tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18590699848007178172024-03-14T06:39:51.760-04:00Kim Stenberg's Painting JournalKim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.comBlogger1049125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-61047078996373619572022-08-04T08:14:00.001-04:002022-08-04T08:14:27.867-04:00"Bixby Bridge Big Sur" (oil on linen, 8" x 10") sold<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMAfJzEma6IYnjGJuDmK553YrUlZtebYMmMyCL9v7v6SFb5keVy_KF3dL73afdMC9SqjOq_3OTs0qtHTkZhIuZy6ep7JEP05-f8ltt1fLBdEj4hDQWCJhOHJSLzX1kEIee6NVIFncNFStOK9zRkwuSEw63rmzczfhMAaAAqEFO7NxIgPHmRv7qbCIzg/s3616/Bixby%20Bridge%20Big%20Sur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2902" data-original-width="3616" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMAfJzEma6IYnjGJuDmK553YrUlZtebYMmMyCL9v7v6SFb5keVy_KF3dL73afdMC9SqjOq_3OTs0qtHTkZhIuZy6ep7JEP05-f8ltt1fLBdEj4hDQWCJhOHJSLzX1kEIee6NVIFncNFStOK9zRkwuSEw63rmzczfhMAaAAqEFO7NxIgPHmRv7qbCIzg/s320/Bixby%20Bridge%20Big%20Sur.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sold</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p></p><p><br /> </p><p class="faso-user-p">The famous view of the Bixby Bridge at Big Sur,
California. Completed in 1932, the concrete span, one of the highest
bridges of its kind in the world, soars 260 feet above the bottom of a
steep canyon carved by Bixby Creek. I love Big Sur!</p>
<p class="faso-user-p"><br /><br /></p><p></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-60927749810857346232022-06-12T10:56:00.001-04:002022-06-12T10:56:22.525-04:00"Donut Fest" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12")<p> </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPp0n9i92Api-Z94c8eNXVVM5tZtT94wnHpPv6Lgat7uySvcaApcpiyRBEDFdJurVcxDRi3ZVpw3enaVgCxLcfAWDBWYDPcRqkZS9KAUiDiMCh30lU0Q2TlD0Hy9Dh6ll8zKFQo2XPoGgxe86zEdBW4uH4dlG9PZoBlISSMXt1CsfxBdFlCqeyirkGxA/s400/Donut%20Fest%20Class%20Demo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPp0n9i92Api-Z94c8eNXVVM5tZtT94wnHpPv6Lgat7uySvcaApcpiyRBEDFdJurVcxDRi3ZVpw3enaVgCxLcfAWDBWYDPcRqkZS9KAUiDiMCh30lU0Q2TlD0Hy9Dh6ll8zKFQo2XPoGgxe86zEdBW4uH4dlG9PZoBlISSMXt1CsfxBdFlCqeyirkGxA/s320/Donut%20Fest%20Class%20Demo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Donut Fest"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
following is the description of what we did in the eighth week of the
spring term, 2022 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">my online Zoom class with the Art League School
in Alexandria, VA).</span> <br /></p><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Yesterday <span style="font-weight: bold;">we painted "Donut Fest", inspired by Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021)</span>, who created many delicious-looking pastry paintings. <span style="font-weight: bold;">This is a hard-edged, paint-by-the-numbers-without-numbers project</span>,
just like what we did in the first week with "Santa Ana Mountain
Wildflowers". <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">What
we did was paint a food still life, an important sub-genre within the
still life genre. I heartily recommend you should draw and paint many
still lifes. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Set up whatever objects that interest you and get into the habit of drawing from life. If you have time, paint them too!</span><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We drew the design with a pencil together, including three rectangles to fit in the donuts</span>.
We tend to run out of space as we fill in the paper with still life
objects, so if you locate the top and bottom and draw in small
rectangles like this, you will never have that problem again. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Draw as many construction lines as you need</span>; if you use light pressure, you should be able to erase the graphite lines. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Use straight lines instead of curves and circles</span>. The finished drawings will look more dynamic and truer to life. </span><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Next <span style="font-weight: bold;">we masked the sprinkles in the pink and chocolate donuts with masking fluid</span>.
First, wet the rigger brush, lather it in soap, then dip it into the
frisket. Use a moderate amount of frisket; if used in excessive amount,
the thing will dry very slowly and you will get into all kinds of
trouble. It dries quickly if used properly. <span style="font-weight: bold;">When finished with the frisket, always rinse it with soap and water immediately</span>. If you leave the brush until the end of the painting session, you have ruined it forever!</span><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Then <span style="font-weight: bold;">we started painting with the cake part of all three donuts, from light to mid-tone to darks as always</span>. For the light, I used Winsor lemon; for the mid-tones,
the mixture of quinacridone gold and cadmium red; and for the darks,
the purple mixture of French ultramarine and alizarin crimson. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Get into the habit of developing the painting all over, instead of finishing one section at a time</span>.
Even in a landscape, in which we tend to paint from the top to bottom
(distant to close-up), block in the entire painting first if possible,
then develop each area. Everything is relative (values, chroma, temperature, etc.), so this way you don't have bad surprises.</span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Next <span style="font-weight: bold;">we painted the icings of the three donuts</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">For the pink donut</span>; I used permanent rose; <span style="font-weight: bold;">for the white donut</span>, after painting the shadows (cobalt blue and permanent rose), I used cadmium red (red stripe) and cobalt blue (blue stripe); <span style="font-weight: bold;">for the chocolate donut</span>, I used first pale cobalt blue for the blue sheens, let them dry, then painted the dark chocolate color with the mixture of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson.</span><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 10pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The biggest problem of the entire project was surprisingly the dark wash for the chocolate donut</span>.
Most of the class painted this in light to mid-tone. Use more paints!
If the wash turns out light, glaze! If one glaze is not enough, glaze
again!</span><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">When everything looked good, we removed the masking fluid carefully with a clean finger</span>.
Then we painted the sprinkles in various colors, making sure a few
sprinkles are left untouched. In my case, I used white gouache to create
more white sprinkles, because everybody wants more sugar!</span><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Finally, <span style="font-weight: bold;">we painted the soft-edge cast shadows in cobalt blue on dry paper</span>.
Use enough water so that you have open time to finish the job. Once you
have brushed in the cobalt blue, with the clean damp brush go around
the edges of the wash to soften them. When satisfied, quickly drop in
the dark mixture of ultramarine blue and crimson inside the bulls eye of
each donut and around the donuts where they meet the table or whatever. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I've noticed that quite a few forgot this last step; if so, paint the dark shadows within the cast shadows on dry paper</span>.</span><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /><br /></span></div>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-28089241277923147632022-06-10T10:25:00.004-04:002022-06-10T10:25:57.167-04:00"Sabrina at Hanauma Bay, Oahu" (watercolor on paper; 14" x 10")<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRhwPadUbwg9gl7IEi5ZuVal6yRJ-UwlxSwRPfKxJTb7LNvWC5bdJHvMH_yNJR_RMbqxLLiqQawNa3uIkt1Tr60ywnh-cUuuEgBDNf2RZgsnm3WQF256NMPRGmJzWb5gnnQOBJoCPpUuu9iT0mwoNrehup-K201X9sQF2RI93M0obWhQVOO1F7nWFFng/s4035/Sabrina%20at%20Hanauma%20Bay%20Small%20File.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4035" data-original-width="2898" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRhwPadUbwg9gl7IEi5ZuVal6yRJ-UwlxSwRPfKxJTb7LNvWC5bdJHvMH_yNJR_RMbqxLLiqQawNa3uIkt1Tr60ywnh-cUuuEgBDNf2RZgsnm3WQF256NMPRGmJzWb5gnnQOBJoCPpUuu9iT0mwoNrehup-K201X9sQF2RI93M0obWhQVOO1F7nWFFng/s320/Sabrina%20at%20Hanauma%20Bay%20Small%20File.jpg" width="230" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sabrina at Hanauma Bay"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><br /></p><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The following is </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">what we did in the seventh and eighth weeks of the spring term,
2022 in my "Watercolor Portraits" class</span> (my online Zoom classes with the Art League School in
Alexandria, VA).</span></p><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The last independent project is the full-length portrait</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>and
the focus of the last two weeks </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">of the spring term</span>. The following three images are from
Laurel Hart's "Putting People in Your Paintings". She has a YouTube
channel with full-length videos. Check them out!</span><br /></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpV3X8x6XdLWCBy6_Vvm3fH9WS3iulO9UFjOQMIZFrWrlEGeK2ABUb9A4wJchvzvMHPHXx465D4VaI86_PNckyRVSA3ZR2Y59lY57eAc113GbclwQug4X5UTP6oG7RGhMpxOFaIMsIcmo6dAheX8q4w-aZqC1OEfVmV73HBLfUOp7bKmekVSbs8pE0fg/s524/Figure%20Proportions%20I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpV3X8x6XdLWCBy6_Vvm3fH9WS3iulO9UFjOQMIZFrWrlEGeK2ABUb9A4wJchvzvMHPHXx465D4VaI86_PNckyRVSA3ZR2Y59lY57eAc113GbclwQug4X5UTP6oG7RGhMpxOFaIMsIcmo6dAheX8q4w-aZqC1OEfVmV73HBLfUOp7bKmekVSbs8pE0fg/s320/Figure%20Proportions%20I.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Figure Proportions I"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnmfrGkw_84TlAMnFOR8mNCCWQpqlWiLdvcIdEyKrmkhTgP3TfRGCdsxdC-4MDi-mxG1QUHAjUSSQCJ4O8arKefPp8J1-8axYw7IrTcq3kdgGJGfkodyhNTUqKAOuSYZKBqFFDW0qlMIX-HL3eHuphTitAHo8TDF-OhEBJhaBVit6F_gKvl74KwurqCQ/s456/Figure%20Proportions%20II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="456" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnmfrGkw_84TlAMnFOR8mNCCWQpqlWiLdvcIdEyKrmkhTgP3TfRGCdsxdC-4MDi-mxG1QUHAjUSSQCJ4O8arKefPp8J1-8axYw7IrTcq3kdgGJGfkodyhNTUqKAOuSYZKBqFFDW0qlMIX-HL3eHuphTitAHo8TDF-OhEBJhaBVit6F_gKvl74KwurqCQ/s320/Figure%20Proportions%20II.jpg" width="281" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Figure Proportions II"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg82AwEfrvfm_yvJ6rgFO_n7ApnH3APQY5uc1wOJZthFkiJfOVNBO7xdGlsDYrTA19KgDDT5IOWNw7OhAEA_HJ4m9LDgtyz-U7MnUNOJhNEuxUyW2nSDSinRzgPUCtzKAeSWNxeeKOpWzNb0XXys11fPfRwVyii34hReBzpqGT4-2OAZFTSyYD9g7QThg/s543/Shadow%20Patterns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg82AwEfrvfm_yvJ6rgFO_n7ApnH3APQY5uc1wOJZthFkiJfOVNBO7xdGlsDYrTA19KgDDT5IOWNw7OhAEA_HJ4m9LDgtyz-U7MnUNOJhNEuxUyW2nSDSinRzgPUCtzKAeSWNxeeKOpWzNb0XXys11fPfRwVyii34hReBzpqGT4-2OAZFTSyYD9g7QThg/s320/Shadow%20Patterns.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Shadow Patterns"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><span></span></div><div><div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I also introduced two books: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Christopher
Hart's "Figure it Out!: Human Proportions" and "The Complete Book of
Poses for Artists" by Ken Goldman and Stephanie Goldman</span>. </span><br /></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">There are a number of ways of handling a full-length portrait but, in my opinion, <span style="font-weight: bold;">the easiest way is focusing on the light and shadow pattern in the face and body and paint it in either two (light and dark) or three (light, mid-tone, and dark) values</span>.
(Refer to the third image from Laurel Hart's book.) If you are capable,
you can soften the edges since face, torso, and limbs are round objects of
either egg-like or cylindrical forms. <br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">But <span style="font-weight: bold;">keeping
the light and shadow patterns distinct is more important in rendering
the human form in such a small scale than softening edges</span>. My demo painting, "Sabrina in Hanauma Bay, Oahu", is 14" tall and her head is only 1 1/2" tall, whereas <span style="font-weight: bold;">the average human head is 9" tall</span>. (Remember that the average person is 7 to 7 1/2 head long; my daughter, who is 5' 2" tall, is less than that.) <span style="font-weight: bold;">The features are tiny, but if you draw the light/shadow pattern right, the subject will emerge miraculously</span>, as you can see in the work in progress below!</span><br /></span></div><span></span></div><span></span></div></div><div><span><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATMpqhyuSqlu0TY2gqYBFCK3ttFARs4hNSNLq2FwEOt90ynkzjRy_gvIi-PAZ_yOW0-rdAJH6o0kTTCaVXmZA2awLlnG1a19uR3KyHBTh4t_qJhBfkSJ-eaptezpJ7vfHZvK2ZWDf3NQ8SZxpKgUJ0gnzSh8LFlKLn66RFV3_c_u0E4wWOzJWayjP0Q/s539/Sabrina%20at%20Hanauma%20Bay%20in%20Progress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATMpqhyuSqlu0TY2gqYBFCK3ttFARs4hNSNLq2FwEOt90ynkzjRy_gvIi-PAZ_yOW0-rdAJH6o0kTTCaVXmZA2awLlnG1a19uR3KyHBTh4t_qJhBfkSJ-eaptezpJ7vfHZvK2ZWDf3NQ8SZxpKgUJ0gnzSh8LFlKLn66RFV3_c_u0E4wWOzJWayjP0Q/s320/Sabrina%20at%20Hanauma%20Bay%20in%20Progress.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sabrina in Hanauma Bay in Progress"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I used the three value method for "Sabrina at Hanauma Bay" and "Artist at 28"</span>.
You can paint anything, not just skin tones, in three values, be that
the hair, clothes, or whatever! For the image below from my whimsical
figure journal that I keep for pure fun, I used Schmincke's naples
yellow reddish (light), rose dore (mid-tone), and perylene violet
(dark). You can use whatever colors of your choice that harmonize well
with each other; just designate a different color for each value. </span></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj94lfDw_9vPK3gCbd7T-blmTcx7puz8iFVR4NtVqwV2WPJe9iRxahvRpR0JEyYNt9RyjhRV1N25kvp1e0MBHiIgD4zNbmrIhQnN2_43TfSJK_ioaVm59d_EJWrr8tEHRUT5yjCWDt3Wx73ADd_2_KI_EIMwz7X6AZBXQYffzeiOoJ-LLFDYyUwPkP_hg/s529/Two%20Women%20in%20Black.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj94lfDw_9vPK3gCbd7T-blmTcx7puz8iFVR4NtVqwV2WPJe9iRxahvRpR0JEyYNt9RyjhRV1N25kvp1e0MBHiIgD4zNbmrIhQnN2_43TfSJK_ioaVm59d_EJWrr8tEHRUT5yjCWDt3Wx73ADd_2_KI_EIMwz7X6AZBXQYffzeiOoJ-LLFDYyUwPkP_hg/s320/Two%20Women%20in%20Black.jpg" width="242" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Two Women in Black"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span></span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I used watercolor pencil shavings and water spritz to create the sand texture in the beach</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I
also used watercolor pencils the draw in some patterns in the coverup,
then painted dark shadow patterns with indigo blue; to restore light
patterns, I used white gouache</span>. For
these tiny portraits, if you are having trouble getting features right,
you may want to consider using either watercolor pencils or colored
pencils in appropriate colors.</span></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Below is the finished image of "Artist at 28"</b>. The
painting is based on an old photo that was taken when I was 28 years
old. I look like a girl!</span></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjisr5o1IGSbQdF8yqT5gyDx9-1Pu-tvCVRRG1d53G-KB9auW_JI1BxafaeTtYZJBqis4fexEklcSYoeMFE4Wm28nnuS64xAVf0f30-l7-dRGgReHCplm3SjwpHuxvpQdr9vZuCPV1DsSkMsP-fjsHxhL83mjsTEPGBjPdQDFf8LZe788ApohQQjJ5mbQ/s533/Artist%20at%2028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjisr5o1IGSbQdF8yqT5gyDx9-1Pu-tvCVRRG1d53G-KB9auW_JI1BxafaeTtYZJBqis4fexEklcSYoeMFE4Wm28nnuS64xAVf0f30-l7-dRGgReHCplm3SjwpHuxvpQdr9vZuCPV1DsSkMsP-fjsHxhL83mjsTEPGBjPdQDFf8LZe788ApohQQjJ5mbQ/s320/Artist%20at%2028.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Artist at 28"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </span></span><span></span></div>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-69073728082299949352022-06-05T09:46:00.001-04:002022-06-05T09:46:36.608-04:00"Red Giraffe" (watercolor on paper; 12" x 9")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3r6PAiwK80JTyK-0rD2o5kDieTqX2NIPw_ffGJcR9zZJM11BHSeOT46giRpAPbdFaPawhAKG-9xWi93H3zGIk2h52kZSUCfmURa7YO6LYbR_TiLuri7s1lrfMPmT6gTB05vb553hG7Z1CKJhtrYxVJzixKDPd5abssImaUujlzhbN7afzdF1WFiC46w/s3910/Red%20Giraffee%20Small%20File.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3910" data-original-width="2902" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3r6PAiwK80JTyK-0rD2o5kDieTqX2NIPw_ffGJcR9zZJM11BHSeOT46giRpAPbdFaPawhAKG-9xWi93H3zGIk2h52kZSUCfmURa7YO6LYbR_TiLuri7s1lrfMPmT6gTB05vb553hG7Z1CKJhtrYxVJzixKDPd5abssImaUujlzhbN7afzdF1WFiC46w/s320/Red%20Giraffee%20Small%20File.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Red Giraffe"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
following is the description of what we did in the seventh week of the
spring term, 2022 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">my online Zoom class with the Art League School
in Alexandria, VA). </span></p><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This week <span style="font-weight: bold;">we explored a stylized portrait of an animal through "Red Giraffe"</span>.
