Tuesday Watercolour Class – Week Ten

Spring is over in Southern Ontario and the cold, wet and windy weather we’ve been suffering makes me think that summer has been cancelled. I hope not. Anyway, last Tuesday was the final day of Spring term at my studio. I wanted a colourful and relatively simple still life and opted for this bowl of fruit.

Simplicity was the theme for my demonstration, as well. I light the still life with a lamp, which is directly above it. That illuminates the upper area of the various objects.  With that in mind, I suggested that the core shadows be kept simple and strong.

We’ve had great energy in the morning and evening classes. Many of the newer students, in particular, have come a long way with their watercolour painting and, in general, everyone did very well. Congratulations to all and thanks for making Spring term a positive creative experience.

That’s all very well but what about this summer? Maybe, I can help. I’m offering three wonderful plein air watercolour holidays/workshops this July and August. All are confirmed. Plein Air Toronto is full with a waiting list but I have room for you on Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick and in the Cotswolds region of England. Check them out and treat yourself to an unforgettable art vacation in a beautiful locale with good company.

PLEIN AIR TORONTO
July 8 – 12, 2013
Waiting list but don’t be deterred. Cancellations happen.

GRAND MANAN ISLAND, NEW BRUNSWICKJuly 28 – August 3, 2013
A few spots left.

COTSWOLDS, ENGLAND
August 8 – 18, 2013
A few spots left.

Tuesday AM Critique

Tuesday PM Critique

 

 

Tuesday Watercolour Class – Week Nine

More colour! Last week, we painted stuffed animals and they were a fairly colourful subject but these cans and pitchers really sing. I asked the students what the two still lifes shared in common, other than colour. It was a bit of a trick question as the soft toys appear to be completely different than the metal containers.

Component shapes was my answer. The objects could be painted in terms of their distinct, individual shapes (handle, spout, etc.). Maybe, my demonstration will make this idea more clear. I painted the little pitcher a different colour in each area. I could have painted it all yellow but I still would have analyzed it in terms of it’s component shapes.

This approach to the demonstration also allowed me to discuss colour mixing and simplification of form.

Here’s what happened! Everyday objects made into cheerful watercolour paintings. Nice pitchers, eh?

Tuesday AM Critique

Tuesday PM Critique

Tuesday Watercolour Class – Week Eight- Teddy Bear Picnic!

Spring is here and it felt like time for a picnic! The stuffed animals were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the food and they stayed still long enough for us to paint them.

I suggested that the students look for ways to simplify the toys into their component shapes (legs, paws, faces, ears, etc.). Each shape could then be painted using a soft-edge approach. I also stressed a ‘light to dark’ and ‘big to small’ approach. For example, the larger shape of the face is painted first and the darker eyes, nose and mouth are painted last.

Many of the students enjoyed the subject but seemed to find it a bit daunting. Adversity often brings out the best in us, though, and we had some very colourful and playful results.

Tuesday AM Critique

Tuesday PM Critique

Tuesday Watercolour Class – Week Seven – Child’s Play!

Well, maybe these pails and shovels are child’s play for little kids at the beach but this still life posed some tough problems for the watercolour painters. One student described it as “fiendishly difficult”.

Drawing seemed to be the biggest concern with the rakes and shovels being the main culprits. I left my pencil lines quite dark. You might be able to see them well enough to understand my analysis of these objects.

Undaunted, the students waded through sand and surf, with their buckets full of colour and imagination, and made some very exciting sand castles…er, paintings.

Tuesday AM Critique

Tuesday PM Critique

 

Tuesday Watercolour Class – Week Six – Nice Buns!

The baked goods are relatively simple forms so I paired them with the checked basket and cloth. They add some visual interest and colour to the still life.

I discussed some basic watercolour guidelines such as ‘light to dark’ and ‘big to small’. It never hurts to have a reminder about these principles. The seeds on the bagels are a more specific challenge. I created the lightest, white seeds by using criss-cross strokes of my brush as I applied the first wash, avoiding small areas of dry paper which became light seeds. The darker seeds were the last addition. Big to small and light to dark.

It may not seem obvious from the results but a lot of the students struggled with the subject. There’s nothing wrong with adversity. I’ve been struggling with watercolour for decades!

Tuesday AM Critique

Tuesday AM Critique

 

Tuesday Watercolour Class – Week Five – Watermelon!

Spring is definitely here but we’ve had a lot of grey, overcast days. A colourful still life, with a picnic-like feel to it, inspired the Tuesday students yesterday.

Watermelon is fun to paint but the perspective of the slices can be tricky. It’s a bit like drawing boats. As I almost always do, I started my drawing with straight lines and I find that helps a lot with a challenge like foreshortened watermelon slices.

The green skin of the round melon was painted with a graded wash, lighter in the upper area and darker lower down in the shadowy area. When it dried, I added the stripes and I darkened them as well in the lower part of the melon.

