Beginning Class: Alaskan Fishing Village Week 4
(The Monday intermediate class project was finished the previous week, this is the finally for the Wednesday beginning class)
I am really impressed with how quickly all of my beginning students finished this project, I was afraid we were going to run out of time but you all worked hard and did a fantastic job on this painting and for many it was the first time out and you did great.
Mostly what we did in our last class was to add the little things that make our painting finished like the curtain in the window or cracks in the walls.
The curtains were done with a very light (lots of water) gray using the dry brush technique and negative painting. Just pull down the brush leaving the frames of the windows unpainted (negative painting). You should see streaks if you did the dry brush dry enough.
To make the other windows, mix a dark color (blue and sienna) with enough water so it is still transparent and paint in the panes of the windows leaving the frames unpainted (again, negative painting). Windows are done! You can also use the dark color to add cracks into the boards of the house.
Along the banks of the shore, again using dry brush, I added some grass to the slopes. This was sap green with a touch of orange. Remember to use a paper towel to dry out the brush by the metal ferrule and spread the bristles each time you pick up paint, then touch the end of the brush to the paper and "flip" your brush. It is a quick more that you may want to practice before you work on your painting so you can get those individual grass blades at the top. (Yes, I noticed I didn't reflect this in the water, an easy fix later).
For fun if you want to, you can lift out some smoke from the smoke stack. With a damp brush and very little pressure, make a series of circular strokes to stir up the paint right around the top of the smokestack and less circles ad the smoke moves away. blot this with a paper towel and let it dry before trying it again or you can damage your paper but once should do it.
Finally, do whatever you feel you need to do to finish up your version of the painting be it adding more color to areas or more detail, of maybe you feel you are done as it is, this is up to you. Take what you have learned and apply it to things you want to paint,just keep painting and I will see you in class.
Project: Alaskan Fishing Village
Wed. Beginning Class Week 3
(Monday intermediate to follow, scroll down)
We spend most of our time on the pilings under the building. This was negative painted and it is a new concept for most of the class and a challenge for all. You might want to scroll down to the exercise we did on negative painting to review the process. I used a mix of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna to create a dark color and I was using a 1/2" angle brush.
The goal is to create the idea that the posts that hold up the building go back under the building and are more in shadow the further back they go. This doesn't have to be perfect, if you take a close look at what I did here you will see that the posts and boards aren't perfectly straight or the same size and also note that I have suggested there are some posts deep under the building. When you are learning all these techniques, perfection should be way down on your list.
Also notice that I suggested the grass at the bottom, again, by negative painting both on land and in the water.
The reflections in the water while similar to those on the land, they are painted a bit different. I painted the reflections with a series of horizontal stokes as I negative painted in the dark shadows. This will be a challenge because the tendency is to make nice straight lines but remember, the water is moving, breaking up the reflection NOTHING is straight. You might want to practice on a separate sheet of paper to get the hang of it.
I also added some mud along the shoreline. It is a mix of burnt sienna and a touch of orange. When you paint it in, start at the waterline, paint a bit of that waterline then rinse your brush and with a damp brush, pull some of that color up towards the grass. Again, don't make it even. Make it thick and thin and even skip areas to make it look natural. It should be darkest right along the waterline.
The little rowboat is made mostly with negative painting. Creating the bow, the seats, the grass and the shape of the boat using the same dark color as before. Start in the darkest area by adding the darkest color then rinse your brush and with just water, pull the color out from under the front part of the boat. You can use what is on your
brush to paint the bottom, to form the top edge of the boat, the suggestion of the middle seat and the back seat. If you need to reload, only pick up a little.
The middle seat casts a shadow that goes across the floor of the boat and up the side so there is a curve as you go up the side of the boat.
On the outside of the boat you will switch from positive painting the bow of the boat to negative painting the boat. Remember to rinse and used just water to spread the color up the side of the boat. The lines for the seat I did with the chiseled edge of my brush by just tapping.
This is where we left off in class we have a little more to do but I think we may get it finished in our next class.
Keep painting and I will see you in class.
Intermediate, Monday Class week 5
This week was adding all the final details. I got a bit carried away and added the ladder, phone poles and for fun, some smoke coming out of the smoke stack. You do not need to do this if you don't want to, that is your option, what I did was I lifted out the poles with my brush and let them dry before adding color and detail to the poles.
The smoke was just lifted, more near the top of the stack and less as it moves away.
The ladder I used the chiseled edge of my angle brush with burnt sienna and a touch of blue.
I used the dry brush technique to add grasses using sap green with a touch of orange and my 1/2" angle brush. Pull the grasses over the bottom of the boat and the posts holding up the building.
The area on the other side gets a similar treatment using dry brush for the grasses but also add a touch of sienna and orange in those grasses as well.
I added a big bush on the side so the railings of the walkway didn't lead the viewer out of the picture. That I just dabbed on using the same brush, sap green and adding some blue when I wanted a darker color.