I don't usually paint like this, so it was a lot of fun and a
liberating experience. Art should be about creativity and thinking
outside the box. This may not be your cup of tea or it could be just
what you were looking for. Finding one's own bliss is the goal, not
getting the approval of your instructor or family!<br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">You will need white gouache, a dip
pen and black india ink, and </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Portable-Pocket-Medium-2Refills/dp/B00N9UUWLA/ref=asc_df_B00N9UUWLA/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198064531874&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9015240335691081646&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008183&hvtargid=pla-393429030463&th=1" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pentel Arts Portable Pocket Brush Pen</a>. </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">If
you cannot get hold of the Pentel brush pen (make sure you get the
right one, there are many different Pentel brush pens!), you can use a
small round brush or rigger brush with India ink instead.</span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">First
draw the design, then wet the paper thoroughly and drop paints (cobalt
blue, Winsor lemon, cadmium yellow pale, and cadmium red) randomly
without overmixing</span>. Immediately spritz water and let colors drip and mix. Let it dry.</span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Do the linework with the dip pen with India ink, then with the Pentel pocket brush pen</span>, using my paintings as reference. There is no right or wrong, so do your thing!<br /></span></div><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Finally, <span style="font-weight: bold;">paint markings on the giraffe in cadmium red and restore the lost white with white gouache</span>. Have fun! </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-56920111442100469372022-06-03T11:09:00.000-04:002022-06-03T11:09:35.235-04:00"Mimosa Time" (watercolor on paper; 10" x 8")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQyzDiL5wS3ykoTkA6lRQ3FxqwbJYdkhfkNhMLRgqcVFb7qifZccvDPPxQ4CpGVFcKtrd8ONEE3YeN1jLzgwmUSf_mEq_wWlk7iuJOYcSmCQCiyn-DW6QVFTb5OPlEZO5IlMw2piE9a5KL4KVpsUyaqHhStvaizDKn60qAs3DqmWqhi1sfAwvo_XvIZw/s498/Mimosa%20Time.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQyzDiL5wS3ykoTkA6lRQ3FxqwbJYdkhfkNhMLRgqcVFb7qifZccvDPPxQ4CpGVFcKtrd8ONEE3YeN1jLzgwmUSf_mEq_wWlk7iuJOYcSmCQCiyn-DW6QVFTb5OPlEZO5IlMw2piE9a5KL4KVpsUyaqHhStvaizDKn60qAs3DqmWqhi1sfAwvo_XvIZw/s320/Mimosa%20Time.jpg" width="257" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mimosa Time"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The following is </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">what we did in the sixth week of the spring term,
2022 in my "Watercolor Portraits" class</span> (my online Zoom classes with the Art League School in
Alexandria, VA).</span></p><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This week we are exploring the portrait with prominent hands</span>.
When handled well, the hands can contribute hugely to the success of
the portrait, so much so that a great portrait painter is usually
someone who can paint hands masterfully. Instead of avoiding a subject
with hands, let's embrace the hands and try to get better!</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Below is the image of my class demo in progress. Just like anything else, <span style="font-weight: bold;">painting
hands is all about paying attention to plane changes and value shapes,
the latter caused by different amounts of light falling on them</span>.
Often the quality of light is subtle, but it is still there. In my case,
there was the natural light from the window (right side) and the
warm artificial light from the interior (left side). The subject's
melon-color shirt also strongly influenced the colors in the hands. I
had to play with the warm/cool contrast as well as</span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> the light/dark one. </span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 10pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 10pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRWO9Q8oe25p0GZmWVH5ltgHDtlKORZ7XnyKrsbz-TU7cL8rxHlXS8jGNPgYQ2Xzq6kgqrU8NPQApWNDUW-MJL1rfUimZoNj4whZZF5wVnkN3rcS_3-C0OdMKLJvfRI7bYUnh0PgX6j5FK7KrumpaWK6NZvyCw2aj3b7D7SzohZ_pAXtq6Fspy45i1Q/s507/Mimosa%20Time%20in%20Progress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRWO9Q8oe25p0GZmWVH5ltgHDtlKORZ7XnyKrsbz-TU7cL8rxHlXS8jGNPgYQ2Xzq6kgqrU8NPQApWNDUW-MJL1rfUimZoNj4whZZF5wVnkN3rcS_3-C0OdMKLJvfRI7bYUnh0PgX6j5FK7KrumpaWK6NZvyCw2aj3b7D7SzohZ_pAXtq6Fspy45i1Q/s320/Mimosa%20Time%20in%20Progress.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mimosa Time in Progress"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div align="left" class="yiv2559508142envelope" style="float: none;"><br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></span></span></div><p>
<span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The end game here is modeling the hand (with five fingers!) successfully so that it looks three-dimensional</span>. When I realized that I had lost the light shapes, I reintroduced them with white gouache, and there you go, the
hand holding the champagne flute appeared in full glory. <br /></span></span></p><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The beard is no different from anything else. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Paint light and darks</span>. Of course, <span style="font-weight: bold;">hair
has soft texture, so the ability to control the hard/soft edges is
paramount in the success of painting a beard and mustache</span>. My
husband has a salf-and-pepper beard and I had to make sure the darks
were dark enough. The hair on the left side, near the orange drink,
reflected the warm color and it was important that I didn't use cool
darks. Yes, values are the most important things, but color temperature
has to be sometimes considered as well. </span><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">When I was satisfied with the light/dark pattern of the beard and mustache, <span style="font-weight: bold;">I went over to add the "salt" part with white gouache using my "lifting"brush</span>. I was mindful not to overdo these finishing touches. Remember that <span style="font-weight: bold;">it's
not the details, but the overall light and dark pattern and soft
texture, that gives the impressions of the facial hair or any hair</span>.</span></span></div><p><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-3059898230467951482022-06-01T11:05:00.000-04:002022-06-01T11:05:36.628-04:00"National Cathedral" (oil on stretched canvas; 40" x 40") sold<p> </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl0IcQTVoogS60oxld6BbBBWl_O4QmS0NzdIQ-wUXYfCKSX-V8BxqwNReVMVTmR55jUQ3_3-ZU-MMZ-4rKqOr3sZOrsEm9C2Y_12n7F9iRrcK-Usyu6Z4YljjCPCrMngxC3x_s3QnX17ex6b_iLddvy7g0Kvrm-Gs06AVb67yoHIwisM_PFelYvmZq2A/s404/National%20Cathedral.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl0IcQTVoogS60oxld6BbBBWl_O4QmS0NzdIQ-wUXYfCKSX-V8BxqwNReVMVTmR55jUQ3_3-ZU-MMZ-4rKqOr3sZOrsEm9C2Y_12n7F9iRrcK-Usyu6Z4YljjCPCrMngxC3x_s3QnX17ex6b_iLddvy7g0Kvrm-Gs06AVb67yoHIwisM_PFelYvmZq2A/s320/National%20Cathedral.jpg" width="317" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"National Cathedral"</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </p><p>The painting is a commission for Catherine and her husband Andrew. Andrew went to St. Albans School, right next to the cathedral and practically grew up in and around the magnificent Gothic cathedral. He got married there and had planted a tree in front of the north side (entry area) with his father. It was an important sentimental project for Andrew and he chose this image personally so that his tree would be a part of the finished painting.</p><p>It was the largest oil painting project ever for me. It took about two months to draw, block in, paint and add finishing touches. I needed a little stool to reach the highest areas of the big canvas! Thank you for the opportunity, Andrew and Catherine, who were the most gracious clients. </p><p>I must say that my patience and drawing skills have improved much because of this project. The only drawback is that I couldn't take a proper photography of the huge canvas, so I had to make do with a quick shoot with my phone. What a shame!</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2Di2bH6eorW3umcuPio4HCa72vkD2lFr2qBb3YQVuOXQKu6YzHzZebLrcXVZ0rj1n7278NqR43zVomSF16XfRepVCDEj4WniDswAna4WF2mVySkMUboZ22R7umrk_DWcpkdMf4i4bViZc2uuyfcaZJOt5sP7JnHqu0X-smv9_JjFeDgHdokGurWGJA/s400/National%20Cathedral%20in%20Progress%20I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="400" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2Di2bH6eorW3umcuPio4HCa72vkD2lFr2qBb3YQVuOXQKu6YzHzZebLrcXVZ0rj1n7278NqR43zVomSF16XfRepVCDEj4WniDswAna4WF2mVySkMUboZ22R7umrk_DWcpkdMf4i4bViZc2uuyfcaZJOt5sP7JnHqu0X-smv9_JjFeDgHdokGurWGJA/s320/National%20Cathedral%20in%20Progress%20I.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work in Progress I<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbumxaplY9O-EuLE3Fkwy7qAh9ueukQaSPk4_WlJ1aleR1qI2i9A-biVQIKV-7F9P0Km38su_7qFQs2FuoChtiKnn8PxIGX6JRUlNnSxHprWXLIjO-Tg0lxhC-GBRxE3wEPmuYh0Lm6KpMpyt2xblTuafVCmgEVsBULEdJC-CrUuaWTe7hUCtH9VZrLQ/s401/National%20Cathedral%20in%20Progress%20II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbumxaplY9O-EuLE3Fkwy7qAh9ueukQaSPk4_WlJ1aleR1qI2i9A-biVQIKV-7F9P0Km38su_7qFQs2FuoChtiKnn8PxIGX6JRUlNnSxHprWXLIjO-Tg0lxhC-GBRxE3wEPmuYh0Lm6KpMpyt2xblTuafVCmgEVsBULEdJC-CrUuaWTe7hUCtH9VZrLQ/s320/National%20Cathedral%20in%20Progress%20II.jpg" width="319" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work in Progress II<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZHamXfBJfxtCYLM5-vf_6fJ4CdU84RyhWoH7hhsVWXZ9AfkYQ8JL8l2Ir3Mo8HVNTCbQPooM7bXYfh6fgx0ISZqOzc1Rgw9H6P_uJ0XHXLx-fjczuSzrGg5arEDQDya0CgI704oOyiLsRRmTp_oRRa44FSs6i6Yn61DzykpACqZzdhHpidBSgoM_KA/s404/National%20Cathedral%20in%20Progress%20III.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZHamXfBJfxtCYLM5-vf_6fJ4CdU84RyhWoH7hhsVWXZ9AfkYQ8JL8l2Ir3Mo8HVNTCbQPooM7bXYfh6fgx0ISZqOzc1Rgw9H6P_uJ0XHXLx-fjczuSzrGg5arEDQDya0CgI704oOyiLsRRmTp_oRRa44FSs6i6Yn61DzykpACqZzdhHpidBSgoM_KA/s320/National%20Cathedral%20in%20Progress%20III.jpg" width="317" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work in Progress III<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-35660625673567903272022-05-29T12:12:00.000-04:002022-05-29T12:12:12.181-04:00"Margaret" (watercolor on paper; 12" x 9") sold<p> </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6zUaSKfKKFuNIMhHwiSYJTU62tCo-dNJ72P2USifHMMOXVmH7mJ0kDE1joGPOlsCGpL-uv6QmHKcpGEkP9tGOQVamFQv4P_x9aFGxmG8dsv-SP0vc2e5CEkgDeWEz9CyRKGsPmehIQb9w4k3hhMUcrFKISQBTQ-0ji-zibKVAOfLY_e3aVqD6T81aMw/s3859/Margaret.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3859" data-original-width="2866" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6zUaSKfKKFuNIMhHwiSYJTU62tCo-dNJ72P2USifHMMOXVmH7mJ0kDE1joGPOlsCGpL-uv6QmHKcpGEkP9tGOQVamFQv4P_x9aFGxmG8dsv-SP0vc2e5CEkgDeWEz9CyRKGsPmehIQb9w4k3hhMUcrFKISQBTQ-0ji-zibKVAOfLY_e3aVqD6T81aMw/s320/Margaret.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Margaret"</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p></p><p></p><p><br /> </p><p class="faso-user-p">This is a commission portrait for Christa. Her
beautiful mother passed away last year at the age of 86 and the portrait
is meant for her father. I have known Christa for over 20 years and it
was an honor to paint her mother, whom I have never met but heard about
when our daughters went to preschool together. It is time like this when
I feel particularly good about being a portrait painter, helping my
friends and other clients to remember the happy memories of their
beloveds.</p>
<p class="faso-user-p"><br /><br /></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-8763485373821524862022-05-29T10:33:00.000-04:002022-05-29T10:33:04.721-04:00"Great Falls Rapids" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJUx0OVDGolBTT7gevFItL65Zc-pj2W_XgmmpA3VOqqG3o63f35PgcDHaN6Pni_xVDuiru3bbmxOgI35FiuADbsZD_Tm67rnfk0WxO_wFJVJuehvaNt8ltyZ-ax2gi145CmqUueTKyL0vtS0E-AtfUEVdFO3C6JH-Hg7iY8McPwVAb_JkTdsAbmacow/s3847/Great%20Falls%20Small%20File.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2878" data-original-width="3847" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJUx0OVDGolBTT7gevFItL65Zc-pj2W_XgmmpA3VOqqG3o63f35PgcDHaN6Pni_xVDuiru3bbmxOgI35FiuADbsZD_Tm67rnfk0WxO_wFJVJuehvaNt8ltyZ-ax2gi145CmqUueTKyL0vtS0E-AtfUEVdFO3C6JH-Hg7iY8McPwVAb_JkTdsAbmacow/s320/Great%20Falls%20Small%20File.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Great Falls Rapids"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><br /> </p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
following is the description of what we did in the sixth week of the
spring term, 2022 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">my online Zoom class with the Art League School
in Alexandria, VA). </span></p><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This week we painted rocks and rapids with "Great Falls Rapids"</span>.
Painting a landscape can be daunting due to the seemingly endless
shapes of trees, leaves, rocks, etc. It is essential to break the scene
down into big shapes. In this painting, <span style="font-weight: bold;">there are three big shapes of the sky, trees, and rocks/water</span>.
As you are familiar by now, we generally paint the landscape from
what's farthest to the closest from us (from the top to the bottom of
the paper). <br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So, <span style="font-weight: bold;">first we wetted the sky thoroughly and evenly and painted it in cobalt blue in graded wash</span>. We dried the paper for the
next step of the tree shape. By the way, the rest of the painting was
painted on dry paper with mostly hard edges.<br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Here
I decided to do something different from my sample painting above, which I
felt too claustrophobic. Upon analysis, I realized I had painted the
trees (two stacks of the farther, blue green and the closer yellow green
treelines) too dark and too bright. Instead <span style="font-weight: bold;">I
decided to paint them slightly lighter, duller, purpler and with less
details (and soft edges between the two stacks) so that they will recede
to the background</span> instead of coming forward.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For
the darker tree stack, I used the purple mixture of French ultramarine
blue and permanent alizarin crimson and cut its brightness down a little
with the complementary yellow (quinacridone gold)</span>. We used the largest round brush we can handle for the tree shape. <br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">While the wash was still damp, we quickly brushed in the dull blue green mixture of ultramarine blue and gold</span>, making sure this front stack was lighter (more water and less paint!). <span style="font-weight: bold;">If you are quick enough, you will end up with the soft blurring between the two stacks of trees</span>. <br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 10pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">While this front stack was still damp, I decided to brighten the wash by charging (dropping) Winsor lemon into the wash</span> (make sure you don't introduce too much extra water). That was enough
and we were done with the tree shape That's how I like to roll with the
minimum fuss. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Now the fun and excitement of painting rocks and water began. <span style="font-weight: bold;">That rocks are hard and water is not is what you have to remember</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Forget
the details and focus on the big shapes and gradually break down the
big shapes without ending up with tiny pebbles or hard-edged, frozen
water</span>.<br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">First, we painted the rocks, then water. <span style="font-weight: bold;">For
the first wash of the rocks, we painted in a light mixture of gold,
burnt sienna and cobalt blue, sometimes pushing the color to yellow,
sometimes to brown, and sometimes blue. </span>As long as you don't mix the three colors completely, you can paint the same light-value, first wash in subtly changing colors! <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For the mid-tone planes and dark crevices and cracks, I used two different dark mixtures</span>:
the first mixture of ultramarine blue, alizarine crimson and gold and
the second Jane's Gray mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Remember that the rocks are not only hard-edged, but also round objects with volume.</span> Think mass/planes, not lines. Otherwise, you will have a bunch of flat-shaped, busy-looking thingies. Also<span style="font-weight: bold;"> don't paint over all the light-value, first wash shapes</span>. They are the highlights. Think light, mid-tone, and darks to create the rocks with hard outer edges, but with voluminous mass.<br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Make sure you don't accidentally paint over the white water shapes</span>.
