Fall 2011 Watercolor Class

WATERCOLOR DEMO – Values using Watercolor.

A few years ago I went on a week long watercolor seminar up in the Big Bear area, it was a fabulous learning experience and I often start my own painting the way the artist – Don Andrews – showed up how he painted. I like it because it establishes the values of the painting early and it sets the mood for the entire painting, besides, it is a good way to work.

Just like we used the ink washes to create the different values in our last project, we learned how to use our watercolor to do virtually the same thing starting with light grays and creating darker and darker mixes to get our values, then finally adding color. The results were quite satisfying.

A former student sent me the lovely fall photo that is on the picture page, it shows the fall color and is quite peaceful as well as being simple enough that I could do most of it in a class or two. I did adjust the composition a bit by moving the foreground tree closer to the right side, as an artist, I am the ultimate in Photo Shop so I can move trees if I want, whereas when you are the photographer you may not have the option to move something to get the photo you want, so you take the picture, you will be using it for reference only. Never look at a photo as the goal of your painting, you already have the photo if that is what you want, as a painter you need to add your feelings and interpretations to your paintings.

The biggest reason I moved the tree is it created 2 pictures. There was the main picture of the lake and hillsides on the left side of the tree but there was also a picture that demanded almost as much attention on the right side of the tree with the bright reflections surrounded by the dark tree and shadows. By moving the tree more into the shadowed area, those areas that were asking for attention become part of the larger image and therefore less distracting to the eye. Be aware of this when you are taking your own photos, bright things will attract attention and hard lines like the trunk of that tree can divide your image.

As I do with all things I am painting, I first look at the reference to see where my brightest highlights are and my darkest shadows. One thing I noticed about this image was there were no white whites. If you don't believe me, take out your value scale and place it on those white clouds. They are not white. The brightest thing I see is the tree trunks on the left and it is on the tan side but I did want to protect that brightness so I masked out the two trunks. EVERYTHING ELSE was given a wash of gray.

To mix my gray I started with my lightest blue on my palette, for me that is my cerulean blue and a touch of orange. The orange is a powerful color so a little goes a long way but it makes a very nice gray and I used a lot of water. I just wanted a tint of color this is where some of you get a bit heavy handed and you start out way too dark with your colors then have no way to get back to the value you want. It is better to have to put 2 or 3 washes of color on then to try and take it off if it is too dark.

I used this mix of cerulean and orange, mixing a bit stronger each time for the first 3 or 4 washes, then I switched to a darker blue – I have cobalt on my palette – and orange for another 3 or 4 washes. When I want my darkest darks I use my ultra marine and burnt sienna. Each time I paint a layer of value I am doing exactly what I did with the ink, I am leaving the next lightest areas unpainted until I have my full range of values.

In the sky, I lifted out clouds with a paper towel at the second and third washes of grey and because the sky is a fairly light in value, after about the third wash of gray, the next wash was cerulean blue and cobalt I made sure to lift out my clouds. The water is darker in value (use the value scale) but I did the same thing as I did in the sky only I waited to the third and forth wash to pull out the clouds and the 5^th wash was color (cobalt, ultra marine and a touch of my Andrew's Turquoise). I waited to add color to the trees and hills until I was closer to being done with the washes.

One thing to remember when you are painting the water is to keep you brush strokes parallel to the top and bottom of your paper. This will make your water lay flat if you happen to leave streaks with your brush.

I will finish up the painting in class so you can see what I am doing, if you have any special requests let me know and I can do a demo for the class because chances are if you have a question someone else will also have a question.

See you all in class.

SUMMER 2011 WATERCOLOR CLASS

Watercolor Class – "Pelican's in Flight"

PV students, you are about a week behind the Torrance class so please check the archives to see what we have been doing. I cover the same material. If you are going to follow along with the pelican project, please have the photo and the drawing on the picture page downloaded and printed so you can have them for class. If possible, have the drawing on your watercolor paper before class so we can get started.

Torrance students we did get pretty far along with our painting with any luck at all, we might finish it in the next class so you might want to have something else handy to work on.

We have been practicing sky and clouds for the past couple of weeks so check the previous entries for detailed instructions on how to do the sky. This does take practice to get a nice graded blend, just remember that it is art, not a photograph so those little imperfections are what give your painting character. Perfect really isn't necessary and may not even be desirable.

If you feel it necessary, you can mask out the light areas of the pelicans with masking fluid, I really didn't feel it necessary, I just kept a paper towel handy and when paint was in areas I didn't want it, I just wiped it out of the area, this is just another way to save your whites and it shows you that you needn't panic about your white areas if you forget to mask them prior to painting the area. You could also wait until it was dry and lift color out if you haven't used a staining color. Mostly what will make it look white is contrast. I will get to that later.

