"Swedish Girl" (watercolor on paper; 12" x 9")

 

"Swedish Girl"

 

The following is what we did in the second week of the winter term, 2022 in my "Watercolor Portraits" class (my online Zoom classes with the Art League School in Alexandria, VA).

The main lesson of the day was painting a sepia value study of "Swedish Girl". We used only burnt sienna (my favorite is Daniel Smith) and cobalt blue. In the value scales, the value 10 is the white of the paper (highlights). The value 3 is as dark as it gets with the mixture of these two colors. The value 0 is black. The high-key paintings crowd around highlights and mid tones; the low-key paintings lack highlights and crowd around mid tones and darks. We won't be using ten values; you can do a convincing portrait with five or six values. Beginners' paintings often lack highlights and darks and remain in the mid-tone fest!

"Grayscales"

I first painted the background with the dark mid-tone variegated wash (slightly bluer on the left side) on thoroughly wet paper. After drying the paper, I wetted it again and did the same process. You do this until you are satisfied (in the above painting, I did three layers).

Then I started painting the subject with the lightest wash on dry paper, covering the entire area of the subject, except the lightest parts (highlights: right side of the face, sliver of the neck, top of the right-side hand/arm and the palm pad and top of the left-side arm). Don't make this first layer too dark and make it more brown than blue!

In between layers, dry the paper thoroughly. We are glazing, so paper should be bone dry. At each stage, I mixed a slightly darker batch by adding a little more of each paint; mix more than you think necessary (you don't want to run out of paint in the middle of the wash!). The skin tones are at best three layers; features, four layers. By the fifth layer, I got everything done, except the pupils, for which you can use black (I didn't). The some dark bits in the hair and in the features, itty bitty details around the trims of the blouse, and the triangular shape between the forearms are the darkest.

Below is the reference photo.

"Swedish Girl" Reference

"Provence Olive Grove" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12")

 

"Provence Olive Grove" (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 last week of the fall term, 2021 for my "Watercolor from Start to Finish" class.  

The lesson was "Inspired by Vincent van Gogh," the famous post-impressionist painter who doesn't need introduction. We painted the olive grove next to the Abbaye de Montmajour, near Arles, where van Gogh used to live. He drew the medieval monastic ruins many times. He probably painted the same olive grove with the distant Alpilles mountains in the background. We tried to channel van Gogh in watercolor, focusing on mark-making with a high-key, impressionist colors.

First, I drew the design with watercolor pencils. Then I painted the sky on dry paper with very pale Winsor lemon (along the mountains) and cobalt blue (from the top of the paper) and let the two colors merge. If the brush skipped the paper and left some white bits, so much better. There you go an instant cloud or two!

When the sky wash dried, I painted the distant mountains in a mid-tone purple mixture of cobalt blue and permanent alizarin crimson (adding a little quinacridone gold to neutralize the purple). While the mountain wash was drying, I painted the dry grass shape with a light gold wash, leaving some white bits. Then went in the distant plane (between the mountains and the olive grove) in the light green wash of cobalt blue and lemon.

The olive leaves were painted with the same mixture, perhaps slightly bluer (even with the two-color mixture, you can push it to one way or to the other). The gnarly olive tree trunks and branches were painted with the mid-tone mixture of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. The foreground bush was painted with light green and some yellow on top. Don't put this shape right in the middle, or make it too big, important and detailed! The purpose of the bush is to introduce some interest in the big foreground grass shape.

Now the painting is blocked in, it was time to break it down, add definitions, details, and brush strokes, and generally add busy marks in the style of Vincent. This was done with an increasingly deeper versions of the first colors, making sure we don't go too dark, maintaining a high-key feeling.

For the grass, I used a rigger brush, which made different marks. The shadows of the trees that indicate the time of the day (late afternoon) and the flat terrain were painted with the purple mixture of ultramarine blue and crimson.

I don't think I painted like van Gogh at all. Busy brush strokes are not my cup of tea! It was a fun project though. Below are the reference and my sample painting (at the bottom of the post). 

 

"Provence Olive Grove" Reference

Here is a quick look at what we have covered in just nine weeks. I am planning lots of fun projects for the winter term. The winter registration for my online "Watercolor from Start to Finish" is open; here is the link for the class.