Paint slowly, looking for the rock shapes. Get into the flow and enjoy
the process. You are not in a rush to finish the painting. <span style="font-weight: bold;">If you get tired because this may take a while, take a break or finish the painting another day</span>.<br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For the water shapes, we switched to Winsor blue as the base blue</span>;
it's a transparent, staining, and cool-temperature/greenish blue. For
the turquoise water, we added Winsor lemon; for purple areas, we added a
little alizarin crimson. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Leave plenty of white shapes to suggest white water</span>.
If you accidentally lose white water shapes, it's okay to retrieve them
with a white gouache, but it's always best to be mindful and utilize
the white of the paper to the maximum.<br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I didn't get to finish the demo.
But I love the way it's heading; it's so much better than the sample
painting, don't you think? I may even finish it someday. I think that's
the value of doing the same project twice: learn from the first try and
do things better and differently the second time. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Be one's own constructive critique without the destructive self-talk. Be kind to oneself, but be objective to oneself as well</span>.<br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1zlMTuOXUZwEeIp5MTC_nhTEse4dJXC2W6ZeANogNBHLFD9hUesLEC4Slo1FoY9vVQjoWDr_yPfUQMK77G755tv3gWGUug1Q3sKQGv0iWDX6gJyOrPVLOZxNm8hkv5TZcrpvjZfFdXfF0og8Y4_UA7VTYU9SKULlUrkWEHM9RO1HCcYZ80F3Unl2h4Q/s400/Great%20Falls%20Rapids%20in%20Progress.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1zlMTuOXUZwEeIp5MTC_nhTEse4dJXC2W6ZeANogNBHLFD9hUesLEC4Slo1FoY9vVQjoWDr_yPfUQMK77G755tv3gWGUug1Q3sKQGv0iWDX6gJyOrPVLOZxNm8hkv5TZcrpvjZfFdXfF0og8Y4_UA7VTYU9SKULlUrkWEHM9RO1HCcYZ80F3Unl2h4Q/s320/Great%20Falls%20Rapids%20in%20Progress.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Great Falls Rapids Class Demo in Progress"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span></div>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-72506542974889673212022-05-22T11:19:00.000-04:002022-05-22T11:19:27.697-04:00"Queen Anne's Lace Lake" (watercolor and gouache on paper; 12" x 9")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizv-xWJReXYwLg5nnnzGO2OE_Sl4ovQBMV5pc5Dp67neK4-v-4B60JReyAUHHuaVz2_QveECMvTWRXpnYfW0ItogB3K1jmUjAOY9GLzVEU7Du3i4cv4DK4HgvTvdu0v8gtdOiV7l8Vh6BJwdfdWJX5qhdd_2IJDeYRC1ejta0-r-sksvwr6QPV5ZRWWA/s528/Queen%20Anne's%20Lace%20Lake%20Class%20Demo.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizv-xWJReXYwLg5nnnzGO2OE_Sl4ovQBMV5pc5Dp67neK4-v-4B60JReyAUHHuaVz2_QveECMvTWRXpnYfW0ItogB3K1jmUjAOY9GLzVEU7Du3i4cv4DK4HgvTvdu0v8gtdOiV7l8Vh6BJwdfdWJX5qhdd_2IJDeYRC1ejta0-r-sksvwr6QPV5ZRWWA/s320/Queen%20Anne's%20Lace%20Lake%20Class%20Demo.jpg" width="242" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Queen Anne's Lace Lake"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
following is the description of what we did in the fifth week of the
spring term, 2022 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">my online Zoom class with the Art League School
in Alexandria, VA). </span></p><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This week <span style="font-weight: bold;">we explored the mixed media of watercolor and gouache</span>. Whenever you add a little white gouache to watercolor, the latter turns into an opaque medium of gouache. Please<span style="font-weight: bold;"> check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY0vAS8GWJM" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Gurney's YouTube video</a> on "Painting Peonies with Watercolor"</span>.
In this video, you will learn the nuts and bolts about plein-air
painting and how to paint tree peonies in watercolor and gouache. He is a
world-famous painter of many mediums; he is one of the most creative
artists I know of. <br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Queen Anne's Lace Lake" involves the hard/soft edge handling as well. <span style="font-weight: bold;">After drawing the design, we wetted the paper thoroughly and evenly and first painted along the horizon </span>(both above and below) <span style="font-weight: bold;">with a very pale winsor lemon</span> (if you are heavy-handed with lemon, your sky will turn green!), <span style="font-weight: bold;">then painted the rest of the sky and water in cobalt blue</span>.<br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After drying the paper, <span style="font-weight: bold;">we wetted this time the sky shape only and dropped the greens</span> (lemon and cobalt blue) <span style="font-weight: bold;">and purples</span> (French ultramarine and permanent alizarin crimson)<span style="font-weight: bold;"> to suggest the distant trees</span>.
If your paper is too wet, you will lose control and the distant trees
will be as tall as the middle-ground tree. Drop purples generally along
the horizon, but don't be automatic. Refer to my painting. At one
go, I created the impression of the soft-edged distant tree line with
layers of tall and short trees.<br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After the paper dried, <span style="font-weight: bold;">we wetted this time the water and tall middle-ground tree shape</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">We
dropped purples for the reflections of the distant trees along the
horizon and the reflections of the tall tree and middle-ground land
shape</span>. We also dropped greens and purples for the tall tree. Make sure the tall tree shape looks like a tree, not a mitten! </span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">If you haven't wetted the paper thoroughly, you will have hard edged reflections!</span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">While the paper is still damp, make grass strokes in the foreground with various greens and even some purples</span> for dark shadows in between grasses. <span style="font-weight: bold;"> <br />
</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">When the paper dried, we pained the middle ground land shape</span> (now hard edges are happening for definitions). <br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Time for gouache! <span style="font-weight: bold;">Whenever we use gouache, we have to use it with much less water</span>. If you use it in the consistency of watercolor (with lots of water), gouache practically disappears. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Whenever we mix watercolor with white gouache, the mixture dries about two value scales darker</span> (the opposite of watercolor).<br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Keeping these two things in mind, <span style="font-weight: bold;">stipple
dots with the watercolor/gouache mixture of appropriate colors in the
tall tree, middle-ground land shape, and middle-ground reflections in
the water</span>. These dots suggest the tree foliage, distant Queen Anne's lace and their reflections in the watercolor.<br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For
the foreground, we are also using the watercolor/gouache mixture, but
in a more controlled manner, tiny dots for the Queen Anne's lace flower
heads, elongated strokes for the cattails, and long grass-like strokes
for the tall grasses</span>. </span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Make sure that the flowers or cattails
don't have the same heights or are not evenly spread out as if they are a
marching band</b>. The grasses should have different heights and some
should reach all the way to the middle-ground land shape. Grasses should
have a variety of greens; stroke in some ocher-colored grasses and dark
blue shapes for a variety as well. </span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">At the end, <span style="font-weight: bold;">as the icing on the cake, I painted the tiny water lilies in the water using permanent rose and gouache</span>.<br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As you can see, <span style="font-weight: bold;">introducing a white gouache to watercolor opens a whole new world to the watercolorist</span>.
We can go not only from light to dark as the medium dictates, we can
also go dark to light. Freedom it allows us may not be for all
watercolorists, but I embrace it whole-heartedly!<br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br />
</span></div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br />
</span></div>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-48970795815332804872022-05-22T10:19:00.000-04:002022-05-22T10:19:34.195-04:00"Amsterdam Jordaan Neighborhood" (oil on linen; 6" x 8") sold<p> </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqnvKuL9IBFeEvWa6ebMlOCjg2YTfL2u1SetUjLCSLyMgkefyMh2GeuWtGNHJ75coSpCAPxsh3KcjRFZturN7d2lBCgtWQfcY2PeLaTdnvT54yEGy7u12KShGgrB31XW7rpDc8wn1j9RLURlWpdrjV5ute5WsWgUOthpv_iPIOKZNXapx6M0norFjzRA/s3587/Amsterdan's%20Jordaan%20Neighborhood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2686" data-original-width="3587" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqnvKuL9IBFeEvWa6ebMlOCjg2YTfL2u1SetUjLCSLyMgkefyMh2GeuWtGNHJ75coSpCAPxsh3KcjRFZturN7d2lBCgtWQfcY2PeLaTdnvT54yEGy7u12KShGgrB31XW7rpDc8wn1j9RLURlWpdrjV5ute5WsWgUOthpv_iPIOKZNXapx6M0norFjzRA/s320/Amsterdan's%20Jordaan%20Neighborhood.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sold</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </p><p> In 2017 my husband and I visited the Netherlands. For me, it was to visit its world-class museums. We stayed in Amsterdam at the beginning and end of our two-week-long trip. I loved this charming city! Do you know it has the highest density of museums in a square mile in the world? It has even a museum of purses, which I had to stop by! People are easy-going and speak English better than us. You have to watch out for the bicyclists, though.<br /></p><p><span>Admire the neat row of townhouses by a canal in the famous Jordaan
neighborhood of Amsterdam. In the foreground, red geraniums bloom in
planters hung over the bridge. A quintessential Amsterdam view in a
miniature! This is the second time that I painted this particular image and the painting sold right away in both occasions. Another reason why I love Amsterdam!<br /></span></p><p> </p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-13291078689875884132022-05-20T11:49:00.001-04:002022-05-20T11:49:43.922-04:00"Sabrina at Dean Village, Edinburgh" (watercolor on paper, 8" x 10")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM6JLYNUpRG5vLTvFb2Xg2FuUVwz6IchVQEXiR71TBJsluLlGjFkZ0LPh_H824Dp6hHN6Eep2C4yozmwH36mw6EjoBS1YKIP1JQTIypsYvKUU59lbrzF6xkEABCyG7YQJ5ikcIcuAOXm36aQx5H3bWD6vP30WUOxAY-Q6BWlKa56ElN8J1yBHEbjAisw/s400/Sabrina%20at%20Dean%20Village,%20Edinburgh%20Finished.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="400" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM6JLYNUpRG5vLTvFb2Xg2FuUVwz6IchVQEXiR71TBJsluLlGjFkZ0LPh_H824Dp6hHN6Eep2C4yozmwH36mw6EjoBS1YKIP1JQTIypsYvKUU59lbrzF6xkEABCyG7YQJ5ikcIcuAOXm36aQx5H3bWD6vP30WUOxAY-Q6BWlKa56ElN8J1yBHEbjAisw/s320/Sabrina%20at%20Dean%20Village,%20Edinburgh%20Finished.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sabrina at Dean Village, Edinburgh"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The following is </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">what we did in the fifth week of the spring term,
2022 in my "Watercolor Portraits" class</span> (my online Zoom classes with the Art League School in
Alexandria, VA).</span> <br /></p><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This week I finished "Sabrina at Dean Village, Edinburgh". <span style="font-weight: bold;">It is an independent project with the focus on painting a subject with glasses/sun glasses</span>. She is wearing the shades with a metal wire frame and brown, ombre lenses. What I did was <span style="font-weight: bold;">paint around the frame and at the very end of the session, I toned it lightly with yellow ochre</span>
(quinacridone gold would have worked too) with the a few exceptions of
highlights (left untouched). Then I gave the frame dark accent wherever
appropriate. <span style="font-weight: bold;">However thin the wire is, it still has a volume, so be careful about where you add the dark accent strokes</span> (it can be the top or bottom or the entire width of the thin frame) if you have a similar situation.<br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 10pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The lenses were painted at the same as when I was developing the skin tones</span>,
which required three or four further layers, each additional layer
becoming increasing deeper. I used cadmium red, Sennelier helios purple,
cadmium yellow pale, permanent sap green (in the philtrum and below the
lower lip areas), ultramarine violet, brown madder, perylene maroon,
and quite a bit of perylene violet (for the dark form shadows around the
cheek and chin and in the neck as well as inside the lenses). <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lately
I have been avoiding using cobalt blue in skin tones; instead I seem to
be using perylene violet, which is a dark, muted violet</span>. The
reason behind is that blue (either cobalt or ultramarine blue) can lead
to too blue purples in shadows. </span></span></div><span style="color: #232333;"></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sometimes you may see the eyes, as in my case</span>. There aren't going to be any pure whites of the eyes due to the dark tint of the lenses. <span style="font-weight: bold;">After a few layers, I painted around the eye shapes</span>
(the pencil lines had disappeared long ago; you may want to redraw the
lines with pencil if you feel nervous about "drawing with brush", which I
do all the time). <span style="font-weight: bold;">Suddenly the "whites" of the eyes appeared</span>;
values being relative, the lighter-valued shapes were, because of their
shapes and locations, obviously now the "whites of the eyes". <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I painted the irises with dark color; when it was still damp, I added the pupils with neutral tint.</span>
I also gave the darker lines along the upper lash lines, and darkened
the inner and outer corners of the eyes, as I would have done in any
portrait.<br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I didn't have any exciting reflection shapes, which you get sometimes inside the lenses. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I
did, however, have the exciting, wing-shaped cast shadows on the
subject's cheek areas. I used warm/cool colors to develop these shadows
with hard edges</span>. <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I paid a particular attention to the hard and soft edges</span>.
The form shadows have soft edges and the cast shadows usually have hard
edges. The contrast of the two give the finished portrait the pizazz, I
believe.<br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This attention to the edge quality (that is the artistic term) applies to the hair,</span> of course. You will see in the recording how I further developed the hair (using indigo and perylene violet). <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /><br /></span></div>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-57148976235146449962022-05-15T12:03:00.000-04:002022-05-15T12:03:34.256-04:00"South Downs Fog" (watercolor on paper; 12" x 9")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAjoBJvVHHH8bUDEtZNsnbh1A0FpmL9ItEq_w9_2DiTQQa2Kmr0vXFFczIwx02GQps969DzC1zBxQYwXPTZYMJfytqnEVRZfCQTH8Gi8n3eg07pkj5vizUZ-eNipQOLoikT8ox0dQsip3fhxRkWIkBfgb12X_L9EIzs2xLlp5DlWQhRr4QTSPOScwlNQ/s3943/South%20Downs%20Fog%20Small%20File.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3943" data-original-width="2887" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAjoBJvVHHH8bUDEtZNsnbh1A0FpmL9ItEq_w9_2DiTQQa2Kmr0vXFFczIwx02GQps969DzC1zBxQYwXPTZYMJfytqnEVRZfCQTH8Gi8n3eg07pkj5vizUZ-eNipQOLoikT8ox0dQsip3fhxRkWIkBfgb12X_L9EIzs2xLlp5DlWQhRr4QTSPOScwlNQ/s320/South%20Downs%20Fog%20Small%20File.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"South Downs Fog"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
following is the description of what we did in the fourth week of the
spring term, 2022 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">my online Zoom class with the Art League School
in Alexandria, VA). </span></p><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This week we explored the aerial perspective through "South Downs Fog"</span>.
The aerial perspective is the phenomenon that occurs in nature in which
the farther things (let's say, mountains) are, the lighter (value),
duller (chroma), and bluer (hue) they appear. The details also disappear
</span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">progressively </span></span>as
the distance between the viewer and things increases.</span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">The
phenomenon is caused by the presence of dust, pollution and moisture.</span></span> The following
images from the internet are good examples of the aerial perspective. <br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS69Pf9AVLBBe_mEPwL0GrtBKE77YINJ5YACZmEOZDmgtJJy_VYWGv5CZT8S0J-P46NtkVr6I85TXY__OLJluONtRXqvqzhx7r3USaOqC7LsRS0S69CUnGzJFzFOHZFAKYDckkiEZdPBRFCrR7MFWu9ujJ8ASNYRoW5YHNh260C9FpncRZTMAbw8lyEA/s564/aerial%20perspective%20I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="564" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS69Pf9AVLBBe_mEPwL0GrtBKE77YINJ5YACZmEOZDmgtJJy_VYWGv5CZT8S0J-P46NtkVr6I85TXY__OLJluONtRXqvqzhx7r3USaOqC7LsRS0S69CUnGzJFzFOHZFAKYDckkiEZdPBRFCrR7MFWu9ujJ8ASNYRoW5YHNh260C9FpncRZTMAbw8lyEA/s320/aerial%20perspective%20I.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTOPKcGIl_oNp8bmd4HOotx5RqW1DupmJhgAz9h8ckxG6sGpNLMMhovvMmzYYLlBQsmqN-a2VMcL-sSDcg4duiUvtiv6WBsp5Gy5gqyVwWEn3je01PQgSfjLr20dTQV0FcZNaj5UmFxuvZgNMe-Gyxj17IzptqANrKv8lyGL_J2Zt4KTsGySgz-nnFow/s740/aerial%20perspective%20II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="740" data-original-width="492" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTOPKcGIl_oNp8bmd4HOotx5RqW1DupmJhgAz9h8ckxG6sGpNLMMhovvMmzYYLlBQsmqN-a2VMcL-sSDcg4duiUvtiv6WBsp5Gy5gqyVwWEn3je01PQgSfjLr20dTQV0FcZNaj5UmFxuvZgNMe-Gyxj17IzptqANrKv8lyGL_J2Zt4KTsGySgz-nnFow/s320/aerial%20perspective%20II.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5MJc9lpR4klsPf1n1kg-WDpMJdD3Y9jlan9M2yC95f5dStKeCA8kmc20OhSQniWAL9YVxwct4X4J2NiMZX_pNYSUVIfcitNTFkdqpInNsBLaxx6-XIqmqjAvZq3dzxOnkjcQ7-d8y5iUT4QzHCieT6mj7jjVIIxoltJGnTvb1VbDNJ13ooBtZbTKkmA/s564/aerial%20perspective%20III.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="564" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5MJc9lpR4klsPf1n1kg-WDpMJdD3Y9jlan9M2yC95f5dStKeCA8kmc20OhSQniWAL9YVxwct4X4J2NiMZX_pNYSUVIfcitNTFkdqpInNsBLaxx6-XIqmqjAvZq3dzxOnkjcQ7-d8y5iUT4QzHCieT6mj7jjVIIxoltJGnTvb1VbDNJ13ooBtZbTKkmA/s320/aerial%20perspective%20III.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div align="left" class="yiv2154578228envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">How do we achieve the aerial perspective in watercolor?<span style="font-weight: bold;">
Watercolor is ideal for painting this sort of landscape situation</span>.
