Fall 2019 Watercolor 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.