Sunday, October 28, 2018

Fall 2018 Watercolor Class

Watercolor Class - Negative Painting Leaves
(Watercolor Plus' post will follow, scroll down though you might want to read the leaf post.)

Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the first couple of steps of this process and can't find the photos a student sent me so I hope a description will suffice.

First, and this is an optional thing, I did not have a drawing on my paper before I started this I waited until I have put my first colors down then drew my sketch in so I could see where colors landed and make my leaves accordingly. If you want to have a drawing on there, by all means do the drawing first.

I had my paper just slightly elevated at the back so gravity would help me and I wet the entire sheet of paper so it was very wet, even drippy. I wanted the paint to not only spread out but I also wanted it to thin down to keep it light when it dried.

Next, using almost all my colors, I dripped and splattered colors all over my paper. I did have the photo so I could kind of see where there might be lighter or darker leaves but it didn't really matter for this stage of the painting. I also added some plastic wrap near the bottom for some added texture then let it dry completely, probably about 40 minutes, because it was a warm day and I set it outside for 15 minutes. Cooler, moister days it will take longer for it to dry under the plastic wrap.

Original photo

When the paper was dry, I added my drawing using the photo for reference but not drawing it exactly like the photo. As I was drawing, I was determining which leaves were the lightest, those would be the first leaves I would paint around with the negative painting.

Now comes the fun part and the part that can be confusing for students new to water: Negative painting.

Negative painting is essential to learn if you are going to be a watercolor painter because you must save your lighter colors one way or another. On this painting I am painting around the areas I don't want darker and each time I will leave a next layer or the next lightest leaves and twigs.

This image has 2 layers of color on it. You can see the lightest colors I first left unpainted and when it dried I left those and added more to the unpainted. Also notice at the top I have painted around some leaves and twigs. I let it dry between layers.

Each layer of wash I added was about the same strength as far as value (light or dark) is concerned, the reason it gets darker isn't necessarily because I am using darker paint, because I'm not, it is because of the transparency of the watercolor and each layer of color you put down influences the next layer you put down. Each layer increases the value (lightness or darkness) and it also increases the color intensity (how strong the color looks: Pale to vibrant.).

This is where I left off last class, it has several layers of washes each time leaving more areas unpainted creating shapes of leaves and twigs that are deeper into the bush.






Here is the top again. By continuing to add layers of color creating darker leaves each time it gives depth to the bush.



I add this here because someone asked if I was just going to leave the leaves the way they were, the answer to that is no, this is just the under painting. I will come back when I have done as much of the layers as I want and detail out many, but probably not all, of the leaves.

This is a great exercise to learn about negative painting. It may be confusing at first but as the painting develops you will begin to see how you bring watercolor to life. I hope you try it.

Watercolor Plus Project: Missing Her Partner Week 2

I started out by under painting the flowers at the top of the cactus. I used the cad. yellow light with lots of water to under paint the petals. Notice that I wasn't real careful with the paint, the reason for that is the yellow is going to be the lightest thing there and I will be using a darker color to negative paint (see the post above) to petals in later.Also,while the flowers were still wet in the center, I added some crimson very watered down. Any red will work if you don't have crimson, just be sure you use enough water so the color is pale.

This next part it is important for you to have the reference photo so you can see where the light and dark is on the boot. 

I was still using just the thalo blue and water but this time I was very specific as to where I added the color and how I blended it out. I need to save the lighter colors for the highlights so I was rinsing my brush often and sometimes lifting out color from the highlight areas with a clean damp brush as I painted.

First I added the thalo blue to the area I needed darker. then I quickly rinsed and dried my brush and pulled the edge of that color into lighter areas to create an almost invisible transition. This does take practice, so take your time. LOOK BEFORE you paint so you know where you need a darker, more intense color and where it needs to stay lighter. Work your way around the boot adding color, rinsing your brush and moving color to soften edges. Remember to rinse your brush often.

I also added another coat of the same color for the soles of the boot, leaving a lighter edge. The outside of the heal has 3 coats of the gray color and the inside has 4 coats of the same gray. Let the layers dry between washes.

I did start to work on the cactus a bit but mostly worked on the boot. If you have time,you can add more color to the cactus just like you did before, starting in the dips between the ribs and moving paint to soften the edges. Remember to leave the lighter color at the top of the ribs because that is the highlight.

Keep painting and I will see you in class.


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