Once you have your background in and it has dried completely (ß this is important), if you have mask on your pelicans remove it. Masking can create hard uneven lines so you might want to take a damp brush and soften and straighten your lines. Rinse and dry your brush often, otherwise you may end up putting down paint rather than lifting it.

We are now going to under paint the pelicans and I need to remind everyone that we do this in layers or washes. Everything that isn't white can all be painted with this first wash of color because it will be dark anyway and this gets us started. What you want to avoid is finishing as you go and when you are a beginner it is an easy habit to get into, you want to see it done but you need to have patience, it will pay off in the end.

I mix my standard grey – ultra marine blue, burnt sienna and a touch of purple – keeping it on the cool side. Mix in enough water to make a medium light grey color, not too dark not too light. This is the first wash of color I will use on my pelicans, it will go on everything that isn't white. In the areas where this color come close to the white areas, I rinse my brush and with a damp clean brush I run it right along the edge of my color to make a graded color that blends into the white area. This is exactly what we did in the sky when we were blending the color down with just water but on a much smaller scale.

There were also several areas like under the wings where there is a bit of reflected light shining up into the shadow areas, remember they are flying over water so there probably would be a lot of reflected light hitting them. I did a similar thing as mentioned above, I put my color in the darkest areas (this is where having the reference photo is your best guide), rinsed my brush then teased the color into the lighter area with just the water on my brush.

Another thing I want to mention is when I have to remix the color when I run out I am more concerned about matching the value (lightness or darkness of a color) than I am matching the color. I use the same 3 colors but if it is more brown than blue or more purple, I can always add a bit more of the other colors to get closer, it is the amount of water that changes the value in watercolor.

I also needed to darken behind the light areas of the birds so there would be some contrast between the birds and the clouds. I used a little bit of blue on my brush and put it next to the white areas of the birds, rinsed my brush and blended it out into the clouds behind. You need to have contrast – light against dark – to show that your light areas are really light. I may need to do more, but I will wait until the end to see if and how much more I need to do.

This is where we stopped, I hope that everyone (Torrance) can be near this point when we meet on Monday. Like I said, we may finish this project depending on where the class is at the end of the day so start looking for something you would like to paint.

SUMMER 2011 WATERCOLOR CLASS

WATERCOLOR DEMO - Grids, Skies, Clouds and Feathers

I didn't want to start the project with the 4^th of July holiday the next week because we would have to go back to square one when we did come back to class, however this was a great opportunity to practice what we will be doing on the project in the hopes of working out the bugs before we get to our project.

The first thing I covered is how to get an image on your paper. There are several ways to get an image on your paper that do not require a lot of drawing skills, which would be your first option but in a practical sense I know that most of you do not have good drawing skills, I will keep encouraging you but in the meantime you need some alternatives. You can buy a program that will enlarge a photo or a drawing in your computer, I have the link to Poster 7 in the side bar or you can use an opaque projector or even take your photo to Kinkos and get it enlarged but one simple way to enlarge a picture or drawing is using the grid system.

The grid system has been around for hundreds of years. Before photographs artists would create these huge elaborate grids with rope and wood and set their subjects in front of them to get a precise rendering of the scene. Today you can buy sheets of clear plastic with a grid already printed on it or you can buy paper with a grid pattern or you can buy a kit that will make you an "instant artist" using the grid system or make your own grid with pencil and ruler the process is the same.

What I do when I use a grid – yes, I have use the grid system when I need to – I will print a copy of my subject on a full sheet of paper, the image is usually around 8" x 10" and I mark off 1" squares, it keeps things simple. On another sheet of paper like drawing paper or tracing paper that is at lest the size of the paper I am going to use, say 16" x 20" I will make my grid with 2" squares because my paper is twice the size of my photo so the ratio is 2 to 1. I can make this as big – or as small – as I need so long as I create a grid with squares I can enlarge something to wall size if I needed to just be sure that you have the same amount of squares on your paper as you have on your picture.

It can be a bit tedious drawing the grids but once you have them drawn, the real work begins. If you are working from a photo what you will be looking for is the edges of objects and important detail such as eyes or doors or as much detail as you think you will need. You could do a line drawing from your photo either by using a light box or taping it to a bright window and tracing on another same size piece of paper the important lines, then putting your grid on the line drawing.