Do as much or as little detail as you want. I am finished with my painting so if you are also done with yours you will need to bring something else to work on for our next class.
Projects: Alaskan Fishing Village
Wednesday Class: Week 2
(Monday's post will follow, scroll down)
In our last class we started adding shadows into our trees and texture into our building. Both of these take a little planning and a lot of studying BEFORE you put brush to paper. The trees seemed to give everyone the most problems because the technique is a combination of negative painting and positive painting, however, this is usually how it goes when you are painting.
The most important thing to study is the shapes of the shadows in the trees. They follow the direction of the way the branches grow, so much the same way you painted the trees (scroll up a couple weeks or go to the picture page and look at the example of painting trees) except you will be leaving some of the lighter, first color for the highlights.
I wanted it darker around the roof of the house and around the walkway in the back so I did paint around the roof but quickly switched the stroke one it was away from the roof to suggest a tree branch. That breaks up a solid dark outline around the roof but still gets the dark where I need it. I will probably go over this again next week because I do need it to be darker but I will be leaving some of this new color as well.
I was using my 1/2" angle brush and the color was either sap or Hooker's green with blue and a tiny amount of sienna so it isn't so bright a green.
The roof of the house was painted with the same brush using the dry brush technique so keep a paper towel handy.
Over all the roof I used the following mic of colors: burnt sienna with a touch of yellow and water to lighten. After you load your brush use the towel to squeeze the base of the bristles to wick out some of the water and also to spread the bristles, remember this is dry brush. When you apply the color follow the angle of the roof. You can use this color also on the hanging door on the front of the building.
The sides of the building are shades of gray. Make a bit more color than you would for one side then you can mix other colors into this color to get darker colors and different shades of gray. My standard gray is blue and burnt sienna, to make it darker use more paint less water (still needs to be transparent), lighter more water; blue makes it a cooler color, sienna makes it a warmer color. You can go over the area a couple times before you need to let it dry, if the paper gets too wet all your colors will blend together.
Again, watch the water in your brush, use the towel to take out the excess then look at the photo to see how the boards of the building are going. The side under the eves is horizontal, the front is a mix of horizontal on top and vertical on the bottom. Dry Brush.
Once the roof has dried, you can add these colors - grays and sienna - onto the roof again, dry brush following the angle of the roof.
You will be using those same colors in the reflection but this time you only need to worry and adding them either straight down or straight across and you can wiggle your brush as you go.
Another thing we did was to darken the reflection of the trees behind the house. Do it the same as last time by wetting the paper where the reflection is first then dropping the dark blue/green and yellow into the wet area and let gravity do most of the work.
We will pick up where we left off when we meet again in class. My homework for you is to practice your negative painting and the dry brush BEFORE you go to your painting and really start looking at the world around you. Try to figure out how you would paint it. What colors would you use? What would you have to mix to get a color? How would you get that color? What is different between the things that are close to me and those similar things in the distance? The more you can see these things and more, the better artist you will become. Don't get discouraged, there is a lot to learn and you are just starting your journey.
See you in class.
Monday Project Week 4
Much of what I just wrote for the beginning class applies here as well. I was adding more dark to the trees,more color to the roofs and more texture/color to the buildings.
This was the third time I went over the trees to create darker shadows. I didn't paint over everything I needed to leave some of the previous colors but I did want it darker around the buildings using Hooker's and blue with a touch of sienna to create a deep forest green adding it with little marks to suggest branches of the trees. Look at the actual photo before adding in the colors.
I also made the reflection darker. Watercolor dries lighter so sometimes you need to go over something again to get it dark enough. Just repeat what we did before: wetting the paper first then dropping or touching color into the wet area and let gravity do its thing. Same colors as before.
The reflections of the buildings can be strengthened as well, just wait for the water area to dry first then you can wet the building area a little, not as much as the water area, it should only be damp then add the colors either as vertical strokes of horizontal strokes, you can wiggle the brush as you go but again let gravity help.
I wanted to strengthen the colors on the buildings so I just went over the areas with the same colors as last time (scroll back to the previous lesson if you need the colors), just adding another layer of dry brush. The great ting about old wood the more layers of dry brush the older it looks.
The roof I added gray (blue and burnt sienna) and burnt sienna alone again with dry brush and following the angle of the roof, this is important.
I also used that gray in a stronger mix (less water and a bit more blue) to make a dark color to add the shadows under the building using negative painting to make the pilings stand out and I used that same color for shadows in the shed on the side, under the eves, around the door, on the stove pipe and a liter version to make the windows.
We are getting down to the final day on this project - one maybe two more lessons - we have the area in front of the building that include the boats and the pilings then we should have this thing wrapped up.
Try to have your painting to this point by the next class so you don't get too far behind.
keep painting and I will see you in class.
