"Great Falls Rapids" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12")

 

"Great Falls Rapids"

 

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 (my online Zoom class with the Art League School in Alexandria, VA).

This week we painted rocks and rapids with "Great Falls Rapids". 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, there are three big shapes of the sky, trees, and rocks/water. 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).

So, first we wetted the sky thoroughly and evenly and painted it in cobalt blue in graded wash. 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.

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 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 instead of coming forward.

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). We used the largest round brush we can handle for the tree shape.

While the wash was still damp, we quickly brushed in the dull blue green mixture of ultramarine blue and gold, making sure this front stack was lighter (more water and less paint!). If you are quick enough, you will end up with the soft blurring between the two stacks of trees.

While this front stack was still damp, I decided to brighten the wash by charging (dropping) Winsor lemon into the wash (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.

Now the fun and excitement of painting rocks and water began. That rocks are hard and water is not is what you have to remember. 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.

First, we painted the rocks, then water. 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. As long as you don't mix the three colors completely, you can paint the same light-value, first wash in subtly changing colors!

For the mid-tone planes and dark crevices and cracks, I used two different dark mixtures: the first mixture of ultramarine blue, alizarine crimson and gold and the second Jane's Gray mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. Remember that the rocks are not only hard-edged, but also round objects with volume. Think mass/planes, not lines. Otherwise, you will have a bunch of flat-shaped, busy-looking thingies. Also don't paint over all the light-value, first wash shapes. They are the highlights. Think light, mid-tone, and darks to create the rocks with hard outer edges, but with voluminous mass.

Make sure you don't accidentally paint over the white water shapes. 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. If you get tired because this may take a while, take a break or finish the painting another day.

For the water shapes, we switched to Winsor blue as the base blue; 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. Leave plenty of white shapes to suggest white water. 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.

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. Be one's own constructive critique without the destructive self-talk. Be kind to oneself, but be objective to oneself as well.

"Great Falls Rapids Class Demo in Progress"

"Storm Moving In" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12")

"Storm Moving In" (watercolor, 9" x 12)

 

I decided to blog about my online Zoom classes with the Art League School in Alexandria, VA. This is what we did in the sixth week of the fall term, 2021 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class.

The first business this week was finish "Holmes Run Rocks". First, we painted the first layer of the rocks and pebbles with the mixture of quinacridone gold and a little bit of purple (cobalt blue and crimson). Make sure you paint around the sun-struck highlights (if you lose the white of the paper, you lose the game!). If necessary, draw the pebble shapes first, then paint around them.

We started the second stage with the big tree shape using the dotty pointillist method of applying paints. I used three tones: the light tone green (Winsor lemon and cobalt blue), the mid-tone green (cadmium yellow pale and ultramarine blue), and the dark tone (ultramarine blue and permanent alizarine crimson). The tree trunks and branches were painted with the mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna (this is called Jane's Gray).

Then, we moved on to the rocks and pebbles with the dark shadow tone of cobalt blue/ultramarine blue and crimson. We have already established the mid-tone in the first stage. You will see the rocks and pebbles suddenly emerging before your eyes!

The final touch that brought the painting together was the glazing of the big water shape. We wetted the shape first, then dropped the mid-tone mixture of gold and burnt sienna. Quickly we painted in the reflected shadows of the trees and the submerged pebbles with the purple mixture of ultramarine blue and crimson. If your paper is too wet, whatever you put down will fuzz into the water!

"Holmes Run Rocks Demo" (watercolor, 12" x 9")

As you can see my demo painting above looks a little different from my sample painting below. Which one do you like better?

"Holmes Run Rocks" (watercolor, 12" x 9")

The main business of this week was painting a triptych, "Storm Moving In". The first image below is the reference photo I took on Assateague Island. Instead of painting from it as is, I cut it up into three unequal pieces, moved them around until I found a pleasing design, which is the second image. Basically, I placed the tall left panel in the right side and put the two divided right panel pieces in the left for the heck of it!

Anything that moves (in this case, a seagull in flight) becomes the center of interest, which happens to fall in the sweet spot of the picture (one quarter way down from the top and one quarter way in from the left edge; there are four potential sweet spots in a picture, by the way). The tall right panel is now the anchor; the two smaller panels on the left are not of the equal size.

"Storm Moving In Original Reference"

"Storm Moving In Reference Reimagined"

Making sure the horizons are straight and at the same level, and at right angle to the side edges of the paper, we drew them with the help of a ruler/straight edge. Then, we divided the picture with a 1/2"-wide washi tape (not so tacky tape) into three small paintings that cohere.

We started the painting with the right long panel. First we wetted the paper and painted the glowing sky shape and the glowing wet sand shape with the pale mixture of Winsor lemon and cadmium red pale. When the paper was dry, we wetted the paper again and dropped the blues in the clouds and the ocean waves with the blue mixture of cobalt blue and burnt sienna. The dark sand shape was painted in the mid-dark tone of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

When the first layer (which took two separate steps to avoid contaminating the alternating shapes) was dry, we glazed each shape with a little darker mixtures to create edges and drama. We will pick up from here next week!

"Storm Moving In Demo in Progress" (watercolor, 9" x 12")