Pick a spot to start on your photo or line drawing, you can put numbers and letters along the edges so you can just go to the 3C square or just count over and up, then what ever shape you see in that square you want to recreate it on your paper grid. Note where the line(s) intersect the lines of the grid and where they stop and start. You can just put dots to indicate starting and stopping points or high and low points then when you draw you line it will be like the "connect the dots" you did as a kid, you do need to be aware of the line you are drawing as you connect the dots so if it is a curved line or a straight line you need to do the best you can to recreate the shape of that line. Remember: That is all it is, a line. A line that creates a shape and if you got all your lines and shapes close you will have your subject enlarged and transferred. Don't think about the thing think about shapes only. Practice this and you will be amazed at how well it works.

The next thing we practiced was skies. Awwww, the simple blue sky: So pretty yet so deceptive in its simplicity. As you probably figured out when you were trying this in class, getting a even, graded blue sky isn't as simple as you would think, it does take practice and patience but if you stick to it, you can create beautiful, flawless skies.

You will need to have the top of your paper elevated so that gravity will work for you. A roll of tape or a brush box will work great, just prop it up on something. Next wet the entire area that will be sky with water. If you have a drawing already on your paper, turn it so that the horizon is at the top. The horizon can sometimes be a different color (yellow to orange or red) and it is always best to paint the lighter colors first so they won't get contaminated by darker colors. What ever color you choose, streak it across the horizon area (this should be at the top now) and with just small amounts of water and gravity, guide this color down the paper. Brush the water just at the bottom of the color so it moves, you will get a gradual change from dark to light if you do it right, it does take practice but a graded wash is a valuable tool in your watercolor knowledge box.

When you have gotten the color about half way down the sky area, turn your paper so that the horizon is where it should be and with blue and a little purple do the same thing in the sky area. Your paper needs to stay wet for this whole process so wet it good to start and work quickly. You can rewet with your brush but you run the risk of blooms, though in a sky, they will look like clouds.

You can also lift clouds out while your sky area is still wet. You can lift them with a tissue or paper towel or you can use a damp brush. This will make soft nondescript clouds perfect for a lot of different land/seascape situations. This is also the easiest way to make clouds.

Another thing you can do while the sky is still a little bit damp (this takes practice to time it right) you can add and distant mountains or in this case, islands. Use a color that is just slightly darker that the sky it will be against and paint it in. The slightly damp paper will diffuse the edge and make it soft, a good thing for distant objects.

On the pelicans we will use a couple differ techniques, variations on a larger scale we just used. First the graded wash in a small area: If you are using a round brush you will first put down your color in the darkest area, rinse your brush and dry most of the water but not all. Run the damp brush along the edge you want to soften so that you are wetting the paper just beyond the paint as well as the edge of the paint. If you are using an angle brush or a flat brush, clean your brush and slightly dry it so it is still damp and load color onto the tip or corner, put that where you want it the darkest but put your whole brush on the paper and paint the dark area. You should get a soft graded color with both of these techniques.

Next we will be lifting color off with our brush so first we need to paint an area and let it dry. Be sure that you are using a non-staining color or a staining color with a non staining color. The diox purple is a staining color but the ultra marine and sienna are not. These three make a very dark color in combination with each other and when lifted the color that will stay mostly behind will be the purple. Test colors if you are unsure of their staining qualities.

Once your dark paint has dried, with a clean, damp brush (I like my angle or flat brushes for this) using the edge, lift lines out of the dark paint. If your lines are too fat and fuzzy, you had too much water on the brush, rinse and dry, and try again. You will need to rinse and dry your brush often to keep from putting the paint back on the paper but you can get some very interesting effects with lifting.

Next is dry brush. This is where so many of you have problems with either too much water on your brush or too much paint or you are pressing too hard…Remember, dry brush means exactly that: Dry brush. Rinse and dry your brush well, pick up paint with your brush but remember that you are also picking up water along with the paint so lightly squeeze the bristles near the ferrule to remove excess water and with a light stroke touch brush to paper. Press too hard and the line can be too solid, this will also happen if you have too much water or paint. Practice is the only way you will learn how to control the water but this is a great stroke for all kinds of textures from feathers to hair to grass and wood grain, it will be worth your time and effort.

I hope you all have time to practice these techniques before the next class and if you can, please try to have the drawing on your paper. Remember, if you are tracing the drawing onto your watercolor paper be sure to use graphite paper or rub the back of the stencil with soft graphite and copy it that way. Never use carbon paper, it has oil in it.

Have a good 4^th of July, see you soon.

Brush Strokes

I just want to mention to my classes that - at least for now - KOCE Chnl 50 has on art probrams at noon. Jerry Yarnell is on on Tues and Thurs, he is an acrylic painter but is very good teaching color mixing, composition and brush techniques so I do reccomend him to all my students not just the acrylic students. They coud switch back to pledge mode at any moment so take advantage while you can, you can learn something from every teacher good or bad.