We have been exploring the wet-on-wet variegated wash for the last two
weeks and that is precisely what we used to create the soft, diffused
look of the distant hills in the reference. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Since we go light to dark and soft to hard edges, we established the general atmosphere in the first wet-on-wet layer. <br />
</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div align="left" class="yiv2154578228envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We wetted the paper thoroughly and evenly and painted in horizontal strokes</span>,
using cobalt blue,
permanent alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue (the last two make purple).
At the very bottom of the paper, you may want to use a little winsor
lemon with cobalt blue to paint the light yellow green field. Dry the
paper.</span></div>
<div align="left" class="yiv2154578228envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="left" class="yiv2154578228envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The
rest of the painting was painted on dry paper to create crisp top
treelines, using stippling method (reminiscent of Seurat's pointillism)</span>. A small round brush is better than a large one. <span style="font-weight: bold;">You have to use enough water</span>,
otherwise the dots will dry by the time you stipple the next brushful
of different colored dots, therefore not allowing the paints to mix on
their own on paper (as supposed to the artist mixing the paints on
palette).</span></div><div align="left" class="yiv2154578228envelope" style="float: none;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="yiv2154578228envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">If you look at my painting above, <span style="font-weight: bold;">you will observe the bottom of each treelines is darker than the top of the treelines</span>. This occurs in nature as the bottom of a tree or treeline doesn't receive as much light as the top. <span style="font-weight: bold;">We created the illusion by starting each treeline with the dark purple mixture</span> of ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson<span style="font-weight: bold;">. Immediately we switched to stippling with the darker green mixture</span> of ultramarine blue and gold<span style="font-weight: bold;"> and the lighter and brighter green mixture</span> of cobalt blue and cadmium yellow pale (for the top of trees). In the shadow areas, you can stipple with the purple mixture.</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Make sure you <span style="font-weight: bold;">draw some tree trunks and limbs to suggest these dots are trees</span>. Also <span style="font-weight: bold;">connect the dots here and there so that they don't look like a jumble of meaningless dots</span>. Some trees should have more "sky holes" than others for variety. </span><br /></span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Before the first dark purple strokes started drying, we stroked cobalt blue shadows to create the soft, fuzzy look</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">In the case of the first treeline</span>,
I stroked the cobalt blue wash diagonally and left some first light
yellow green wash intact (to suggest the sun rising and the fog lifting)
in this mellow southern English landscape. </span><br /></span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For
the second treeline, we used slightly less paints to make it lighter;
for the third treeline, even less so that the aerial perspective was
materialized</span>. The control of values by using less or more paints
(or more or less water) isn't easy. In my class demo, I erred on too
light a third treeline, which had almost the same value as the fourth
treeline. I could have added another layer (glazing), but didn't have
time.</span><br /></span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The details also were minimized in the third treeline; by the fourth treeline, there was no detail</span>. <br /></span></span></div><p><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">At the end <span style="font-weight: bold;">I tried the milky white gouache horizontal strokes on the fourth and third treelines to emulate fogs</span>. You can try them too!</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-47440910742172396372022-05-13T13:05:00.000-04:002022-05-13T13:05:04.764-04:00"Female Portrait in Full Palette" (watercolor on pape; 12" x 9")<p> </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaqXD0h2IdkxhAEBS2u17lw_LsI0ZJHpurPjID1QJbL9a74NvdZXrJ5qPhIq_3qrYyZpjO1xvK9LM1BXc6tRbslwmCUktV8O4DAC042jO5eOnAvIVmc6jUndCdrHGfiVH5r8eFvEzRIXuZo_d-LftXtqSBK4l0ZSFdBvjsLd-4X2K_Xa70ZPbBVmfWlg/s539/Full%20Palette%20Portrait%20Demo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaqXD0h2IdkxhAEBS2u17lw_LsI0ZJHpurPjID1QJbL9a74NvdZXrJ5qPhIq_3qrYyZpjO1xvK9LM1BXc6tRbslwmCUktV8O4DAC042jO5eOnAvIVmc6jUndCdrHGfiVH5r8eFvEzRIXuZo_d-LftXtqSBK4l0ZSFdBvjsLd-4X2K_Xa70ZPbBVmfWlg/s320/Full%20Palette%20Portrait%20Demo.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Female Portrait in Full Palette"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The following is </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">what we did in the third and fourth weeks of the spring term,
2022 in my "Watercolor Portraits" class</span> (my online Zoom classes with the Art League School in
Alexandria, VA).</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">First we talked about the essential skin colors I use. I highly recommend that you should acquire these paints</span>. I usually start a portrait with a very pale wash over the highlights in the face, neck, and shoulders (if applicable) in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Winsor Newton cobalt turquoise light</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The mother color of all skin tones is cadmium red; for cool red, I switch to Sennelier Helios Purple</span>
(this is a primary color and cannot be mixed successfully). For an area
that is getting sun, therefore light and warm, I add a little yellow
(cadmium yellow pale works well) to cadmium red. <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">When I see a little green in the skin tone, I use <span style="font-weight: bold;">permanent sap green</span>; when I detect a little blue (either caused by blue sky, clothing, facial hair, or blood veins), I introduce <span style="font-weight: bold;">cobalt blue</span> (I don't use French ultramarine blue in the face; I never use Winsor/thalo blue in any skin tones). <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVKdJJpLOA9x1hOHLTqQoWJbvo1F73OV8QHzJtVoOPbhr5OHzUPYOxFXwzcmSVMToaIJEAnt7swwxI9kDtRLW37hVU8BpfYOyA5K0VxWd_Q7HOHEZSaPI8AV767xl4qfxCt9xaHsd3jBSdGd4Ki1IA9NYN9pSx4OC7VFY1mC6lsaTjiwWtpX6G9D1Ckw/s533/Essential%20Skin%20Colors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVKdJJpLOA9x1hOHLTqQoWJbvo1F73OV8QHzJtVoOPbhr5OHzUPYOxFXwzcmSVMToaIJEAnt7swwxI9kDtRLW37hVU8BpfYOyA5K0VxWd_Q7HOHEZSaPI8AV767xl4qfxCt9xaHsd3jBSdGd4Ki1IA9NYN9pSx4OC7VFY1mC6lsaTjiwWtpX6G9D1Ckw/s320/Essential%20Skin%20Colors.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Essential Skin Colors"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Before I started painting the brunette hair of the subject, I made a couple of color swatches: blonde and brunette</span>.
This is only the beginning. There are so many colors of human hair; one
must continue to experiment how to render them accurately. Again I
stand by the colors I use, but you are welcome to come up with your own
concoctions.<br /></span></span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgne5ePYA7oeR9NdrtoI18yXUQIpQeS59yHRkLBtPAchdrcLcJzbwOdWTBGMdYr3lfo3GBmhvJJfmtjmDY8IqzddgaoglX2dsJsxPPY03q3N5WpIJ8cH9oHPaZhtUVZr2Cj8czG3kzOdql5L9h_Bt1MYqgFzPB_sc1c0poxyOivel9_eVb5LXWebnR9rg/s558/Hair%20Colors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgne5ePYA7oeR9NdrtoI18yXUQIpQeS59yHRkLBtPAchdrcLcJzbwOdWTBGMdYr3lfo3GBmhvJJfmtjmDY8IqzddgaoglX2dsJsxPPY03q3N5WpIJ8cH9oHPaZhtUVZr2Cj8czG3kzOdql5L9h_Bt1MYqgFzPB_sc1c0poxyOivel9_eVb5LXWebnR9rg/s320/Hair%20Colors.jpg" width="229" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hair Colors"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><br /></div></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We started the full-on Caucasian female portrait in full color and will finish in in the first half of the next week's class</span>. I successfully took the screen shots during and at the end of the demo and photoshopped them for you.</span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I always start the portrait with the background with the wet-on-wet variegated wash</span>.
In this painting, I aimed at the loose, mid-tone, yellow green/blue
green background that suggests foliage. You have to wet the paper
thoroughly and evenly, otherwise you are risking a hell of a mess!<br /></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqV7n1q53vZ75PDD6nITW5d66JfWE6RVk_-N1dJpYdcu-VE2cJE_SxzmVTjR8fESKrM-5yNUrlneLrEA0nzi-Cl3Cj3C-_Xm21WpcO-lXBRNJ5du3nyY4CDrBhrdlsMEyT1TPvib1clnCJg8G9ZtmKoMOlV7fevHqd1GCzvbrIAT6ei928qOduQvAGjQ/s1249/Screenshot%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1249" data-original-width="973" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqV7n1q53vZ75PDD6nITW5d66JfWE6RVk_-N1dJpYdcu-VE2cJE_SxzmVTjR8fESKrM-5yNUrlneLrEA0nzi-Cl3Cj3C-_Xm21WpcO-lXBRNJ5du3nyY4CDrBhrdlsMEyT1TPvib1clnCJg8G9ZtmKoMOlV7fevHqd1GCzvbrIAT6ei928qOduQvAGjQ/s320/Screenshot%20(1).png" width="249" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Screen Shot I"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Then
I started painting the brunette hair with very pale cobalt blue
highlight, then washed in cadmium orange, thereby created a damp
environment to paint burnt sienna, Daniel Smith Piemontite Genuine, and
the mixture of Piemontite and Ultramarine blue.</span> (Paint one half at a time). <br /></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hair is all about softness</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I had already softened the outer hairline with a small stiff bright oil painter's brush</span>.
The reason why I dampened the hair shape with cadmium orange is to
paint basically wet-on-wet, because as you know the wet-on-wet technique
is all about softness within the shape. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Apply the brushstrokes the way the hair grows</span>. If it is straight as this particular subject's hair, use a long, graceful stroke. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Think the hair as a series of long light, mid-tone, and dark strands</span>, not individual hair (the same applies to eye brows or any other facial hair).</span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Many
students struggle with hair. (As a matter of fact, many students
struggle with everything: background, hair, skin tones, drawing of
features, folds of clothes, you name it!) <span style="font-weight: bold;">My aim is to make watercolor portraiture accessible to most students and I hope this step-by-step approach helps</span>.</span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Next, I softened the inner hairline</span> with the lifting brush (there is hardly any painting within which I don't use this brush). Then <span style="font-weight: bold;">I started painting the first layer of the skin tones on dry paper</span>, using the pale, watery versions of the </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">above-mentioned essential skin colors (minus cobalt blue, which I used in the second layer). <br /></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I didn't mix any colors, except a little cad yellow to cad red in the forehead, etc. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Depending on the moisture level of your brush, you may end up with blooms</span>. Don't worry about them. <span style="font-weight: bold;">It's sometimes hard to read whether a certain passage is a cool red or a warm red</span>.
You can mix the two reds; you can use either red (they are so pale that
it doesn't really matter). As we spend more and more time looking at
the subject, it becomes clear which area is warm and which area is cool.
<br /></span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFmgQ3rmBhQjmtctxsuVDUPZzk16zu-rbwhFArtBKlXVPfc-0Q0JHOSn-Hzwv6nC0AfY1uSAi1pgilwT1QOiac6wpR6gZ8sntzHg_cCfGKmukhcgmNiwy9h-DPEXpqaek-rrQUSf6ekYZVV2KUShc9cBfN7rjfORlKAaeR0bdwX8EAqQe-kXoCCSf9yQ/s1332/Screenshot%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1332" data-original-width="994" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFmgQ3rmBhQjmtctxsuVDUPZzk16zu-rbwhFArtBKlXVPfc-0Q0JHOSn-Hzwv6nC0AfY1uSAi1pgilwT1QOiac6wpR6gZ8sntzHg_cCfGKmukhcgmNiwy9h-DPEXpqaek-rrQUSf6ekYZVV2KUShc9cBfN7rjfORlKAaeR0bdwX8EAqQe-kXoCCSf9yQ/s320/Screenshot%20(2).png" width="239" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Screen Shot II"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">In
a light-skin-toned subject, the painting goes fast. I started the
second layer, going bolder. I also started painting the features. There
are so many things I covered that I am not going to detail them here.
Please rewatch the recording.</span></div><div align="left" class="envelope" style="float: none;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGGe-4CLI8-KDi-zneVfO6Xk74fI9Qerwa2k0f6MKxUDv8biTltriqOUqWdhy7jANfNiVAg3EYYO41AQxQ7Kv2as99IhCbTiX22X6DYUjOSIRB1MiUXdrMVlCVZlmx_G8TQXEZPInUcszeWXb5zZnaw0u1EtmxGfXL3LD0V_kbL-wvrhRnRJIgyIvO_w/s1312/Screenshot%20(4).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1312" data-original-width="976" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGGe-4CLI8-KDi-zneVfO6Xk74fI9Qerwa2k0f6MKxUDv8biTltriqOUqWdhy7jANfNiVAg3EYYO41AQxQ7Kv2as99IhCbTiX22X6DYUjOSIRB1MiUXdrMVlCVZlmx_G8TQXEZPInUcszeWXb5zZnaw0u1EtmxGfXL3LD0V_kbL-wvrhRnRJIgyIvO_w/s320/Screenshot%20(4).png" width="238" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Screen Shot III"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Next, I finished the female portrait in full palette. I showed you how to deepen the hair without losing the feeling of softness that was established in the first wash last week. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I emphasize the importance of soft texture of any hair. Avoid the liney hair with many fussy strokes and instead focus on the light/dark shapes</span>. <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">How to create the soft, fuzzy texture in watercolor? Paint with water</span>,
i.e., as soon as you put down a linear stroke, rinse your brush, remove
the excess water on clean paper towel, and stroke it down one or both
sides of the previous stroke. Keep repeating the process until you are satisfied with the hair.</span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I painted the white blouse by painting pale shadow shapes. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I used a variety of colors although the shapes are not very big</span>. You can't paint colorful paintings with just few colors. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Get into the habit of dipping into a different color each time you reach out to reload your brush</span>.
A wet stroke of Color A, then another wet stroke of Color B, and so on.
As long as you control the moisture level of your brush, you will still
see color variations in your shapes.</span><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">But more than anything else, <span style="font-weight: bold;">the big picture of the left side of the white blouse being in light and the right side being in shadow has to be emphasized</span>! Do you see the difference of the left and right sides in the finished portrait?</span><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="left" class="yiv1827666689envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The skin tones needed to be strengthened a bit and the dark shadows of the neck introduced, so that what I did next. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The subject with a fair skin tones doesn't require too many layers of glazing, but it doesn't mean you don't have to deny her colors</span>!<br /></span></div>
<div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">After the break, I talked about how to approach painting the subject with glasses/shades</span>.
