Fall 2018 Watercolor Classes

Watercolor Project: Dancing Boots Week 2
Watercolor Plus notes will follow this post for the boots. Scroll down.

Last week we got our boots and cactus under painted, this week we start adding some detail. I started with the cactus because it is just too easy to get lost doing the boots because they really are the stars of the show, however, you can't forget the supporting cast members because they make the star shine.

I was using my 1/2" angle brush, Hooker's green and the ultramarine blue to make a dark color. LOOK AT YOUR REFERENCE PHOTO so you can see where the light and dark are on the cactus and to see that the edges aren't smooth but scalloped, you create the scallops with this dark color.

I put the color down where I see in the photo the dark shadows, then I rinsed my brush and with a damp brush, I went along the edges of that color to soften those edges that were on the sides of the ribs, if the color was shaping the scalloped tops I left the lines hard to define those edges. This was my first pass over the shadows.

Around the flowers on the top, I used the dark paint to define the petals of the flowers. This is called negative painting and it is something we do a lot of in watercolor because we have to leave the lighter colors.

This is what my painting looked like after I put the first round of shadows on the cactus. I haven't touched the boots yet.

Next I focused on increasing the intensity of the color by doing more washes of color like I did the previous week, but this time I had to remember to leave light areas alone where I needed highlights. 

Again I was using my angle brush and thalo blue. I would put some color down, rinse my brush and move the paint with a damp brush. I did this to most of the boots but not all so I had highlights. When I got to the darker shadows, I added a little alizarin crimson to the thalo blue to purple it up, applied it and softened the edges with a clean damp brush. The dark cast shadow of the front boot onto the second boot is this thalo/crimson mix applied a couple of times.

The soles of the boots were under painted with a mix of blue and sienna, keep it on the blue side, I let it dry before adding another layer OF THE SAME COLOR to darken the sole. You may need to do this several times to get it dark enough.

The detail on the boots is optional, if you don't want to do it, don't, but if you do, pay attention to how the seams and stitching follows the curves and contours  of the boots, they are not straight lines because the boots have wrinkles and folds. I lifted the highlight in the shadow on the second boot with the edges of my brush.

I did go back to my cactus and darkened some of the darker areas, especially around the flowers. To make something look lighter you must increase the value (darkness) of what is around the thing you want to look light. I added another layer of the dark blue/green painting around the petals. I also added one of the dead flowers in the back to, again, define some of the flower petals. I used burnt sienna and a little blue for the dead flower.

The centers of the flowers had several colors: Yellow with a little touch of orange. Orange with a little napthol red for the darker orange color and the napthol red and/or crimson for the center. You can used a small round brush or use the edge of a flat or angle brush like I did.

This is where I left off in class, try to get to this point in your painting if you can. I will probably be finishing this in our next class, working on and detail I want to add, putting in the background and the shadows under the boots.

Keep painting.







Watercolor Plus: Review of Textures

In our last class we learned how to create different textures in watercolor using many different things to create them. I will review them here but you should have your own samples labeled and saved for future reference.

 These 4 are samples of using salt. These two are rock salt, from a grinder (1)  on damp paint and just chunks of rock salt (2) on very wet paint.

These are both on damp paint: regular table salt (1) and popcorn salt (2).

These need very wet paper - just water - to work. 1 is tea 2 is coffee.

Some of you experimented with adding to a color and that is okay to. Save it for reference.

The first one is turmeric on wet paper.  The second one I spritzed water with my spray bottle into damp paint.

Into damp paint using a tooth brush on both: 1- rubbing alcohol 2- water.

The first one was using masking tape as a stencil and painting over it. You can use other things like masking fluid, dollies, things cut from card stock, etc. The next group of textures requires damaging the paper so only do this if you are sure. The leaves I scratched veins in before I added paint. The brown square I used a comb - a fork would work. The gray lines I used a pocket knife, my name I used an Exacto blade. the second set of leaves I used the exacto blade after I put paint down, scratching into wet paint. The gray and the end is what happens to the paper when it gets rubbed, I used sand paper but this can happen if you are putting your wet paper into and out of your bag. Be careful.

This is splattering with a tooth brush. Great way to make small pebbles and sand.













This is splattering by throwing and dripping paint from a brush.

Somehow I missed my favorite texture so I will have one more in our next class, then we will move on to brush strokes. 

Keep painting.