Brush Stroke Demo

When I was taking the photos for this blog, I was thinking that I might have to separate the acrylic class to another blog because I thought that it might be confusing to the two classes but when I sat down and thought about how I was going to describe the process of these strokes, I realized that even though they are different mediums and paper vs canvas, actually, the strokes are almost identical! I would just be repeating my self. There are some differences and I will point them out when I get to them but basically there are just so many ways you can use a brush that make the use so similar and this can be a good thing if you are interested in trying a different medium, some of these techniques will even hold true for oils. It is really more about the paint than the brushes, so for now we'll all stick together.

The acrylic students will use mostly their bristle brushes and the watercolor students will be using their synthetic sable brushes, I will let the acrylic students know when they should be using their sable brushes, other than that, the techniques for using the brushes will be virtually the same.

First I want to cover "dry brush" because in acrylics it is how we blend in a dry area, in both dry brush can be use to create wonderful textures and in both, it is important to control the water in your brush if you want to get dry brush to work for you. The only difference here is the acrylic painters will be using a flat bristle brush and the watercolor students will be using either an angle brush or a flat synthetic sable brush.

The key to this is a "dry brush". After you have rinsed your brush, make sure that it is dry by squeezing the water out with a paper towel, especially around the metal part. Pick up the color paint you want and work it into your brush on your palette. Before you touch your canvas or paper, squeeze the brush hairs near the metal ferrule, you'll be surprised how much water comes out.

Since this first technique is for water, when you touch your canvas or paper, you will be dragging your brush across horizontally. When you do drag your brush, you will be barely touching the surface. It is a very light touch. If you press too hard, more paint will come off your brush and fill in the gaps you are trying to create. If you have too much water in your brush, it too will be more of a solid stroke. When you are painting water, keep your strokes horizontal unless you are painting a waterfall.

Next try the same stroke but go vertically and wiggle your brush a bit and you can create a wonderful old wood texture. Let the paint dry in between layers and use a different color to create rich, textured old wooden fence or any old wooden object.

Acrylic students this next technique can be used for blending into dry areas as well as creating texture. The stroke is called "scumbling" and that really means that it goes in all directions. Directions of your strokes can tell the viewer a lot about what you are trying to say and remember, you aren't painting the walls of your house, you are painting a picture, you need to add interest to your painting and one way is by using a variety of brush strokes. Scumbling can be use not only in dry brush but also to base in rocks or dirt to give a rough look to the under painting, or can be used to create clouds and it works in both acrylic and watercolor.

Prepare your brush as you did before to get out all the water and load your brush with color, you don't want any real chunky color, but do work enough color into your brush that you don't have to reload every 2 seconds. Again, the touch is very light, remember that the more pressure, the more paint will come out of your brush. I use the side of my brush whether it is a flat or an angle, that means I'm not using the full width of the brush, just the small side of the brush and I lightly drag or "scumble" in every direction in the area I'm trying to cover. Let and area dry before going over it again and you can create some wonderful texture.

Another way to use a dry brush is to create grassy areas. Make sure your brush is dry and loaded with paint, you will be using the flat end of your brush, place it on your canvas or paper, lightly press and flip it up. The stroke should look fairly solid at the bottom and break apart at the top. Press and flip. It is quick so don't waste time over thinking it.

Acrylic students, you may want to switch to a flat sable brush for the next few techniques, everyone else, I'm still using the same brush.

You can create palm fronds, banana leaves, feathers, ferns, and fur using dry brush. For feathers and fur is it just a series of short quick strokes that follow the direction of growth on the animal, this is very important when doing animals so have a reference photo handy. For ferns and fronds, get your brush ready, I usually start by using the flat end of my brush to create a main rib, then flip the brush down to create the look of leaves coming off the rib. For banana leaves, don't flip quite so much and leave the brush in contact with the canvas/paper a bit longer. This all takes practice.

When ever you need texture, think of dry brush an how you can use it to create that texture. The more you use your brushes in different ways, the more mental tools you will have to use.

Still using a flat or angled sable brush, we will be using a bit more water but not a lot more water. Very seldom do I ever advise the use of a lot of water unless I am using my liner brush. I will get to that next.

To create various leaves, requires you to learn to twist the brush between your fingers as you pull up. This time, lightly wipe the water out of your brush and load it with paint. On the canvas/paper place the edge of the brush to the paper and as you more it along, press and twist and you pull up. If you do it quickly you can create little leaves, if you press, drag, twist and lift, you can make long grasses or leaves like for iris. Experiment with this brush to see what it will do and what kinds of leaves you will get.