Less is more! Suggest the frames instead of accentuating them. Remember
the frames, no matter how thin, have volumes; sometimes it's necessary
to paint planes (especially if the subject is in three-quarters view. If
you can't see the subject's eyes, don't invent them. If you see the
reflections of interesting shapes, paint them. If the glasses/shades cast strong shadows, paint them. <br /></span></span></div><div><span></span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">This
is an independent project, so I won't discuss my demo in details. I am
painting "Sabrina at Dean Village, Edinburgh". I finished the sky, the
background architecture and stream, and her hair before the class and focused on the skin tones for the demo. </span></span></div><p><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGpWD8nrwTvi13EcHsJq58piO56uDx-oZjCJ92m_8uVdKrp7d2E06LPaGw9ri-UtRVqXBBAH3JUtao1tasaqw1dyKKv7cH0lLLvowE6sZoYfhNAtub2xAlMrnBQXbrLAfV5LRWbi0C-zvAddiPXqChJfmDN9e3Sk4q_pGcDqSVe2vT_Vdj_B3FLraPw/s400/Sabrina%20at%20Dean%20Village,%20Edinburgh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="400" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGpWD8nrwTvi13EcHsJq58piO56uDx-oZjCJ92m_8uVdKrp7d2E06LPaGw9ri-UtRVqXBBAH3JUtao1tasaqw1dyKKv7cH0lLLvowE6sZoYfhNAtub2xAlMrnBQXbrLAfV5LRWbi0C-zvAddiPXqChJfmDN9e3Sk4q_pGcDqSVe2vT_Vdj_B3FLraPw/s320/Sabrina%20at%20Dean%20Village,%20Edinburgh.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sabrina at Dean Village, Edinburgh"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">In
the image above , you can see the first layer of skin tones. It's very
pale, but still gives the impressions of three dimensionality</span>
with the adroit use of the highlights (cobalt turquoise light and
cadmium yellow pale with a bit of cadmium red) and warm red (cadmium
red)/cool red (Helios purple). Something to think about!</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-83861335585464199832022-05-08T13:27:00.000-04:002022-05-08T13:27:07.739-04:00"Double Cherry Blossoms" (watercolor on paper; 12" x 9")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6owN_jq62tRmBJbzSEo8ir6_5Ky6M0vK1ey1MGN7N0fq0mpC1G32tyt7ifqy19W4DHZ-Q9WdhvDXIIQH5LIu7EhStw3v6k1Aq5xUGE6auIZ8vI6n2t05C2N4-yn-uQ_6BUNZoqbhv1uRyUUUCFNZ6RIy4RXmZBKrbR3jQeRTU4mlS4pEctzDcoJp37w/s3876/Double%20Cherry%20Blossoms%20Small%20File.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3876" data-original-width="2821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6owN_jq62tRmBJbzSEo8ir6_5Ky6M0vK1ey1MGN7N0fq0mpC1G32tyt7ifqy19W4DHZ-Q9WdhvDXIIQH5LIu7EhStw3v6k1Aq5xUGE6auIZ8vI6n2t05C2N4-yn-uQ_6BUNZoqbhv1uRyUUUCFNZ6RIy4RXmZBKrbR3jQeRTU4mlS4pEctzDcoJp37w/s320/Double%20Cherry%20Blossoms%20Small%20File.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Double Cherry Blossoms"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
following is the description of what we did in the third week of the
spring term, 2022 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">my online Zoom class with the Art League School
in Alexandria, VA). </span></p><p><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This week's lesson was about the edges through painting "Double Cherry Blossoms"</span>.
</span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We drew the design, then <span style="font-weight: bold;">we wetted the paper thoroughly and evenly</span>. The success of the variegated wash depends on how you do this step; don't rush it. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></span>
</p>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We
dropped cobalt blue in the sky holes, pale permanent rose in the sun-struck
cherry blossoms, yellow green (winsor lemon and a little cobalt blue) in
the grass and trees, and quinacridone gold in the trees, side walk and
street. </span></span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We dried paper until it's bone dry. </span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The biggest trap in a cherry blossom painting is paint it all pink and saccharine</span>.
One must focus on light and dark shapes. Desaturate the picture and
print it out black and white as well as a color version to avoid the
trap. <span style="font-weight: bold;">We wetted a little more than the
top half of the paper and dropped the purple mixture (French ultramarine
blue and permanent alizarin crimson) to suggest the cherry blsooms in
shadow</span>. <br />
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We
mixed the dark green (ultramarine blue and gold) and dropped it in the
two dark green shapes showing through the gaps in the cherry blossoms in
the top left</span>. <br />
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So far, the painting has no hard edges. <span style="font-weight: bold;">We are going to bring the sunshine by introducing the crisp-edged shadows</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The shadow colors vary depending on the local colors: the blue greens</span>
(cadmium yellow pale and cobalt blue; I glazed the purple mixture over
green here and there later) on the grass and the shadow areas in the
distant trees <span style="font-weight: bold;">and purples</span> (ultramarine blue and crimson; you may add a little gold for the street) on the sidewalk and street. <br />
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I've
noticed during the critique session, quite a few of you made the edges
of these shadows mushy. Don't be afraid of hard edges. What's
problematic (at least for me) is that there are only hard edges in a
painting. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hard edges come forward and
they can also suggest the sunny condition; soft edges tend to recede,
create soft textures and can suggest a damp weather condition</span>.
The ability to control the hard/soft edges indicates how advanced you
are in your watercolor journey and will open the door for you to paint
any subject you wish!<br />
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">By the way, <span style="font-weight: bold;">below is your homework. Please practice mixing greens</span>.
Many students hate mixing and painting greens, but we cannot avoid
greens, especially in landscapes. It's actually not that hard to mix
beautiful greens. Again, it's matter of practice and positive attitude!<br />
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsKkx_245uVd13Xl2uEgvEKOEY1KR2OAw1X7KZTYgpxcegxZ8Ht84C8HwJWUwfOQ2RXevn9eHh7sCcIK2BSHjNZQv_Qtt-Qj3rsTGZ6F6JYwHmt_RjAj3sdnOpzBqirJGWdnZ8CQSFZDEojBB7GeJWLIe_mrjLlzVjJBMJrsUc7a6ElJ0VyCtaq61MsA/s595/Green%20swatches.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsKkx_245uVd13Xl2uEgvEKOEY1KR2OAw1X7KZTYgpxcegxZ8Ht84C8HwJWUwfOQ2RXevn9eHh7sCcIK2BSHjNZQv_Qtt-Qj3rsTGZ6F6JYwHmt_RjAj3sdnOpzBqirJGWdnZ8CQSFZDEojBB7GeJWLIe_mrjLlzVjJBMJrsUc7a6ElJ0VyCtaq61MsA/s320/Green%20swatches.jpg" width="215" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mixing Greens<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We painted the tree trunks and limbs with the mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna</span>. </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Make
sure the mid-tone branches in the middle of the cherry blossoms tuck
behind the clouds of flowers or dark shadows and not stick out out of
nowhere. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span>
</div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Finally, <span style="font-weight: bold;">it's time to get messy with the splatters</span>.
Cover yourself and the working area because these pesty splatters tend to
end up everywhere! <span style="font-weight: bold;">We first splattered
with permanent rose, then white gouache. Use a small round brush, load
it up with enough thick paint and splatter carefully in all directions</span>.
Avoid big bombs (caused by too much water in the brush). Nothing
happening? Use more water. Don't be half-hearted with these splatters.
Do enough of them so that they show!</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I avoided these splatters (which suggest the highlights on the flowers) in the shadow areas</span>.
I splattered a little bit on the sidewalk and grass. At the end, I
decided to splatter the mixture of a little permanent rose and white
gouache as well. <br />
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Below is my class demo. This is only one way of painting cherry blossoms. You may want
to try a different approach with more hard-edged flowers. As long as
you include the dark shadows of these delicate flowers, you will have
success.<br />
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>
<div align="left" class="yiv3168792708envelope" style="float: none;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd1C0C50ZnYWDvKC-cFrVZLabS82zFfx-OK8Q9EXyp9zHU7O5PzvhOezaLfULdgNQlGL_fiRh4d95N49AdnvdziEfX2HenMgz-oX8wx4MbKXThmI7HFN-0_TrSa58qHPXHRH_qVt36fLWXLy6xT7le1deevzrXoZ7n0CI4rRGt88gNMoS-ybGJjs-g4w/s533/Double%20Cherry%20Blossoms%20Class%20Demo.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd1C0C50ZnYWDvKC-cFrVZLabS82zFfx-OK8Q9EXyp9zHU7O5PzvhOezaLfULdgNQlGL_fiRh4d95N49AdnvdziEfX2HenMgz-oX8wx4MbKXThmI7HFN-0_TrSa58qHPXHRH_qVt36fLWXLy6xT7le1deevzrXoZ7n0CI4rRGt88gNMoS-ybGJjs-g4w/s320/Double%20Cherry%20Blossoms%20Class%20Demo.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Double Cherry Blossoms Class Demo"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div align="left" class="yiv3168792708envelope" style="float: none;"><br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-55133788949052976542022-05-03T13:46:00.002-04:002022-05-03T13:46:28.028-04:00"Enchanting Bluebells" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12") sold<p> </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhbIlA-16X2PEFbej90WriHmTu7I4jfiPIVuOBiMUcTtjL4GHjdthF6Dj0yb66bqqqljjTKjqfOkJ6AkDHXmgdHNYvZEq5cr0sLGLrHmCxV9YHQW_Tap3U8tshuHkjIdrzNf5gPnLDGI1TuIywSWuMQdsRb6cIOq8zF2JBn86vbUt8ssYv6oZKgxwvxg/s3754/Enchanting%20Bluebells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2770" data-original-width="3754" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhbIlA-16X2PEFbej90WriHmTu7I4jfiPIVuOBiMUcTtjL4GHjdthF6Dj0yb66bqqqljjTKjqfOkJ6AkDHXmgdHNYvZEq5cr0sLGLrHmCxV9YHQW_Tap3U8tshuHkjIdrzNf5gPnLDGI1TuIywSWuMQdsRb6cIOq8zF2JBn86vbUt8ssYv6oZKgxwvxg/s320/Enchanting%20Bluebells.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Enchanting Bluebells" (sold)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><br /> </p><p class="faso-user-p">Virginia bluebells are blooming in the Riverbend
Regional Park in Great Falls, VA. Let's walk down the path in dappled
light together. It is so magical and enchanting that all the worldly
worries are forgotten here.</p>
<p class="faso-user-p"><br /><br /></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-83869384168046063742022-05-01T10:35:00.002-04:002022-05-01T10:35:45.971-04:00"Acadia Milky Way Reflections" (watercolor on paper; 12" x 9")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5g4IYS7VirbmBz-fcDDCRBW8-vlvzsHBZ7Sr_74J0201QJqB_4VkP-7HF2P-yGsxZCT9JOKkhQQJhwK4QbSMw1u5dNatZzyhq0NkMw73DmwAbcKzmbKmRX5JWn6Cbp_3Bhrmd3XMZrcsw-jvVgVa9KjfzkHNmBs-We87xiIl8jv6HiH9K09BwdplG3A/s3820/Acadia%20Milky%20Way%20Reflections%20Small%20File.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3820" data-original-width="2824" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5g4IYS7VirbmBz-fcDDCRBW8-vlvzsHBZ7Sr_74J0201QJqB_4VkP-7HF2P-yGsxZCT9JOKkhQQJhwK4QbSMw1u5dNatZzyhq0NkMw73DmwAbcKzmbKmRX5JWn6Cbp_3Bhrmd3XMZrcsw-jvVgVa9KjfzkHNmBs-We87xiIl8jv6HiH9K09BwdplG3A/s320/Acadia%20Milky%20Way%20Reflections%20Small%20File.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Acadia Milky Way Reflections"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
following is the description of what we did in the second week of the
spring term, 2022 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">my online Zoom class with the Art League School
in Alexandria, VA). </span></p><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This week''s lesson was the wet-on-wet variegated wash through painting "Acadia Milky Way Reflections"</span>.
The way we did it was a little unusual, but the sky is the limit as far
as the variegated wash is concerned, and I cannot emphasize its
importance in watercolors. <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We drew the design with a HB pencil very lightly. Then <span style="font-weight: bold;">we wetted the paper thoroughly and evenly except the land shape below the horizon</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The success of the variegated wash depends on how you do this step; don't rush it</span>. There are no fixes when the paper is wet unevenly. <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-language-override: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 10pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We dropped very pale Winsor lemon, then a little permanent rose in the sky and water</span>,
where you see the glows caused by the gazillion stars. Make these pale
shapes interesting and somewhat mirror-image (the glow shape in the
water is the reflection of the same in the sky!)<br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dry paper until it's bone dry (feels room temperature, not cool, to touch)</span>.
If you rush this drying stage, you are likely to disturb the underlying
layer(s). As long as you bone-dry and then wet the paper gently but
thoroughly for the next layer with a soft flat brush, you can do this </span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">theoretically</span></span> up to hundred times, although only a few fanatical watercolorists do it!<br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The next layer was cobalt blue to suggest the night sky</span>.
The night sky is usually very dark, almost pitch black, but when there
is a full moon, aurora, or a galaxy full of stars, it will look quite
colorful. Don't cover the glows from the first layer. Bone-dry the paper
and wet it again for the third layer.</span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We
darkened the periphery of the paper with the blue purple mixture of
French ultramarine blue (darker than cobalt blue) and permanent rose</span>.
Quite a few of you ended up covering up the cobalt blue layer entirely.
Please don't. If you haven't wetted the paper nice and evenly, you will by
now have many hard edges around the glows in the sky and water. It's
game over because <span style="font-weight: bold;">the sky and water
take up 90% of the painting. We cannot even say they are the background
or negative space; they are the painting, the story (plus the stars). </span>Again, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of the beautifully executed variegated wash at the beginning of many paintings. <br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Many
beginners feel thwarted by the variegated wash or wet-on-wet technique
altogether and decide to stick to the wet-on-dry, paint-by-the
numbers-without-numbers technique. If you are one of them, you are
limiting your potential. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Watercolor is
capable of achieving the infinite variety of subtle and not-so-subtle
images. You master both the wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry techniques, the
world truly becomes your oyster!</span><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">If your sky and water are not dark enough, you have to repeat the process</span>.
Don't be afraid of using enough paints. Don't paint wishy-washy,
anorexic paintings. Nobody swoons over the half-hearted washes.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Now, <span style="font-weight: bold;">it's time to paint the small sliver of the land shape</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Paint the rocks in three layers</span>:
quinacridone gold base, burnt sienna mid-tone cracks, and the dark
mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, plus a little gold (for
the dark base, some cracks, and reflections of the dark rocks in the
water). Using the same dark mixture (don't mix the paints thoroughly
ever!), <b>paint also the coniferous tree shape, making sure the farther
trees are smaller to have them recede</b>.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Finally, <span style="font-weight: bold;">it's time to get messy with the white gouache splatters</span>.
Cover yourself and working area because these pesty splatters tend to
end up everywhere! And mask the water and trees with two pieces of
paper. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Use a small round brush, load it up with enough thick paint and splatter carefully in all directions</span>.
Avoid big bombs (caused by too much water in the brush). Nothing
happening? Use more water. Don't be half-hearted with these splatters.
Do enough of them so that they show!</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We will be using the splatter technique again</span>.
So if you don't like the mess, get over it! It's useful for stars,
sands, rocks, or to add some visual noise where nothing of interest is
happening.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><br /></span></div>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-84871926159171781742022-04-29T10:41:00.000-04:002022-04-29T10:41:45.852-04:00"Victorian Lady in Sepia" (watercolor on paper; 12" x 9")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCno7djE0k_UOeaOiwhfMg25FTecPdbFLzQ1RySlBfTEdtEmV1OA0qAvJ9_V7hTjbZQIYS5ucCpRHft8G_bEMWpu7C8oMcCM_-Fkw7tMwbp3inoDcDJzVcKvTp-y2d8Z5lekeD6K7yPqssR6-ChysbIh-h9RBs93iazO6FQeO4GDLBZIx0ZY9eIAnngw/s3640/Victorian%20Lady%20in%20Sepia%20Small%20File.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3640" data-original-width="2737" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCno7djE0k_UOeaOiwhfMg25FTecPdbFLzQ1RySlBfTEdtEmV1OA0qAvJ9_V7hTjbZQIYS5ucCpRHft8G_bEMWpu7C8oMcCM_-Fkw7tMwbp3inoDcDJzVcKvTp-y2d8Z5lekeD6K7yPqssR6-ChysbIh-h9RBs93iazO6FQeO4GDLBZIx0ZY9eIAnngw/s320/Victorian%20Lady%20in%20Sepia%20Small%20File.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Victorian Lady in Sepia"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The following is </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">what we did in the second week of the spring term,
2022 in my "Watercolor Portraits" class</span> (my online Zoom classes with the Art League School in
Alexandria, VA).</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <br /></span></p><p></p><div><span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">First we</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> talked about the important business of the value scales (grayscales)</span>.
I actually made them for you to see (If you just watched, please try
them; it's not as easy as it looks!), using the sepia mixture of
cobalt blue and burnt sienna (Daniel Smith).</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">You can also try a black (I like neutral tint by Daniel Smith).</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Then we started <span style="font-weight: bold;">the main lesson of the day, which was painting a sepia value study of "Victorian Lady"</span></span></span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>based on a sepia picture taken between 1890 and 1900</span></span>. </span></span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We used only burnt sienna (my favorite is
Daniel Smith) and cobalt blue</span>. In the <span style="font-weight: bold;">value scales</span>,
<span style="font-weight: bold;">the value 10 is the white of the paper</span>
(highlights). The value 2 or 3 is as dark as it gets with the mixture of
these
two colors. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The value 1 is black</span>.
