Watercolour Demo in Progress
Yesterday was “step-by-step” demo day with Sackville Art Ass’n “Thursday Painters”. We had a full house … such an enthusiastic group ! Adrenalin was flowing … at least mine was … as I thought “I can’t goof up on this one”
I had been asked to include water in the demo. So I chose a shore scene with a yellow ‘cape islander’ at a wharf waiting for high tide. I painted on a quarter sheet of Arches 140 CP paper. Here are reference photos.
I apologize for the photo glare. On this rainy morning I had to use the flash.
The first step was to draw the subject and put together a value plan. This is a most important step … this is when we do our thinking and planning. To skip this step often leads to decision-making during the process of painting … and frequently to disaster.
Just above the value sketch you see where I began to test colours … another part of planning ahead.
Now we could paint with confidence. I began with the large light shape of sky area … using a 1 1/2 inch flat brush. I thoroughly wet the entire shape … right down to the top of wharf and the right distant beach area. As the water sunk into the paper a little … I prepared puddles of raw sienna and cobalt blue in my palette. I mixed lots in two separate pools. When the sheen was even on the paper … I charged in first raw sienna and quickly cobalt blue. Deciding that I needed a slightly darker value at the top … especially on the right side … I mixed a thicker cobalt mix and put it in with speed and a light touch. I used as few brushstrokes as possible.
This area dried as everyone else did those first steps. Then we applied the darker headland behind the wharf. Pigments were cobalt blue … as well as prussian blue and burnt sienna. I used a 1 inch flat brush. I painted wet on dry using rich wet paint and allowing the pigments to mix and mingle on the paper. I attempted to get the bottom part nearer the top of wharf a bit darker … as my value sketch told me to do. It wasn’t completely successful … but I didn’t try to adjust at this time. I feel I achieved a nice sense of light on the right of the headland … this is good !
After that was completely dry … I painted far beach shape on right using very wet raw sienna. I charged in a bit of the dirty mixture in my palette (mostly burnt sienna and a bit of cobalt) in a few places on the near edge … I think you can see it in the photo. Then it was time to get the bright yellow hull shape done. I picked up my 1/2 inch flat brush … loaded it with a rich mixture of gamboge (a mellow, warm yellow pigment). To have the shape not appear as a flat shape I charged pure raw sienna at either end and at the bottom of the shape. I added the shadow on the cabin with light washes of cobalt and a bit of the dirty mixture from my palette. By then … it was time to go home … so this will continue (and hopefully … be completed next Thursday) and I will post the conclusion. Check in to view the final version … and have fun painting along with me … if you feel the urge to … come on … get those brushes flowing. It is so much fun !
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