If you want to make simple flowers, learn to load the paint on one end of a flat brush or the tip of an angle brush. The brush needs to be dry enough that the paint doesn't spread across the bristles but it isn't a dry brush. Pick up paint on the tip and gently work it a bit into your brush on your palette. Place the point where you want the color, I will say to the outside for this example, the heal or end without the paint will be your pivot point, as you make your petal, wiggle your brush. You may have to rinse and reload your brush, it the color is too solid you have too much water in your brush.

Switching to a round sable for everyone, try creating leaves in a similar way as above by touch, press, twist and lift. It will be similar but it may be easier to get the leaves you want.

You can also use this brush to start trees or grasses, you brush will be a bit wetter but not dripping and if you have a shaky hand when doing the trees, so much the better.

You can double load this brush and make small buds. Not too much water but first load on green, then with just the tip, pick up some red or other flower color then on your canvas/paper, start with the tip and lightly press and lift.

The last brush I will cover here is the liner brush. This is the brush that will require a lot of water to make it work correctly for most of the things you will use it for such as trees branches, and grasses. The paint should have a very ink-like consistency when you are mixing the pigment with water. To load your brush, wiggle the whole brush in the paint then twist it as you pull up to get a point.

To paint grasses, first get your motor running making circles with your brush the size you want the grasses or reeds to be in your painting, then touch the surface on the up stroke. This takes practice so have some patience. Hold your brush near the end and the handle up so the paint will flow out of it, not down where it will stay in the brush. Once you have got the feel for grass move on to trees and bushes.

A branch is thicker at it's base so slightly press and as you drag it along, wiggle and lift. Most branches or twigs and a lot of bumps and angles so these wiggles will add to the look of your tree or bush. When I start another branch/twig I usually start back in part of the trunk or branch I want it to come out of, the take a new direction.

These little brushes are also called "riggers" because the marine painters used them to paint the rigging on ships so if you need a long thin line like a barbed wire fence, this is the brush you should use.

These are just a few of the brushes and techniques that are in your arsenal of tools when you set out to paint. It is in your best interest to know how these all work, how each brush handles the different techniques so that you can create you "masterpiece".

Next week: The wonders of white. I will be using the gull on the picture page if you want to download and print out the photo and the drawing.

Winter 2010

Torrance and PVAC Winter Classes

Welcome to the New Year and to the new semester. It feels great to be back and seeing familiar faces and a lot of new ones. I want to welcome my new PVAC students; I hope this blog is helpful.

First off I need to remind my Monday classes at Torrance that we will not be meeting this coming Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday. We will meet again the following Monday. This doesn't apply to the PVAC classes because there are no Tues holidays and I am thankful for that aspect! It gets very frustrating in the winter semester with 2 Monday holidays, seems like we just can't get started.

Torrance watercolor class members you might want to check this blog for demos I will be doing at PVAC when we have missed a Monday, it'll give you something to do on your week off.

That said, I will give a brief explanation of the demos on skies I did in my Tues class and I will link with the picture page, click on the blue hyperlinks.

Watercolor Skies

(This first part is true for all artists not just the watercolor classes.)

It is important for all artists to take the time to do some "thumbnails" whether they are a quick sketch of the whole scene or a detailed rendering of one aspect like rocks or trees, taking the time to practice before you get to your masterpiece will take the fear out of working on your painting. For beginner and intermediate artists, practice is very important and shouldn't be thought of as wasted effort. If it helps improve your painting and future paintings, it is well worth the time.

Practice let's you test your equipment, your paint and your paper or a new technique. You can try new things and not worry about what it is going to do to your painting. You can work out bugs or problem areas on a scrap piece of paper or, as I showed in class, watercolor cards. When you finally do get to your painting, you will know what you need to do to get the look you need and just paint, not worry about every brush stroke. The more you paint, the more confident you will become and it will show in your paintings.

I showed how to do skies 4 different ways; first, I wet my paper with just water so that my paper would be damp, then starting at the top of my wet area, I used ultra marine blue and a touch of dioxazine purple across the top then added a brush full of cobalt blue right under the ultra and purple, rinsed my brush and with just clear water (my brush was damp not dripping, btw), helped the color down the paper. This is called a graded wash. It is dark in one area and fades in value to another. I turned my paper upside down and did the same thing only I used napthol red, fading it up to the blue area. This is how I started each of my thumbnails*.