The high-key
paintings crowd around highlights and mid tones; the low-key paintings (such as tonalist)
lack highlights and crowd around mid tones and darks. We won't be using
ten values; you can do a convincing portrait with six values.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Beginners' paintings often lack highlights and darks and remain in the
mid-tone fest!</span><br />
</span></span>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBMGS1SqEX4Sz-QGbDq3ha4H6mgiR7XTdpoShysZXW5BwSIb9cFzhF0PXfhesIO8pY3BkAmvDtbBVZKzfpmuN1s4BbRjlyfAcn7uxhMtGKvO-XMeXZQZ4f76-TnGtTwpKRnqFvS8wz6ShTP036FSdhOHMTxzMh3RdGzTXMUzmvPmkAHR6nfbSHs6tQ8A/s400/Sepia%20Grayscales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="400" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBMGS1SqEX4Sz-QGbDq3ha4H6mgiR7XTdpoShysZXW5BwSIb9cFzhF0PXfhesIO8pY3BkAmvDtbBVZKzfpmuN1s4BbRjlyfAcn7uxhMtGKvO-XMeXZQZ4f76-TnGtTwpKRnqFvS8wz6ShTP036FSdhOHMTxzMh3RdGzTXMUzmvPmkAHR6nfbSHs6tQ8A/s320/Sepia%20Grayscales.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sepia Grayscales<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">I
first painted the background with the <span style="font-size: x-small;">dark </span>mid<span style="font-size: x-small;">-tone variegated </span>wash (slightly bluer<span style="font-size: x-small;"> and darker along the periphery, giving the subject a brownish halo</span>)<span style="font-size: x-small;"> on thoroughly wet paper</span></span>.<span style="font-size: x-small;"> If your first layer was too light, repeat the process.</span> You have to dry the paper<span style="font-size: x-small;"> thoroughly</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> before rewetting; otherwise you disturb the first layer. Be as gentle as possible when you are wet-glazing. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The variegated background wash is something I do in every single portrait painting; you have to master this technique</span>! </span> <br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Then </span>I <span style="font-weight: bold;">started<span style="font-size: x-small;"> painting the subject</span> with the lightest
wash<span style="font-size: x-small;"> on dry paper</span></span>, covering the entire area of the subject, except the lightest parts
(highlights). <span style="font-weight: bold;">Don't make this<span style="font-size: x-small;"> first</span>
layer too dark<span style="font-size: x-small;"> and make it more brown than blue</span></span>! <span style="font-size: x-small;">The value should be the #9 in the grayscale (called <span style="font-weight: bold;">tint</span>).</span><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div align="left" class="yiv4182766460envelope" style="float: none;">In
between layers, dry the paper thoroughly. We are glazing, so paper
should be bone dry. <span style="font-weight: bold;">At each stage, I<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>mixed a slightly darker batch<span style="font-size: x-small;"> by adding a little more of each paint</span></span>; <span style="font-weight: bold;">mix
more than you think necessary</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> (you don't want to run out of paint in the middle of the wash!)</span>.<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>By the fifth layer, I got everything
done; <span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">for the darkest layer, I used French ultramarine blue rather than cobalt blue</span>
as the former is a darker color. The
darkest values are found in the hair, dark trim of the brooch, left-side
brow and adjoining dark shadow of the nose, pupils, upper lip (left
side), canine fossa and a few folds of the blouse. <br />
</span></div>
<div align="left" class="yiv4182766460envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="left" class="yiv4182766460envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">For the finishing touch,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> I used the Sakura gelly roll pen 10 to restore the catchlights in the pupil<span><span></span></span>s</span>. You can use instead a white gouache. You can also use a white gouache for the white polka dots and highlights in the neck and lace. <br />
</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">The image below is the class demo; the top image is my sample painting, which is warmer than the demo. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The
color temperature in photography is called white balance. Even the same
painting can look different depending on the lighting condition</span>. The day when I took the picture of the sample painting, it may have been an overcast day that caused the general warmness. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Today when I took the picture of the demo, it was a bright sunny condition (the blue of the sky causes the cool temperature)</span>.<br />
</span></span></div><br /></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-OfAB_C7Oew5nThJcfFTEiljU419ZDuSs8-V17rw64ObHKffvfw0fAY3Ai2Ncpm-eQiyGXJEkd28w6-TQUqgkgCLB_R5n87ziWco7kNtvB3kGSyK3FjoficobuMX52CGuyBgEujK4THcsh_rI2v1vYpn3Ga8qa_sSAOHyPicsTWPSOXNmX3Hp0OvIxw/s542/Victorian%20Lady%20in%20Sepia%20Class%20Demo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-OfAB_C7Oew5nThJcfFTEiljU419ZDuSs8-V17rw64ObHKffvfw0fAY3Ai2Ncpm-eQiyGXJEkd28w6-TQUqgkgCLB_R5n87ziWco7kNtvB3kGSyK3FjoficobuMX52CGuyBgEujK4THcsh_rI2v1vYpn3Ga8qa_sSAOHyPicsTWPSOXNmX3Hp0OvIxw/s320/Victorian%20Lady%20in%20Sepia%20Class%20Demo.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Victorian Lady in Sepia" Class Demo<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-39355881428101811962022-04-25T17:47:00.002-04:002022-04-25T17:55:42.152-04:00""Medici Fountain at Luxembourg Garden" (oil on linen; 10" x 8") sold<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVNu4jHsml0z2_ndDdp3NI1GfzcwqB848Pkn8l-0TSCPARejV2LRDPWAl6xNUfF6dxfbMtszSCEziEGX605xeSxj1Eh1Kuz84h40j2GGVsZP-xvyKIlKMHmX_XcbmfuaDoQGFtXQfmgElrbJlEAc3P1KIXt4oje7qKA_1b0_RSyEh2aj2Y7VCz9r5Ng/s3566/Medici%20Fountain%20at%20Luxembourg%20Garden%20Framed.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3566" data-original-width="3031" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVNu4jHsml0z2_ndDdp3NI1GfzcwqB848Pkn8l-0TSCPARejV2LRDPWAl6xNUfF6dxfbMtszSCEziEGX605xeSxj1Eh1Kuz84h40j2GGVsZP-xvyKIlKMHmX_XcbmfuaDoQGFtXQfmgElrbJlEAc3P1KIXt4oje7qKA_1b0_RSyEh2aj2Y7VCz9r5Ng/s320/Medici%20Fountain%20at%20Luxembourg%20Garden%20Framed.jpg" width="272" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: red;">so<span></span>ld</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p class="faso-user-p"><span>The </span>Medici Fountain<span> (</span><i lang="fr">la fontaine Médicis</i><span>) is a monumental fountain</span><span> in the Luxembourg Garden</span><span> in the 6th arrondissement </span><span>in Paris</span><span>. It was built in about 1630 by Marie de' Medici,</span><span> the widow of King Henry IV of France</span><span> and regent of King Louis VIII of France</span><span>. It was moved to its present location and extensively rebuilt in 1864-66.</span></p>
<p class="faso-user-p"><span>I visited the famous fountain in late
summer on an overcast day in 2019. In the painting I tried to capture the
magical serenity of the place with the pointillist style. Do you think I succeeded?<br /></span></p>
<p class="faso-user-p"><br /><br /></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-89120584094372678112022-04-24T11:07:00.000-04:002022-04-24T11:07:22.190-04:00"Santa Ana Mountains Wildflowers" (watercolor on paper, 9" x 12")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJA80ZznqE_Jf0m-uVDBaq70VZhVW7KUaVMDAVaUZZuT_BhxkFBSoMvSs2ufr2b4QnfVeduOuhsjK9ahvsfC5zUKWxwUEjaDPYg7iFvE6IrnMQ2wiz4gZ5u3wxFZ5M2_8vlRsOugNFcSfDWaAUKLx1zSuWios-_2l3VgOzzLkhv_3nCNUAkhy3YQhXng/s3842/California%20Wildflowers%20Small%20File.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2839" data-original-width="3842" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJA80ZznqE_Jf0m-uVDBaq70VZhVW7KUaVMDAVaUZZuT_BhxkFBSoMvSs2ufr2b4QnfVeduOuhsjK9ahvsfC5zUKWxwUEjaDPYg7iFvE6IrnMQ2wiz4gZ5u3wxFZ5M2_8vlRsOugNFcSfDWaAUKLx1zSuWios-_2l3VgOzzLkhv_3nCNUAkhy3YQhXng/s320/California%20Wildflowers%20Small%20File.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Santa Ana Mountains Wildflowers)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
following is the description of what we did in the first week of the
spring term, 2022 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">my online Zoom class with the Art League School
in Alexandria, VA). </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This week's lesson was about painting by numbers without numbers</span>. This is how the beginners start out; one can do the most amazing things with this approach, so no reason to disdain it. </span><br />
</p>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I discussed the <span style="font-weight: bold;">properties
of color: hue (yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, green, etc), value
(light and dark), intensity/chroma (bright and dull), and temperature
(warm and cool)</span>. I will keep repeating these important concepts, so if you are a little confused, don't worry about it!</span>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;">To practice the wet-on-dry, paint-by-numbers-without-numbers method, <span style="font-weight: bold;">we painted "Santa Ana Mountains Wildflowers"</span>. First,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> we drew the design with a HB pencil with a light touch. </span>The
less you use eraser, the better-off you are. If you must, use a kneaded
eraser. The watercolor paper must be handled with kid gloves and with
tenderness. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I emphasize the importance
of using an undamaged, good paper (Arches 140lb cold press paper). It
comes through layers of watercolor washes and that's why a good
watercolor painting glows</span>.<br />
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>Then<span style="font-weight: bold;"> we wetted the sky shape only and did a graded wash in cobalt blue</span>.
This is the simplest, yet effective way of painting sky and still gives
it a sensation of depth. The sky is usually darker at the top and
lighter near the horizon. So <span style="font-weight: bold;">use more paint at the top and less near the horizon</span>. Making a smooth transition from deeper to lighter tone is much harder than you think. Hence practice the graded wash! <br />
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tilt the paper pad/board a little to utilize gravity</span>. If you are using a stiff flat brush, your job will be tougher. <span style="font-weight: bold;">If
the wash turns out too light (watercolor dries a couple of value scales
lighter; wet paper requires more paint than dry paper), repeat the
process</span>. Dry the paper completely, wet the sky shape (if your
flat brush is stiff or your strokes are too vigorous, you will remove a
lot of the first layer), then drop the cobalt blue. Theoretically you
can repeat the process up to hundred times, but who has the time or
patience!</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The rest is relatively simple; it's matter of blocking in different color shapes, then glazing (adding layers on dry paper). <span style="font-weight: bold;">We
started with the orange California poppy shapes (mixture of cadmium
yellow pale and a little cadmium red), then painted the purple
California bluebell shapes (mixture of cobalt blue and permanent rose),
and the green grass shapes (mixture of cadmium yellow and cobalt blue)</span>. <br />
</span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 10pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I glazed the poppy petals in shadow with the red orange mixture of cadmium red and cadmium yellow. <br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I
glazed the distant hill slopes in shadow with the purple mixture of
French ultramarine blue and permanent alizarin crimson. I glazed darker
purple flowers and darker grasses with the same purple mixture</span>.
Yes, purple is a very useful color as greens and blues turn purple when
they become really dark. Even reds become purple when they are dark. <br /></span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><div style="color: black; font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">In this lesson, <span style="font-weight: bold;">you learned to mix paints partially so that two paints can make four colors</span>
(for instance, yellow, yellow orange, red orange and red; rose, rose
purple, blue purple, blue; yellow, yellow green, blue green, and blue). <span style="font-weight: bold;">Never overmix and end up with a homogenized mixture</span>. </span></div><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-32463219059441416932022-04-04T10:17:00.000-04:002022-04-04T10:17:09.134-04:00"Kaena Point Sunset" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12")<p> </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6KQsMdQQbqFyXlceDYRhf3n9AOm4acSp8KI6nog7b_daIokYZxh74yCxzpy4vOo0CNKn_7BFhEKTOXfpwkUBE5v1qgbNI8vg8A9bfZuo5SCVC8o6UFH7TFHTxxjh_FU4VLM-KS7fj_hK_b72NYsEWCZF7fwQd43vLUcnDrjw4GfZn5uciQDpFeEXRfg/s3850/Kaena%20Point%20Sunset%20Small%20File.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2827" data-original-width="3850" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6KQsMdQQbqFyXlceDYRhf3n9AOm4acSp8KI6nog7b_daIokYZxh74yCxzpy4vOo0CNKn_7BFhEKTOXfpwkUBE5v1qgbNI8vg8A9bfZuo5SCVC8o6UFH7TFHTxxjh_FU4VLM-KS7fj_hK_b72NYsEWCZF7fwQd43vLUcnDrjw4GfZn5uciQDpFeEXRfg/s320/Kaena%20Point%20Sunset%20Small%20File.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Kaena Point Sunset"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRI3ssuQY17NdBskHwsB3Vt6Qm9PiIPO88Njp70YSQSfQy1lxIQ1a6i10mkyOqBakznsNk7Jqc0SioQ9BwgADdghXZuBK4EBrrazLEMAcXX1WuS2mNzIm1JhBN2cSFnji-JHDgRkXOE48730RI3DYAPvqaXQZcD_iHjmXRigGMlhNKIRNU3ynmGgQcQ/s400/Sunset%20Workshop%20Paintings%20I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="123" data-original-width="400" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRI3ssuQY17NdBskHwsB3Vt6Qm9PiIPO88Njp70YSQSfQy1lxIQ1a6i10mkyOqBakznsNk7Jqc0SioQ9BwgADdghXZuBK4EBrrazLEMAcXX1WuS2mNzIm1JhBN2cSFnji-JHDgRkXOE48730RI3DYAPvqaXQZcD_iHjmXRigGMlhNKIRNU3ynmGgQcQ/s320/Sunset%20Workshop%20Paintings%20I.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmcHFCfXvP50ssk-yB4kgZkbKqnG6ZmoQw7CZDJbmYoVTCBwf95jdlHFRmMfEdx2igs7VfMS4JizZiN5HOzm1ieLnEerKRYUzloQcdxKeYgV-5fWODJkU1RNdy2jK3JD0DcjVK07FCV_pHZ7B0MTonRljFxJhSg1xbeZelO3Ppcm7PIA5ZQ3B54Oy2A/s400/Sunset%20Workshop%20Paintings%20II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="400" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmcHFCfXvP50ssk-yB4kgZkbKqnG6ZmoQw7CZDJbmYoVTCBwf95jdlHFRmMfEdx2igs7VfMS4JizZiN5HOzm1ieLnEerKRYUzloQcdxKeYgV-5fWODJkU1RNdy2jK3JD0DcjVK07FCV_pHZ7B0MTonRljFxJhSg1xbeZelO3Ppcm7PIA5ZQ3B54Oy2A/s320/Sunset%20Workshop%20Paintings%20II.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">The following is the wrap-up of the "Painting Sunsets in Watercolor" workshop I taught this weekend at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA. <br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">It has been a great pleasure to have you in my
sunset workshop. I hope you learned something to help you in your
watercolor journey. Some of you were not familiar with the wet-on-wet
variegated wash or painting in layers. But it is generally why we take
workshops: to broaden the horizon and try something new. You guys were
awesome! <br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Things to take away? <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sunsets are all about the yellow and orange glows and we have to preserve that glow to paint a successful sunset</span>. <br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Blues and purples are present often in sunsets. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Since
oranges and yellows are complimentary colors of blues and purples, if
we paint them at the same time, they will mix on their own on the wet
paper and result in mud. Hence, we must separate them in layers</span>!</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Each time when you wet the paper for the wet-on-wet technique,</span>
which helps us to apply paint smoothly without leaving hard edges (and
sky, water, and many other things are all about softness), <span style="font-weight: bold;">you have to wet the paper thoroughly</span>. And you have to use good paper (we used Arches 140 lb cold press paper)!<br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Each time when we start the next layer, the
paper has to be bone dry</b>! Otherwise you risk stirring up the previous
layer(s). If you do this right, you can repeat the process until you
can't take it anymore. Lol.</span></span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> You can also wet only part of the paper (sky, water, etc.) depending on your purpose.</span></span>
</div><div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">We don't always repeat the variegated wash in
multiple layers. As I have shown some examples, I sometimes get it done
in one or two layers. So don't think what we did is the norm. It
depends!<br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">The reason why repeated the yellow, red
orange, and blue layers twice is this: it's better to go gentle and
layer than go too strong and do oops. <span style="font-weight: bold;">In watercolor, removing paints is much much harder than adding more paints in layers</span>. Go easy and go slow! <span style="font-weight: bold;">Patience is the most important virtue in watercolor</span>.<br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;">So the end result should be vibrant yellow, red orange and blue. Some of you needed to strengthen blues, right? <br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>When you are satisfied, paint the land shape,
tree, boats, or whatever. Hard edges are introduced at this stage and we
often paint on dry paper. Darks must be dark enough</b>! <br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></span></span></div>
<div><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Values are the most important thing in a painting in any medium</span>.