"Fall Trees" (watercolor, 12" x 9")

"Sunflowers" (watercolor, 9" x 9")

"Peggy's Cove Lighthouse" (watercolor, 12" x 9")

"Red on Red" (watercolor, 9" x 12")

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

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

"Siberian Tiger" (watercolor, 9" x 12")

"Annie" (watercolor, 12" x 9")

"Provence Olive Grove" (watercolor, 9" x 12")

"Annie" (watercolor on paper; 12" x 9")

"Annie" (watercolor, 12" x 9")

 

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

First, I finished "Siberian Tiger" by glazing using the same colors as the last week to make the painting more vibrant and model the form a little bit.

 

"Siberian Tiger" (pen and watercolor, 9" x 12")

 The main business of the day was painting "Annie" in sepia. To make sepia, we used only burnt sienna (my favorite is Daniel Smith) and cobalt blue. The below is the value scales and color swatches I made to test values. The value 1 is the white of the paper (highlights). The value 7 is as dark as it gets with the mixture of the two colors. The value 9 is black.  

"Values Scales and Color Swatches"

Many beginners have trouble reading values and translating them into colors. By using a sepia (or black and white) reference, we can remove the puzzle; by using only one neutral color (sepia in this case), we can remove the difficulty of reading colors in values. This value exercise is invaluable and used by many instructors. We are trying a portrait, which is a whole new ball game with its snares and pitfalls, but here we go. You can do it!

I first painted the background wet on wet with the value 3 wash (slightly bluer than the subject). When the paper dried, I started with the lightest wash, covering the entire area of the subject, except the lightest parts (highlights, including the catch light of her left eye). Don't make this layer too dark!

In between layers, dry the paper thoroughly. We are glazing, so paper should be bone dry. At each stage, we mixed a slightly darker batch; mix more than you think necessary. By the fourth layer, we got everything done, except the pupils. The darkest bits in the face are usually the upper lash lines, nostrils, and the line between lips. The pupils are black (or near black in this case).

The biggest challenge in a value study is to read values correctly, of course. With a soft and round face of a young girl, it is not easy, but I believe the exercise forces you to be decisive in your value reading. Do your best to preserve the white of the paper for the highlights at the beginning and don't forget to put in some darks at the end. As you can see, the majority of the painting was done in mid-tones. Most paintings require five to six values and you rarely need full nine scales. Without the highlights and darks, however, the painting will lose its impact.

Let's revisit "Holmes Run Rocks" of three weeks ago. I turned my class demo into a black and white and it still reads, doesn't it? From now on, if you are having trouble reading the values of your reference or your work in progress, do the same. Things will be much clearer to you! 

"Holmes Run Rocks in Black and White"

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

"Emelia Rigl in Sepia" (watercolor on paper; 12" x 9")

I decided to blog about my online Zoom classes with the Art League School. This is what we did in the second week of the fall term for my "Watercolor Portraits" class. We worked on a sepia value study of "Emelia Rigl," who was a New York stage actress in the 1870's. Below is the reference photo for the project.

The first order of the day was do a demo of a three-quarter female portrait drawing, using "Emelia Rigle" as the reference. My drawing below doesn't quite look like her, but hey, you get the idea. (There is too much information to give you a short summary, so please watch the recording to get to the bottom of the business!) At the bottom is the demo drawing.

Then we started the main lesson of the day. We used only burnt sienna (my favorite is Daniel Smith) and cobalt blue. In the value scales, the value 1 is the white of the paper (highlights). The value 7 is as dark as it gets with the mixture of these two colors. The value 9 is black (for the pupils). The high-key paintings crowd around highlights and mid tones; the low-key paintings lack highlights and crowd around mid tones and darks. We won't be using nine values; you can do a convincing portrait with five or six values.

I first painted the background with the mid-tone wash (slightly bluer on the left side). After drying it thoroughly, I started with the lightest wash, covering the entire area of the subject, except the lightest parts (highlights, including the catchlight of her left eye). Don't make this layer too dark and please make it more brown than blue!

In between layers, dry the paper thoroughly. We are glazing, so paper should be bone dry. At each stage, I mixed a slightly darker batch by adding a little more of each paint; mix more than you think necessary. The skin tones are four layers. By the fifth layer, I got everything done, except the pupils, for which you can use black. The hair and black ribbons are the next darkest.

Below is my sample painting. We did an exit poll on which version you like better: the demo or the sample. We all liked the first one (demo); it's punchier!