To answer a question that came up in class – Why do I use red at the bottom? - it is mostly to add interest to the sky. Yes, I could have used just one color to paint the sky but that is visually boring. The next time you look out at the sky, really look at it from top to bottom, and at different times of day, different weather conditions and you are going to find that it isn't all one color. Even if it looks blue from top to bottom, the sky above you is darker than the sky at the horizon because at the horizon you are looking through more atmosphere, more junk in the air: Dust, water vapor, pollutants – all of which will change how the light passes through it to your eyes. A sky can set the mood of a landscape so become observant of nature and try to capture what you see on your paper.

Back to the first thumbnail: While the paper was still wet, I used a paper towel to lift out some clouds. I use Viva or tissues because other brands of paper towels have patterns that will show on your painting. This gave soft fog like clouds because the paper was very wet. Try lifting at different points in the drying because it will give you a different look as the paper dries.

The second method of lifting was done with a brush. I did let the paper dry until it was just damp then using a clean damp – this is very important to dry most of the water out of your brush – brush, I lifted cloud shapes out of the color on my paper. I rinsed and dried my brush often so I didn't transfer color back into areas I wanted white.

In the third example I added color to make my clouds working wet into wet. Wet paint onto wet paper. This lets the paint spread keeping the edges soft. The paper shouldn't be soaking wet, it works better if it is just on the damp side. Again, this is why you do these thumbnails so you can learn how and when to add water or paint to get the results you want.

I used a dark color that was wet enough it would run if I tilted my paper, this gave the impression of rain. While I always work with the top of my paper higher than the bottom, I usually don't work vertical like I do in class but I would hope that most of you do try painting with the top elevated even an inch will help.

The forth example I did what is called "negative painting" and it is a technique that watercolor artists use all the time. This time when I painted my sky, I started on *dry paper and left the areas where I wanted the clouds white by painting around them. I even added more color around the clouds to increase the value change between the sky and the clouds. A good point to always remember is you need to have dark to show light.

Once I had my cloud shapes in and was happy with the sky, I rinsed my brush, dried most of the water out of it and with the damp brush went along the edges of my clouds to soften them.

These techniques take practice and I hope that all of you take the time to do these sketches. It will really pay off in the long run. I also want to mention that even though this is not a drawing class and I really don't have time to teach drawing in class, if you want to improve your painting regardless of which media you use, you need to understand the basic principles of drawing. There is just no escaping it even if you do abstract because you need to know composition or all you will have is a mess. I recommend the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards because not only does she have easy to understand lessons but it helps you understand how your brain could be working against your efforts and ways to get around your own traps.

Good luck to everyone I will see the PVAS classes on Tuesday and the Torrance classes a week from Monday.

Fall 09 classes

To all my students: Monday will be our last class for the semester, I encourage you to bring in something for critique because it is a good way to learn what you are doing right and what you could improve on. Bring something you really like or bring in your "problem child" you will be amazed how supportive the class is and what you can learn.

Acrylic Sky Demo

Many of my acrylic students still feel the need to do a detailed drawing before they ever start a picture, there is nothing wrong with a detailed drawing per se, but it is like trying to work shackled for most people because they are so afraid to loose their drawing that it ends up looking like paint by number and not at all like what they see in their mind. The drawing should just be there as a guide, a reason we use the vine charcoal or chalk to sketch in our design, it should not be chiseled in stone, as it were, because the drawing is not the important part, the finished painting is what should be important. If you are constantly worrying about the drawing, the painting can suffer.

I did a demo on skies using some existing rocks I had on my canvas from a previous demo. In the first example, I painted around what I had on the canvas. While not bad, it had a more impressionistic feel to it, if impressionism is what you want, then by all means, go for it, however, it has been my experience teaching that for beginners or people who are struggling, they want to do things that are more realistic yet are so afraid to start a painting without a detailed drawing and following it to the "T" they get impressionism whether they want it or not or worse, the drawing tends to make them want to finish sections as they go and there is an inconsistency in their painting from start to finish: some areas are over worked and some are under worked the result is not pleasing.

In the second demo I did, I ignored the rocks that were there and just painted my sky right over them, my only concern was the sky. I used my soft 2" blending brush starting with some gesso where my sky would be then adding color into the gesso and blending it with big "X" strokes. You can get some really nice skies using this technique but it does take practice because it requires a very light touch. Once I had my sky in, I went back and repainted the rocks and twigs, this sky looks like it is behind the rocks as it should be.

As I always tell you: There is no one right way to do anything, the right way is what is right for you but if you are unsatisfied with your painting, you need to try other methods until you do find something that pleases you.

Watercolor Distance Demo

Acrylic students, don't stop reading because much of what I am going to say about distance applies to all media not just watercolor.