If you are plagued by the feeling that your project is not going well,
take the picture of your work-in-progress and desaturate the picture
using your phone picture editor. You will see your problems right away! <br />
</span></span></div>
<div><span><br />
</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhXgo08ft63GOIENtzYy6zbV_gk5O0HiIqvFjGQn4d0ilyOYEGE5RQGStBnx0WeJTvqqmANPkUqAA5XfnHpee6LSjRWWoHn_CAohjSYIECLrNYGckvlHp4EHzL3vH3k52tMNeAsjORfQAnWXcMHQdZUDRP6zJkxU38-WskuStnTD9C6Yt76diDcffzIQ/s400/Sunset%20Workshop%20Participants%20I.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="400" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhXgo08ft63GOIENtzYy6zbV_gk5O0HiIqvFjGQn4d0ilyOYEGE5RQGStBnx0WeJTvqqmANPkUqAA5XfnHpee6LSjRWWoHn_CAohjSYIECLrNYGckvlHp4EHzL3vH3k52tMNeAsjORfQAnWXcMHQdZUDRP6zJkxU38-WskuStnTD9C6Yt76diDcffzIQ/s320/Sunset%20Workshop%20Participants%20I.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span><br />
</span></div>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-19190900288217545692022-03-27T11:49:00.003-04:002022-03-27T11:49:30.968-04:00"Oregon Coast Sunset" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1vpLVdWtjXgl_yIlR9gjMTsax38uFrc8c3WVIO-oDWMa_xlCu2FpXbaAr7AIsoJ2xJgoDdO7IFO7klZKtBHXsQVhlX5ExHY4HWILuoY1z2_AJrSKThr2KD6ajH7ricw7cZQGff7WZZU3Tx5ymZxniu18O8tzYekWUcdqIaCW1NP8CCJYj31_WsPeM2g/s3980/Oregon%20Coast%20Sunset%20Demo%20Small%20File.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2991" data-original-width="3980" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1vpLVdWtjXgl_yIlR9gjMTsax38uFrc8c3WVIO-oDWMa_xlCu2FpXbaAr7AIsoJ2xJgoDdO7IFO7klZKtBHXsQVhlX5ExHY4HWILuoY1z2_AJrSKThr2KD6ajH7ricw7cZQGff7WZZU3Tx5ymZxniu18O8tzYekWUcdqIaCW1NP8CCJYj31_WsPeM2g/s320/Oregon%20Coast%20Sunset%20Demo%20Small%20File.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Oregon Coast Sunset"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><br /></p>
<div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
following is the description of what we did in the nineth week of the
winter term, 2022 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">my online Zoom class with the Art League School
in Alexandria, VA). </span></p><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
spring registration has begun. Please come back in the next term to
continue your watercolor journey with me. You guys, so many of whom are
beginners, are doing an amazing job! Here is <a href="https://www.theartleague.org/class/watercolor-from-start-to-finish-18/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the link for the "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class</a>; here is <a href="https://www.theartleague.org/class/watercolor-portraits-copy/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the link for the "Watercolor Portraits" class</a>, in case you want to move up a notch and challenge yourself even further!</span><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The image you see above is the class demo of "Oregon Coast Sunset" from yesterday. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The theme was "Inspired by Tonalism". Tonalism was an American art movement from the late 19th century</span>.
Its most prominent practitioners were George Inness and James Whistler
(his nocturnes). They used a narrow value range in low chroma colors to
create their serene, romantic landscapes.</span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Admittedly
I am not a tonalist; I am more of an impressionist. It doesn't prevent
me from exploring this intriguing movement; perhaps there are things for
us to glean from their approach to painting landscapes and cityscapes.</span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We
first wetted the paper and brushed in very pale winsor lemon and
permanent rose while not touching the blue/white bands along the
horiozon. In the next wet-on-wet layer, we did the same thing, this time, with cobalt blue where you see blues</span>.
We decided to deepen the colors slightly by doing the third wet-on-wet
layer, repeating the same color patterns. </span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Then we painted the headland on dry paper with the dark mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna</span>, pushing it more brown and slightly lighter along the horizon to suggest sea fog. <span style="font-weight: bold;">While the wash was drying, we continued to establish the rugged terrain of the headland with diagonal strokes</span>.
Try not to lose the initial mid-dark wash. Remember this is a tonalist
painting! Don't turn the whole headland shape into a black mess; think 3
and 4 in the value scale, not 1 (black) or 2 (near black).<br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">When the headland was dry, <span style="font-weight: bold;">I
decided to experiment by laying down a horizontal stroke of white
gouache over the horizon and headland to suggest sea fog shrouding the
view</span>. I put down the white and quickly softened the top and
bottom edges of the long stroke. Some headland serrated edges got
smeared, but I like the result. This is an optional step; don't do it if
you are unsure of your ability. You can easily ruin the painting that
is going well so far. <br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Let's finish the painting by adding a series of horizontal strokes to suggest the incoming waves.</span>
The colors are the same as the headland mixture, except lighter.
Sometimes we used it bluer; sometimes added a little alizarin crimson.
Some lines are darker. <span style="font-weight: bold;">There are two
bands of blues; the second band is where the dark reflection of the
headland begins. The bottom third of the painting has the big
reflections.</span> <br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The colors are the same as the headland's, except it's bluer than the headland color. Remember that<span style="font-weight: bold;">
if you don't overmix two colors, you can push it either way depending
on your need. Let it me one of the biggest gains from my class</span>. <br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Make sure the reflections are not too dark (you destroy the serene mood) or too light (you lose the impact)</span>. The edges should be uneven and</span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>a not solid, straight vertical line.</span></span> Make curvy strokes toward the bird.</span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The bird may be tiny, but it's very important in the design</span>.
If it had not been there in the reference, I would have invented it to
balance the massive mirror-image shapes of the headland and reflections
on the right side. It's a some kind of a coastal bird (sandpiper?).
Don't forget to paint the shadow. The color is the same as the
reflections and headland.</span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">That's it! Once again<span style="font-weight: bold;">, I want to thank you for your awesomeness!</span> </span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Here
is the past nine weeks in a nutshell. Most of you have come a long way,
blossoming from absolute beginners to intermediate watercolorists. I am
proud of all of you for your progress!</span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjemQpCGPMXAMdlpGNigGETM3rHm6djfANyIdBxrCn24CbFh15ILmb8WuBV-e1eAj_y2ZrvKTXPqGR43YSBZEb-0272WsnbCMDvr0NPZZWFrTdEfJ8IG3FeJUC5Bw9uxswwJPZw8H_9eJoI2CqEAfQW-1eCN7kUYyHIH7YmYRrL5OgZPO_fNb5asjPDjg/s3697/Waikiki%20Sunrise%20Small%20File.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2719" data-original-width="3697" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjemQpCGPMXAMdlpGNigGETM3rHm6djfANyIdBxrCn24CbFh15ILmb8WuBV-e1eAj_y2ZrvKTXPqGR43YSBZEb-0272WsnbCMDvr0NPZZWFrTdEfJ8IG3FeJUC5Bw9uxswwJPZw8H_9eJoI2CqEAfQW-1eCN7kUYyHIH7YmYRrL5OgZPO_fNb5asjPDjg/s320/Waikiki%20Sunrise%20Small%20File.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Waikiki Sunrise"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG3-M9LPKNdHVGLXgEOX6aycgI9A4kRkh9y5_M2b_2m3oAtOBa30f8QvH3QQedIjNnKVLDLrXfJpnM1jTpQWYk9ayO9MRh9xSfK9zVbHshjNPACbLZe4dmqJo7GHTZoI6BQ96FZy9ATPvwI57MK-St5DtU9znx24Tc2pCL6goaOMAnAQLOTstYVg41VQ/s4066/Zippy%20Zebra%20Small%20File.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3028" data-original-width="4066" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG3-M9LPKNdHVGLXgEOX6aycgI9A4kRkh9y5_M2b_2m3oAtOBa30f8QvH3QQedIjNnKVLDLrXfJpnM1jTpQWYk9ayO9MRh9xSfK9zVbHshjNPACbLZe4dmqJo7GHTZoI6BQ96FZy9ATPvwI57MK-St5DtU9znx24Tc2pCL6goaOMAnAQLOTstYVg41VQ/s320/Zippy%20Zebra%20Small%20File.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Zippy Zebra"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHy5_V0pT6cm7AXN2HQ7XlFT9CTwba3KZ4DDbrEq7Rs7l3V8OITqyDuAs6HLilZ8kBT5cHZjnfzzUGjQeVtIGNTkMWUmASor8g49Q00b77I_udU3zi-Limt2AfZDLUuhzZ0oXejiZQojh1D5FsofEDESZKS8_x2G0wFGjk-1tQ9TbFJ32IjojFeoH8pg/s3105/Mandarin%20Oranges%20Small%20File.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2976" data-original-width="3105" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHy5_V0pT6cm7AXN2HQ7XlFT9CTwba3KZ4DDbrEq7Rs7l3V8OITqyDuAs6HLilZ8kBT5cHZjnfzzUGjQeVtIGNTkMWUmASor8g49Q00b77I_udU3zi-Limt2AfZDLUuhzZ0oXejiZQojh1D5FsofEDESZKS8_x2G0wFGjk-1tQ9TbFJ32IjojFeoH8pg/s320/Mandarin%20Oranges%20Small%20File.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mandarin Oranges in Silver Bowl"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDcfsCEn_YsBPi26njjU4xI1tdNzjwEo-YlJymbp-p00NIxalZox_YYo0Om3t996Xi_P4wtQDXJDBNZAH62bOt-YOD4qdvNMU7omU4jzmrD3Q6clFlf-PynzO8SKJOjsRmdhZSc8IxfOXyPTWKpcqlIFzbm5VG360AlZ6KYvBxJ7DAA7dSoPSwT6brUg/s3742/Red%20Amaryllis%20Small%20File.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2776" data-original-width="3742" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDcfsCEn_YsBPi26njjU4xI1tdNzjwEo-YlJymbp-p00NIxalZox_YYo0Om3t996Xi_P4wtQDXJDBNZAH62bOt-YOD4qdvNMU7omU4jzmrD3Q6clFlf-PynzO8SKJOjsRmdhZSc8IxfOXyPTWKpcqlIFzbm5VG360AlZ6KYvBxJ7DAA7dSoPSwT6brUg/s320/Red%20Amaryllis%20Small%20File.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Red Amaryllis"</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv92AppJFSwVGEAVKM0h6gwasFB7v7zlIamEH6Q3dUtLxhG06bEPD6yHm8yhu6FarvWXCh2pMzbDX6-MduyIkTOwZFq-OZ1eE6sc4VQnye97Yf07wu_nT5SB0FwUGmEZs4bI5VnrqT7mRB0-RGeSwcRPve5A6v-xYVycj1dmuDR3S6ZY6yEh8iiCfzpg/s3724/Winter%20Shadows%20Small%20File.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3724" data-original-width="2773" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv92AppJFSwVGEAVKM0h6gwasFB7v7zlIamEH6Q3dUtLxhG06bEPD6yHm8yhu6FarvWXCh2pMzbDX6-MduyIkTOwZFq-OZ1eE6sc4VQnye97Yf07wu_nT5SB0FwUGmEZs4bI5VnrqT7mRB0-RGeSwcRPve5A6v-xYVycj1dmuDR3S6ZY6yEh8iiCfzpg/s320/Winter%20Shadows%20Small%20File.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winter Shadows"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtNv4tPF-JQjc2xjZwipVU0s5puCBNmK6IPLx2keeYC8RN3N-0KUFf6Dbo8Bb78PlYYu63w0TI2l0o-FK134lzRM8TqAtsAObkI558B5z2-nuOb-xl4PwEN9XroDwHc7w3P7g8oqj8jDzgsto_Ahz7bgjo7DS-LoEWf9ImzJuu2ZFxQjkoyQZz3DvcRw/s2722/Crocuses%20in%20Snow%20Small%20File.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2669" data-original-width="2722" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtNv4tPF-JQjc2xjZwipVU0s5puCBNmK6IPLx2keeYC8RN3N-0KUFf6Dbo8Bb78PlYYu63w0TI2l0o-FK134lzRM8TqAtsAObkI558B5z2-nuOb-xl4PwEN9XroDwHc7w3P7g8oqj8jDzgsto_Ahz7bgjo7DS-LoEWf9ImzJuu2ZFxQjkoyQZz3DvcRw/s320/Crocuses%20in%20Snow%20Small%20File.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Crocuses in Snow"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil4uIZI2yxi8-bk2u8N2LXgGmv0tn_WlADkpqBsGJkWpMoO3at-yiidXPhz8BLKc43NnI27Lrl87ZNn-jkS7V2ImqigXnq7WU6VkfjiT1iICOyIbqzpxXKxZsrJdz90lHJzPNYFBablAAEIgOYjXSYXUDvDYmw2xj2f_Mj_UDtubzVEqJ6LNOoCvgsww/s4119/Snowman%20and%20Red%20Barn%20Small%20File.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3030" data-original-width="4119" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil4uIZI2yxi8-bk2u8N2LXgGmv0tn_WlADkpqBsGJkWpMoO3at-yiidXPhz8BLKc43NnI27Lrl87ZNn-jkS7V2ImqigXnq7WU6VkfjiT1iICOyIbqzpxXKxZsrJdz90lHJzPNYFBablAAEIgOYjXSYXUDvDYmw2xj2f_Mj_UDtubzVEqJ6LNOoCvgsww/s320/Snowman%20and%20Red%20Barn%20Small%20File.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Snowman and Red Barn"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTXA2oRlcEW9aYih7pEhuOBaVRDFEhURu0zBk6AGo_iaY0cduhfqKQnkaGaAHvOO2I6DgyLmKkE5L_bjCJMMbfCNfC7EQKadzS0svVl8Zw0w36Ak5mCkBWVnITp2qJ6xw_-CfZFlqclQiwVC3yfRQvfDiamXNDeObScYJ8_20uMhS9giIglbNjtSwxw/s3709/Starry%20Sky%20Small%20File.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3709" data-original-width="2703" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTXA2oRlcEW9aYih7pEhuOBaVRDFEhURu0zBk6AGo_iaY0cduhfqKQnkaGaAHvOO2I6DgyLmKkE5L_bjCJMMbfCNfC7EQKadzS0svVl8Zw0w36Ak5mCkBWVnITp2qJ6xw_-CfZFlqclQiwVC3yfRQvfDiamXNDeObScYJ8_20uMhS9giIglbNjtSwxw/s320/Starry%20Sky%20Small%20File.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Starry Sky"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div align="left" class="yiv7450732900envelope" style="float: none;"><br /></div>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-63138965378413857232022-03-25T10:57:00.000-04:002022-03-25T10:57:06.262-04:00"Self-portrait in Suede Jacket" (watercolor on paper; 10" x 8")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMyuIQI2E7FBe99kbRyvfi0DhQV_uLGh5QDm9kdkSmT3rcfJzXnQW-2Q6RNISsjX3-r5_bTk6ZkcIM5oxggLeMpKRq1ncCCZ5iSW1PHOkPMM0cLX_llgS0H2VFAlyvqqRzQzNEOm9SOv7XJDYdqYveCUCDgZbW6llkm614qZfihVtcdRLg9ueruU2Vw/s3673/Self-Portrait%20in%20Swede%20Jacket%20Small%20File.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3673" data-original-width="2932" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMyuIQI2E7FBe99kbRyvfi0DhQV_uLGh5QDm9kdkSmT3rcfJzXnQW-2Q6RNISsjX3-r5_bTk6ZkcIM5oxggLeMpKRq1ncCCZ5iSW1PHOkPMM0cLX_llgS0H2VFAlyvqqRzQzNEOm9SOv7XJDYdqYveCUCDgZbW6llkm614qZfihVtcdRLg9ueruU2Vw/s320/Self-Portrait%20in%20Swede%20Jacket%20Small%20File.jpg" width="255" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Self-portrait in Suede Jacket"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The following is </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">what we did in the ninth week of the winter term,
2022 in my "Watercolor Portraits" class</span> (my online Zoom classes with the Art League School in
Alexandria, VA).</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I talked a great deal about various things, including my favorite watercolor portrait painter, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mary Whyte. Her book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Painting-Portraits-Figures-Watercolor-Whyte/dp/0823026736/ref=asc_df_0823026736/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312128059570&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=195094549265968445&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008123&hvtargid=pla-458030910446&psc=1">"Painting Portraits and Figures in Watercolor"</a>, should be on every watercolor portrait artist's bookshelf</span>.
Her greatest strengths, I believe, are her ability to control hard/soft
edges and her incredible sense of design. Her handling of details is
also breath-taking. Don't just say she has talent. No, it's the
prodigious amount of work she has put into her art that got her to her
level today!</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This week we are
working on a self-portrait</span>. I have chosen a rather challenging
project
of painting various different textures (felt, suede and straight hair), a
complicated geometric pattern, and a pair of glasses, which I wear all
the time. You don't have to naturally and do
whatever you can. <br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Many
past masters have painted themselves. Rembrandt and Vincent van Gogh
come to mind as they painted themselves repeatedly, for the lack of
money to hire models but, of course, for self-observation and
contemplation of their lives. If you have never done it before, you may
feel awkward. I myself used to dislike the whole self-portrait business,
but as part of this class assignments, I have done it a few times and I
am finally getting over my reluctance and actually beginning to enjoy
it. <span style="font-weight: bold;">One tends to have self-delusions and it's good to be honest with oneself once in a while</span>.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The painting process is the same whether you are painting yourself or someone else. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I always start with the "background" in wet-on-wet variegated wash. The goal is to create an ambience for the subject to sit comfortably and breathe the air</span>.
If your "background" is a dull gray or not in harmony with the rest of
the portrait, you kind of lost the game even before you start painting
the subject. Let's work on this issue further in the spring.<br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I
painted the felt hat and suede jacket using mainly granulating paints
such as Piemontite genuine, Moonglow, and ultrarine violet</span> to emulate the soft texture. <br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Painting the complicated pattern, such as my rain jacket, takes patience</span>,
but if you do it well, you can create lovely folds and gain the
viewer's admiration. Remember that white in shadow is not white!<br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My
hair is, of course, very different from any of yours. I have straight
hair and it's probably easier than painting, let's say, curly hair?
Either way, <span style="font-weight: bold;">the goal is softness and preserving highlights and going dark enough in the dark shapes</span>.
