 3 of this project I worked to start defining the leaves in the bouquet by adding color to the ends of the leaves and shadows where they go under other leaves or the paper or just into the bulk of the bouquet. Remember you are just suggesting leaves, if you make some general leaf shapes you will be giving your viewer enough info to understand what it is, you don't need to spell it out.

You will be doing both positive painting (painting the thing) and negative painting when you do shadows. Please look at the photo and look at things around you to see how one object casts a shadow on another before you start painting, it will help you understand what you are to be doing.

I also started working on the flowers. The red flower has darker reds near the center, I used alizarin and UM blue so it was a very cool red color. Also notice the darker shadows I added around the flower and how I used a shadow color (the alizarin and blue but more blue this time) to create leaves with negative painting.

Finally, I did a wash of that same shadow color to create the shadows of the folds in the fabric. It looks more purple because I had a wash of red on there before but it is actually more to the blue side before it went on the paper.

PLEASE!!! Look at the folds in the photo or take some cloth and LOOK at how the folds and creases are soft, different shapes, sizes and widths you will need to blend the edges of your strokes after you put them down, use a damp large brush to blend both sides of the  color you just put down or you can wet the area first so the brush strokes will soften as you go, THIS IS IMPORTANT so you material looks soft.

This was the end of week 3.

On week 4 I did more of what I had started with the leaves but I also went into the fabric again this time with an overall (the fabric area) wash of alizarin and napthol red. In the shadowed part of the fabric after a couple of washes of the red, I added some UM blue so the color was a bit more purple. It will all get a lot darker than it is now if I have time.

(I think it was the camera exposure that makes the box look lighter, it could also be comparison to the previous lighter background and the now darker background, FYI)

I lifted out the suggestion of wrinkles in the shadow while the darker bluish wash was still damp.

You can use the darker background color to define the edges of your flowers or to leave bits of the lighter background color as highlights on the edges of flowers.

While it is hard to see, I did put a pale wash of yellow on the white flowers. this is just a tint so it was more water than color. I want the sparkle of the diamond to be the whitest thing in my painting so I needed to bring down the whiteness of the flowers and still make them look white.

Finally, I added color to the bottle. In the darker areas I used a strong mix of UM Blue, and alizarin crimson occasionally adding more of the crimson where it might be picking up light and more blue in the shadowed side. Noticed that along the bottom and the side, I left a little of the green under painting showing to suggest the bottle's glass.

Where the light is hitting the bottle, I used a damp brush with just water to blend out the edges, a bit of Hooker's green where the glass is in the light but leaving the original under painting for the highlight. Again I used a clean damp brush to blend the to blend the highlights into the other areas . Do this just around the edges of the color so the center stays light.

That is where we ended on week 4 and should catch us up for the past 2 weeks. We will continue on this painting and I think we may get it done in the next 2 weeks, at least that is what I am hoping.

Keep painting and I will see you in class.

P.S. If you are in the intermediate class on Monday, you might want to read through the first blog to catch up on basic watercolor techniques. We are using them all in this painting.