I asked the class if there was anything that they would like to see a demo on, when one person said "How do you get distance in a painting?" there was a murmur of agreement. I will have to agree that one of the common problems I see with my students in both classes is when they are doing landscapes in particular, but with most of their painting in general, is being able to create the illusion of distance in their painting. I say "illusion" because we are really trying to trick the viewers mind that there is great depth in our painting even though it is on a 2 dimensional surface.

You often hear me refer to Betty Edward's book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain", if you haven't read it I strongly suggest that you get it and read it. While I'd hope that you would follow the exercises as you read it, just reading the book will give you a good insight into how your brain works. She bases her ideas on studies done with people who have had brain injuries or surgeries where each hemisphere is working separately from the other. For most of us, we live in our left brains most of the time otherwise we would never get anything done, the right side is sort of a background program so we can move thru space or recognize a friend. The short version is the left brain has its own "short hand" for the things it encounters in day to day living, this allows it to recognize things name it and move on, the problem for artists is this short hand lacks detail, for example, grass is green so therefore all grass is green and let's move on. While this might be okay when you are driving down the street, it you want to paint that street, well that's a different story, because the grass isn't always green, the right side sees the nuance, the detail, the beauty. Unfortunately, for most beginners, the left side has control of the brush so paint the grass green and be done with it!

When you have quiet time, and I'm talking time to just sit and let your mind wander (this is a right brain activity), look out into the distance. What do you see? Don't actually try to name it that is left brain, but think about the color and where you would find it on your palette. If you were looking out towards Catalina for instance, you would probably note that it is a soft bluish or grey color, it may even be a warm reddish color depending on the time of day. You will see little, if any, detail, it will mostly be a light colored shape. When you go to paint this scene, try to bring that image to mind because your left brain knows that it is brown dirt with green plants and grasses that would look just the same as the stuff right next to you.

Keep this phrase running thru you brain when you are painting: Things in the distance are lighter, greyer, lack detail and appear smaller and closer together (think phone poles or fence lines going off in the distance). If everything in your painting is the same color and the same value (light or dark), you painting will appear flat. Start off in soft bluish/grey tones and add color as you move into the mid-ground. Just suggest distant objects and save the detail and saturated colors for the foreground.

In the demo, I started off with a light blue/purple wash to do my first line of mountains. The next ridge of mountains I added more color but it was still in blues and purples but it is still very light. The third ridge I added green to get a soft grey green color and used the edge of my brush to suggest tops of distant trees, still pretty light. The forth ridge, I added more green and detail and is a couple shades darker than the previous layer but still on the grey side. For the final layer, I used green with blue in a more concentrated form and created several closer trees. They are much darker and detailed then the previous layer, however, if I wanted to, I could still add things to the foreground that are closer yet. This works in all media because it is the illusion we are going for not the type of paint we are using.

We will be off for a couple of months so I hope that everyone keeps on painting and looking for that next project, remember I will just be doing specific demos from now on, not a class project so you need to start now finding something you want to paint. I also want to remind everyone to register for class as soon as you can. DO NOT WAIT until the last minute because they will close classes a week before classes actually start. Registration for Torrance residents starts Dec 1st, non residents on Dec 8th. Classes start week of Jan 10th. Bring your friends.

Spring 09 Acrylic and Watercolor Classes

Acrylic/Watercolor Week 6 Demo
http://picasaweb.google.com/artclasspics/Spring09#

I did similar demos in both classes so a lot of what I needed to preface the demo applies to both classes, I will give a description on “how to” in both media further down.

This week I went over how to paint realistic skies when you are doing landscapes. Once again, your best teacher is observation. Don’t take my word on this go out and look at the sky, take pictures of the sky at various times of day. When you are on vacation take lots of pictures of sky and clouds in the various places you visit so you can compare what a desert sky looks like compared to a Hawaiian sky. The more information you have at your disposal the better your sky will be. However, that said, you really need to look and analyze the sky when you are there because photographs can lie, this is especially true when you are working from a magazine photo or postcard. The photographer and/or printer wants to project the best image they can when showing it to the public which means most images you see commercially have had some “tweaking” so what you see in the final product may not always be what was actually there when the photo was taken.

When you look at a sky, look at the horizon see what color it is. If you have a piece of white paper or cardboard, poke a hole in it and look at the horizon thru that hole and compare the “value” of that patch of sky to the whiteness of the paper, then while still looking through the hole scan up until you are looking up. What do you see? How has the value changed from the horizon to over head? What about the color? These things are important because gravity pulls all the molecules towards earth so the atmosphere it more dense near the ground, as you are looking up, you are looking through less atmosphere and the dark blue of the sky is actually influenced by the black of space that is just beyond the atmosphere. As an artist, if you want a natural sky, it is important to understand that a clear sky does get darker from horizon to overhead.