I showed you how using the right (warm) temperature in the mid-tones
made the hair look real. Again, I like to use granulating paints for
hair. You can use whatever colors.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The skin tones are always the hardest thing in a portrait</span>.
You ruin the skin tones, you ruin the portrait, no matter how well you
have painted the rest. There is no secret. The goal is likeness and even
if you have traced the image, you may have traced inaccurately or lost
the drawing </span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">of features in the process of painting. Then redraw. There are no excuses for the misplaced mouth or missing nostril. </span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Map out your highlights/mid-tones/darks accurately</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I almost always start out with the highlights, giving them a very pale wash of cobalt turquoise light</span>
(Winsor Newton). Human skin tones, except the dead, are warm. This
initial, barely visible cobalt turquoise layer and blues and violets you
will introduce later will counterbalance </span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">the relentless ruddiness of the skin tones.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yes, I use blue (cobalt blue) and violet (ultramarine violet) in the face</span>. The reds vary depending on the subject. For the self-portrait, <span style="font-weight: bold;">I used cadmium red and Sennelier helios purple</span>
(there is no substitute for this color; I really don't know why you are
so reluctant to include this lovely, indispensable color on your
palette). <span style="font-weight: bold;">For the dark reds, I used madder brown, perylene maroon, perylene violet, and Piemontite genuine</span> (in shadows). <br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The glasses went in last. <span style="font-weight: bold;">One has to be utterly careful in handling the glasses</span>. The portrait is about many things, but never about the glasses. It's there, but it's mostly suggested.<br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">By
the way, I don't necessarily tell you what colors to use in your
independent projects as we have to learn to see the colors and come up
with the right paints to render them through trial and error.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><br /></span></span></div>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-51559984013881115282022-03-20T11:39:00.000-04:002022-03-20T11:39:11.216-04:00"Waikiki Sunrise" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhukJi-2GoirL8yFWdfqZ6k34RFYu78Lj2cG2ql20GPPO4COs6mf5Q2ACVhTmyjBpbyz1I43frrYN5CFmKdStV_2Be7kZQWIqAZjNqj3m7fHoflkScnelPeG3wunxW78tWwOfNW4uky49frcfWkXH6QzE9pMu1BBdFXZtvf3sVqlzXzXClwMBybjIEXhQ/s3697/Waikiki%20Sunrise%20Small%20File.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2719" data-original-width="3697" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhukJi-2GoirL8yFWdfqZ6k34RFYu78Lj2cG2ql20GPPO4COs6mf5Q2ACVhTmyjBpbyz1I43frrYN5CFmKdStV_2Be7kZQWIqAZjNqj3m7fHoflkScnelPeG3wunxW78tWwOfNW4uky49frcfWkXH6QzE9pMu1BBdFXZtvf3sVqlzXzXClwMBybjIEXhQ/s320/Waikiki%20Sunrise%20Small%20File.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Waikiki Beach"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
following is the description of what we did in the eighth week of the
winter term, 2022 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">my online Zoom class with the Art League School
in Alexandria, VA). </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">So <span style="font-weight: bold;">what is this project about?</span>
It's about a controlled variegated wash, with which some of you are
having trouble. It's also about the value control, by which many of you
are haunted (this is the most important and hardest thing to master in
any painting medium, so take heart). It is also about preserving lights
while adding tones and texture (in the water).<br /></span></p><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">It's dawn on Waikiki Beach. The sun is rising just behind Diamond Head in Oahu. There is a hint of a blue sky. Overall, <span style="font-weight: bold;">the entire scene is permeated with glorious light</span>.
You destroy light in the water, you lose the painting. We masked the
half sun disk and some horizontal strokes in the water to preserve the
pure light, which is the white of the paper.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We
wetted the entire upper half of the painting and stroked around the sun
disk with winsor lemon, pale cadmium red and spread the lemon and cad
red along the horizon and up</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">We dried the paper, wetted it again and this time brushed in cobalt blue from the top and pulled it down</span>. <br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We dried the paper, wetted it again and strengthened the blue wash (the sky has to be blue enough)</span>,
stroked in very pale permanent rose above cad red arch (which created a
slight purple "color bridge" to connect red to blue). I also went over
the yellow sky above the horizon in the distance with the blue (which
created a slightly turquoise tone). <span style="font-weight: bold;">Everything is done subtly. You go overboard any of the strokes/tones/hues, you ruin the sky</span>. <br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
sky is almost half of the painting; so, when the sky is ruined, it's
game over. It's the same with the water, which is the hardest thing to
paint in this project. <span style="font-weight: bold;">In a painting, everything has to work; every square inch of the painting has to contribute to the end game, which is beauty (not perfection)</span>. An imperfect painting can be beautiful.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We
need the pale golden glow in the highlights of the water, so we wetted
the bottom half of the paper and brushed in pale winsor lemon</span>. We dried the paper. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Now it's time to paint the blues of the water</span> (reflection of the blue sky; some are quite dark, such as the reflections of the tall building on the left and some wavelets). <br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">We wetted the paper again and started dropping all three blues</span>:
ultramarine blue along the distant horizon and along the left edge with
the dark reflections and bottom right; winsor blue for much of the
water; and some cobalt blue here and there. Winsor blue may be the
"typical" ocean water color, but if you overdo it, it becomes acidic,
unbearably cold blue, and that why I infused warmer ultramarine blue and
cobalt blue to tone it down. Shadows are the mixture of
ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson or the darker mixture of winsor
blue and crimson. <br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Make sure you don't lose the pale lemon highlights</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Your strokes are not random; They should have a distinct shape of a flat triangular peaks</span>.
Don't make them round. Study the reference carefully. In every project,
study your still life, reference photo, or your view (if painting in
plein air). All the answers are there. If you screw up, it's either your
observation was not careful enough or your painting handling needs
practice.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">I kept making these strokes until I ran out of time. You will finish them on your own. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I removed the masking fluid and made some horizontal orange strokes </span>on the vertical "column" of brilliant highlight in the water.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> I also added some dots of white gouache to suggest the sparkles in the water</span>.
Use it thickly (but not straight out of the tube). Then I glazed over
them with very pale lemon. This is the technique the great masters like
Vermeer used extensively to make things glow in their oil paintings. <br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Finally,
we painted the sliver of the land shape at one go, starting right below
the sun disk with cad red and a little cad yellow pale</span>. White
the glowing red wash was still wet, I dropped the dark mixture of
ultramarine blue and burnt sienna to paint Diamond Head and tiny
buildings on the far horizon. <span style="font-weight: bold;">To the left of the sun disk, the tops of the buildings have more burnt sienna</span>
(this "redness" is all caused by the burning glow of the rising sun);
on the other hand, along the horizon (remember the horizon curves
slightly toward the left edge because of trees and such), I dropped more
ultramarine blue to make it darker.</span></div><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNzmfR_4LEZfR-qbM82uaJz52n5ZB7C1ztEc51ppA7HNIgux20MDDjPEJZelraHSzQgy_4kqgggDtp8TSuYkCWizr2zf3c-R3USQH0BlL67w0GjESwQatW8ORcDu8L_H-nqXmpgH1CNT9e-Nx36Bjw421FnbW4OXt57lu0901aMKfnv5oUplHyje-WeQ/s3882/Waikiki%20Sunrise%20Reference.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2972" data-original-width="3882" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNzmfR_4LEZfR-qbM82uaJz52n5ZB7C1ztEc51ppA7HNIgux20MDDjPEJZelraHSzQgy_4kqgggDtp8TSuYkCWizr2zf3c-R3USQH0BlL67w0GjESwQatW8ORcDu8L_H-nqXmpgH1CNT9e-Nx36Bjw421FnbW4OXt57lu0901aMKfnv5oUplHyje-WeQ/s320/Waikiki%20Sunrise%20Reference.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Waikiki Beach Reference"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /> <br /></span></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-4783746321174068842022-03-18T12:21:00.000-04:002022-03-18T12:21:13.112-04:00"Raven" (watercolor on paper; 12" x 9")<p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkx1_kTkXxq45fZATXZy-lgTupXcPEDpH--Ti2TaLJI-hUN77rQnlUcpmyT8FT3rUEoeSChM39ghiPFPQHoa5VgUz_Muq8_hR6tCMGC3UWm0fJsB6KBUGBcHOSyPePC6An-4LiUwDSXHLUrj9UC7OYlWMPsjmtE3ODltm8F0fF0tsClwhE70FFm_k7Q/s3750/Raven%20Small%20File.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3750" data-original-width="2844" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkx1_kTkXxq45fZATXZy-lgTupXcPEDpH--Ti2TaLJI-hUN77rQnlUcpmyT8FT3rUEoeSChM39ghiPFPQHoa5VgUz_Muq8_hR6tCMGC3UWm0fJsB6KBUGBcHOSyPePC6An-4LiUwDSXHLUrj9UC7OYlWMPsjmtE3ODltm8F0fF0tsClwhE70FFm_k7Q/s320/Raven%20Small%20File.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Raven"</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The following is </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">what we did in the eighth weeks of the winter term,
2022 in my "Watercolor Portraits" class</span> (my online Zoom classes with the Art League School in
Alexandria, VA).</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <br /></span></span></p><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lots of things were on
my mind (in addition to being dead tired), so I may have talked too
lengthily. My apologies. All the things I covered, I stand by them. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I talked about the importance of accurate measuring</span>
and showed you my work-in-progress (a 40" x 40" oil commission painting
of the National Cathedral from the north side) to prove that, <span style="font-weight: bold;">if you know how to measure with the aid of a proportional divider, you can draw anything</span>. <br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">If your drawing of the subject is wobbly, no matter how hard you work on the project, it will never turn out satisfactory</span>. I
once worked on a watercolor portrait commission, which required five
drawings and three paintings to satisfy the client and her three
teen-age/college age daughters. Why? Watercolor is a relatively unforgiving medium and you can't really correct once you start painting. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Please trace if you know your drawing is weak. There is absolutely no dishonor or shame in that</span>! Arches paper is not where you practice drawing; you do that in sketchbooks, if possible, daily.</span><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I also talked about the importance of the variegated background wash</span> that goes down first to set the tone. Wrong color choices and poor executions often lead to poor paintings.</span><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I introduced you to my contemporary watercolor hero, Shirley Trevena and her book, "Artist's Studio: Vibrant Watercolours"</span>.</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
(My dead watercolor hero would be John Singer Sargent, LOL.) Her style
is not everybody's cup of tea, but her colors and design sense are
absolutely divine. My palette is a modified version of hers. She doesn't
do portraits per se, but one must get inspirations from all manners of
artists, past and present, if you are really serious about your art.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For
the hair of "Raven", I used almost exclusively Moonglow and Piemontite
genuine (both by Daniel Smith). They both granulate and are effective in
achieving that soft Afro look without much ado</span>. Your black
subject will, of course, have different colors and require different paints. Always paint the overall lightest color first (in my case, the
mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna), then start carving
out dark shapes.<br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For the skin tones, I started out by toning the highlight shapes</span> (including the whites of the eyes and teeth) with a very pale cobalt turquoise light (Winsor Newton). <span style="font-weight: bold;">Then I pondered about the general color palette of the young woman and decided she has a lot of orange and mahogany</span> (reddish brown). I hardly used any burnt sienna. <br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I do feel strongly about, when painting black subjects, </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> avoiding the earth colors </span></span>which tend to mud up everything they touch. </span>The only exception may be mixing, let say, an earth color like burnt
umber with a transparent color such as Winsor violet, but what does that
dark mixture have to do with the human skin tones?</span></div><div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">So went in cadmium orange</span> (yes, I have it; I also have cadmium red orange; it beats having to mix them all the time!), <span style="font-weight: bold;">cadmium red, and my favorite cool red, Sennelier Helios purple</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">For darks, I used perylene maroon, perylene violet and ultramarine violet</span> (my favorite is by Schmincke, but it's very expensive!).</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">The rest is always the same. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Make the dental arch and eyes appear rounded by darkening the corners</span>.
Don't stain the teeth yellow even if they appear so in the reference;
you may have to model each tooth carefully (observation is the key as
anywhere else). <br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The brows are not caterpillars</span>;
they have volume and they should arch at the right places. They are not
of the same tone or hue as they travel, hugging along the brow ridge. <br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Be careful with the the nasolabial fold shapes</span>. If you want to ruin the expression of a portrait, this is where you concentrate first, LOL!</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Darks should be dark enough. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The black skin tones are generally dark in the first place, so you will need more layering to achieve the rich luminousity</span>.</span><br /></div><div><span style="color: #232333;"><br /><br /></span></div>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1859069984800717817.post-61541183383456705472022-03-13T10:36:00.003-04:002022-03-13T10:36:19.022-04:00"Zippy Zebra" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12")<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-K1T6jw4bDMwhdGyxfMz9OyLu_7oMvR_l1DWx6pFOpBm8adR77LEoK_wOWCJfAoA5y5GnYRPV5Qq3n3E-bU8I90RowexFPteb8bEDb4OD9lpjWXQamyf6oqKfeTJNlbGyF4ARLszzqZVVeGy5Dp4d2x91w32cX73HThfrVvBsDvqoHZDf8H7GZUczlw=s4066" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3028" data-original-width="4066" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-K1T6jw4bDMwhdGyxfMz9OyLu_7oMvR_l1DWx6pFOpBm8adR77LEoK_wOWCJfAoA5y5GnYRPV5Qq3n3E-bU8I90RowexFPteb8bEDb4OD9lpjWXQamyf6oqKfeTJNlbGyF4ARLszzqZVVeGy5Dp4d2x91w32cX73HThfrVvBsDvqoHZDf8H7GZUczlw=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Zippy Zebra"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
following is the description of what we did in the seventh week of the
winter term, 2022 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class (</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">my online Zoom class with the Art League School
in Alexandria, VA). </span></p><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">At
the beginning of the class, I shared my sample paintings for the spring
workshop ("Painting Sunsets in Watercolor") and for the summer workshop
("Painting Beach Figures in Watercolor). Please join me on <span style="font-weight: bold;">April 2 and 3</span> for <a href="https://www.theartleague.org/workshop/painting-sunsets-in-watercolor/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">the sunset workshop</span></a>, which is filling up fast! <br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
spring registration has begun. Please come back in the next term to
continue your watercolor journey with me. You guys, so many of whom are
beginners, are doing an amazing job! Here is <a href="https://www.theartleague.org/class/watercolor-from-start-to-finish-18/">the link for the "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class</a>; here is <a href="https://www.theartleague.org/class/watercolor-portraits-copy/">the link for the "Watercolor Portraits" class</a>, in case you want to move up a notch and challenge yourself even further!</span><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Next <span style="font-weight: bold;">we painted "Zippy Zebra"</span>. First, <span style="font-weight: bold;">we wetted the paper thoroughly and dropped cobalt blue, quinacridone gold and burnt sienna</span>.
This variegated wash should go down, not thoroughly mixed (then it's no
longer variegated!), but randomly to suggest green growths outdoors.
Keep the wash mid-tone, not light; use enough paints. If the wash turns
out too pale, you have to wet the entire negative space again and do the
second layer. The fortune never favors the wishy-washy wimps!<br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Then we gave a very pale gold wash in parts of the back to start "modeling" the form. <span style="font-weight: bold;">We talked a great deal about the meaning of "form (a three-dimensional thing) on a two-dimensional surface of the paper</span>. We painted long, narrow form shadow along the neck with the mixture of cobalt blue and a little cadmium red. <span style="font-weight: bold;">We also painted small form and cast shadows in various parts with the same mixture</span>. <br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Understanding
how to make a form look round through the correct rendering of
soft-edged form shadows (shadow, core shadow and reflected light) and
cast shadows (sometimes soft-edged, but usually hard-edged)</span> takes
a great deal of practice and years of experience! So take it easy, if
you having trouble controlling soft/hard edges. This is an advanced
stuff!<br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Last, but not least, <span style="font-weight: bold;">we
painted the stripes in the dark mixture of French ultramarine blue and
burnt sienna (this mixture is called Jane's Gray and it's an optical
black)</span>. Make sure the stripes are dark, not mid-tone. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Whenever
in doubt, take a picture of your work in progress, turn it into a
black-and-white image by desaturating it with your phone photo editor
app </span>(if you only scan your images, you will have to figure it out
somehow), and compare it with the reference. This is the fool-proof way
of self-critiquing, which is a very important skill to develop. <br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Be careful not to make the stripes to smooth-edged</span> in the body of the zebra. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Be also super careful to render the awesome mohawk hair along the spine to appear soft</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The top edge is more burnt sienna than just dark</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Apply some strokes along the edge to suggest the hair texture </span>(most textures should occur at the edges and not inside; this kind of texture is a lot more effective!)</span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="left" class="yiv3016967956envelope" style="float: none;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #232333;"></span></span><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Carry on painting the dark stripes in the head, paying extra attention to render eyes and the muzzle</span>,
which has quite a bit of burnt sienna at the central top area. Don't
obliterate the barely-noticeable nostrils and mouth opening that's
catching light. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Any portrait, either of a human or an animal, should show the anatomy of the subject</span>. </span></span></div><p><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #232333;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></p>Kim Stenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03726828063879403416noreply@blogger.com0