Project: Alaskan Fishing Village Week 3
Note: The beginning class has started a version of this project I will post their review first then the intermediate class's review, however, some of what we did in the Monday class was also done by the Wednesday class so I did direct the Monday class back up into the beginning review so I wasn't repeating what I just wrote.
In watercolor you must start with your lightest colors first and work your way to the dark and I like to work with what is furthest away first as well. The furthest thing in most landscapes is the sky to paint the sky I started with a mix of ultramarine blue with a tiny hint of burnt sienna just to slightly gray the blue and water to thin (lighten) the color. Remember, watercolor is transparent and white is the white of the paper so a thin wash of color will give you a light finished color.
I was using my 3/4" angled brush to get my paper covered and so I could easily paint around the treetops and other things in my design, my rule of thumb is to used the biggest brush for the size of your paper you have so you can get the paper covered, especially when you are painting big areas, save the smaller brushes for later.
I painted the sky with this color as well as the house and the water, let this dry before you move on to the trees and grass.
The trees and grass were painted with sap green and a tiny, very tiny, touch of orange to mute the color. Green can be too GREEN so you need to tone it down with some form of red, I like orange or burnt sienna because using straight red can easily turn to mud and both those colors have some red in them. Use plenty of water to make a thin wash for the trees and grass. I did add more yellow and a touch more orange when I was painting the grass but it isn't really necessary.
I also went back to the blue and sienna color I used in the sky and building and added a bit more of both to ass to the reflection in the water. The one thing to keep in mind when painting a reflection is the water is moving which breaks up the straight lines and the shapes that it is reflecting so pull your brush straight across and/or straight down to suggest that water movement. Let this dry.
(This is where it is the same for both beginners and intermediate classes in what we did in class last week.)
Starting the under painting of the house, this is going to be a bit different: the brush will be dryer and you need to pay attention to the direction of the angles in the building.
The roof slopes at an angle, the side facing us has boards that are horizontal, the front of the building has boards that are both vertical (the bottom) and horizontal (the top) these distinctions are important to recreate the idea of old wood.
If you need to go to a smaller brush, this is the place you can switch brushes, still, don't break out the one haired brushes just yet.
The roof was painted with a mix of yellow and burnt sienna with lots of water to make an ocher-ish tint that I used across the roof following the angle of the roof. My brush was damp but not dripping with paint I also went back into that color and added tiny mounts of burnt sienna to add some color in the back part of the roof (look at the reference photo to see all the colors in the roof).
The gray for the front and side of the building is again the blue and burnt sienna but not so much water this time and you will need to have a dry brush. Use a paper towel to lightly squeeze the back of the brush after you have loaded your paint, this will remove some of the water and also fan out the bristles of the brush. With very little pressure on the brush, drag it across you paper in the direction of the wooden boards. You can repeat it a couple times but then let it dry a a minute or the paper gets wet and you lose the "grain" you just added. You can add some straight burnt sienna in the same way.
On the lower part of the building, I made the paint a bit darker using less water in the paint. I also under painted the door - I think it is a service door - with the same color as the roof but with a bit more or the two colors and less water.
You can repeat the door color in the water, remember the moving water.
We also managed to start the water reflections, this was a wet into wet technique.
First you need to wet the paper where the water is around the building reflection, WHILE THE AREA IS STILL WET you will add the green you used from the trees but use it a bit stronger - less water - by just touching your brush to the paper and letting the watercolor do its magic. Your paper needs to be at an angle to that gravity can help you or it will just sit there. To that green you can also touch the paper with blue and yellow to create streaks. Don't get too carried away because it feels so good or your colors will become muddy and loose the idea of the reflections. We can do this again if we feel we need to later but let it dry for now. Also notice how I cut into the building with horizontal marks into the building, nothing is straight.
This is as far as we got and I was amazed you all did so much ans so well. We will start where we left off when we met again.
Intermediate version
In our last class we worked on the reflections in the water and the buildings. The techniques are the same as I have just written for the beginner class so you can scroll up to review the process, the one thing we did in the Monday class was to add more color to the water. Same process as above: wet the paper and drop color onto the wet paper and let it run. You can use a bit more intense color but let the watercolor do most of the work.
The houses are painted using the dry brush technique and following the way the direction of the way the wood or roof is going. I also used a mix of blue and burnt sienna with little water to make a dark color for the shadows under the eves, around the windows, the gap by the yellow door and to negative paint the area under the buildings. I used a lighter wash of the same color to start the boats as well.
The red of the little building is napthol or cad red light with a touch of burnt sienna in it. I also used this color in the water.
However, when I was painting in the water to make it look like reflections all of this I either painted straight across or straight down with a wiggle of mu brush. Remember it is moving water,nothing will be straight or definite.
This is where we left off in class, next class we will be getting into detail and finishing up this project so bring your little brushes and your liners, I will see you in class.