Another thing you need to know is how different things will affect how a sky looks. Morning skies are usually cooler not only actually temperature-wise but also cooler color-wise. Use pinks and purples in a morning sky to suggest a cool morning. Afternoon/early evening skies are much warmer and the colors reflect that warmth. Use yellow, oranges and reds to bring warmth to your skies. Dust and water vapor will also affect how a sky looks. Dust or smog can make a sky look brownish near the horizon, water vapor can make a sky look milky, your job is to figure out how to get the sky to look the way you want. On to the demos.

Acrylic Demo. http://picasaweb.google.com/artclasspics/Spring09#

Read and understand this first before you start because if you stop to read what’s next your paint will dry and that’s a different kettle of fish.

I usually start a sky by lightly applying a layer of gesso to my sky area. I use this to mix my color into and because gesso is slower drying, it gives me a longer time to blend my skies plus gesso is more opaque and covers better.

For this discussion I will explain how to do an afternoon sky.

While the gesso is still wet, using my soft blender brush (2” hake brush), I pick up a bit of yellow and streak it along the bottom or the sky area, then pick up a bit of red and streak it a bit above the yellow (you can double load the yellow and red, or do red alone or use orange), then gently, using chris-cross strokes, blend the two colors. I cannot over stress the importance of the word “gently”, I barely touch the canvas as I work one color into the next. Don’t overwork this step because you still need to get the darker sky colors before the gesso dries.

Once you have lightly blended the horizon colors, clean your brush but make sure that you have squeezed the excess water out of it then dried it in a paper towel, the brush needs to be dry or the excess water will ruin your sky.

On the clean dry brush, pick up both blue and a touch of purple on your brush and streak it along the top of the canvas, then again using the gentle chris-cross strokes blend these colors down toward the other colors (it should be more blue than purple) but do not go into the other colors yet. First clean and dry your brush, the starting in the lighter area, blend up into the darker area. Gently blend these areas until you can no longer see where one starts and the other ends.

If you haven’t figured out why I had the red between the yellow and the blue, think about what color yellow and blue make. Green usually isn’t a color you associate with most skies so you need to put red or orange between blue and yellow though orange will create a brownish color, it isn’t bad for LA skies.

If you want to put clouds in your sky, do not start out with white. Again look at clouds. Even the biggest, puffiest, whitest clouds are mostly shades of gray or blue-gray but they are only white where the sun hits them directly. Storm clouds are darker then clouds on a sunny day and most clouds have more color in them than you’d expect, don’t be afraid to add touches of color into your cloud mix.

Using white with a touch or blue, sienna and purple, I mix a gray color for the under painting of the clouds, the less white you use the darker the color. I used a #10 flat bristle brush using both the flat side and the side of the brush in a circular motion. This is a dry brush technique so not too much water, or paint on the brush and don’t press too hard either. Remember to keep edges soft particularly the bottom of your clouds. Clouds come in all shapes and sizes but all are done with a dry brush. Highlight with the same stroke just a lighter color.

Watercolor Sky Demo: http://picasaweb.google.com/artclasspics/Spring09#

Wetting the sky area with clear water first will help you when you are painting your skies. While the paper is pretty wet pick up some blue and purple (mostly blue) and streak it across the top of your sky, then rinse your brush. With just water guide the paint down the page. It will help if your paper is at a slight angle, gravity will work with you to get a graded wash of color. If you want to add color at the horizon, turn the paper upside down and start with yellow, then red or orange rinse your brush and with just water blend it into the blue. Turn your paper as needed to get the results you want. The wetter the paper to start the faster your paint will run so it may take a few times to learn to control this mix of water and paint. However, this is much simpler than it is for the acrylic class because watercolor will do a lot of the work for you if you let it.

If you want to add clouds to your sky, again watercolor wants to help you. While your sky is still wet (you will need to experiment to know what works best for you, usually just as it looses its shine is good) you can drop just water or alcohol into your sky or very dilute color or use a paper towel to lift color or use a brush or sea sponge to lift color. You can also plan the clouds while you are painting the sky and “negative” paint around the cloud areas. Practice this and experiment so you know what your colors and paper will do.

Next week: Rock on!

Remember our last class is May 18th so have something for critique. The Seasons catalogs are out and sign ups for class start May 13th for Torrance residences and May 27th for non-residences. Go to www.torrnet.com click on “classes” for more information.