I bought seedless melons but how can you paint a watermelon without it’s black seeds? They add a sense of detail and the contrast draws the eye into the red fruit.

The students put a lot of thought into their compositions. We’ve talked quite a bit lately about the importance of thumbnail studies and it’s paying off. Also, I continue to emphasize the importance of the ‘figure/ground’ relationship. In other words, choose a colour for the background that works with all of the other elements in the painting.

The work looks great. Bright and cheerful; just like a spring day

Tuesday AM Critique

Tuesday PM Critique

 

Tuesday Watercolour Class – Week Four – Pots!

I like to mix up the still lifes from week to week. These terra cotta objects are very classical looking and make a nice contrast to the soft forms of the baseball caps from last Tuesday and Saturday.

The ‘figure-ground’ relationship was the subject of my morning and evening demonstrations. How can we maximize the relationship between the objects and the surrounding areas of the painting? What is the best colour choice for the ‘background’? Can we create a quality of light? So many questions.

I suggested, as I do over and over again, that the students start thinking about these considerations while doing their thumbnail sketches.

The response was very rewarding. The Tuesday students gave a lot of thought to their compositions and colour choices and some lovely work was the result.

Tuesday AM Critique

Tuesday PM Critique

 

Sustained Saturday – Watercolour Plus!

I rearranged and added some new ball caps to the pile for the Sustained Saturday students. You may recall these caps from last Tuesday’s classes.

My talk and demonstration covered the same general topics. Simplification of form and soft edge techniques were the main focus. Again, we discussed some different ways to approach this challenging subject.

If you’ve followed the Sustained Saturday posts, you may have noticed that there is almost always a pen and ink drawing surrounded by the watercolour paintings. The dedicated pen and ink artist is Trish Leacock. She had to leave a bit early yesterday so I thought it was time to feature her drawing. Trish uses cross-hatching to gradually develop the values in her drawings and, as you can see, she also enjoys to play with her design.

BALL CAPS
by Trish Leacock

Hard to believe but that’s the last Sustained Saturday until the Fall term. As May rolls around, most people are preoccupied with gardening and cottages so I don’t usually offer any Saturdays after the end of April.

I’ll miss the enthusiasm, energy and good humour of the Saturday regulars. I’ll miss their solid watercolour paintings, as well.

Sustained Saturday Critique

Tuesday Watercolour Class – Week Three – Caps!

It’s baseball season so out came the caps! Last week, I touched on thumbnail studies and reminded the students yesterday of how important they are to an artists’ process.

Here’s a thumbnail sketch of the cap still life. It’s done in pen and ink in my 5 x 7″ sketchbook.  Three steps are shown here.

1) SKETCH – My preliminary lines, all straight, are done in orange ink. I then refined the drawing, using curved strokes, with black ink.

2) FRAME – I’ve zoomed in and decided on a vertical composition. The proportions are about 3 x 4, the same as most watercolour pads, blocks and sheets.

3) SHADE – I’ve shaded with hatching; parallel strokes. Studying and simplifying the shadows in this thumbnail is a great help when it comes to the watercolour painting.

It’s time for the watercolour demonstration. Again, I stressed simplification and soft edge techniques. I also distributed artistic licenses. The students were encouraged to use whichever colours they desired with their caps.

Sometime, during the night, my blog had it’s 80,000th view. Thanks, as always, for supporting me with your likes and comments and by following our endeavours. Now, here’s what you really want to see….the student watercolours.

Tuesday AM Critique

Tuesday PM Critique

 

 

Tuesday Watercolour Class – Week Two – Pears

The Saturday class ate the last still life so I had to pick up a new batch of pears for Tuesday. Well, the Saturday pears wouldn’t have lasted. Pears are a classic painting subject but they do tend to ripen quickly.

I decided to review a few thoughts about thumbnail sketches. I like to start with a drawing in my sketchbook. I didn’t draw the entire still life but focused on an area that interested me.

The next step was to consider my composition and for that I needed a frame of reference. I keep some black paper corners in the studio and played with them until I found a vertical composition.

This composition is roughly 4 x 3 in proportion. Many of the pads and blocks we use are in the same proportion; 9 x 12, 12 x 16, 18 x 24. At this stage, I like to do a bit of shading with my pencil. It helps me to understand how light is falling on the forms and to create an interesting pattern. Obviously, I haven’t shaded this yet. I wanted to show you the light, planning lines of my pencil drawing. More about light and shadow next time!

Browse through art books and magazines and it doesn’t take long to discover that most artists stress the importance of strong composition and recommend thumbnail studies as a key element of the painting process.

So why do so many art students (and artists) resist making thumbnail sketches? Many feel that they take too much time or drain some of their creative energy prior to painting. With practice, however, an artist will develop their own personal ‘shorthand’, a way of doing thumbnails that works for them and, ultimately, leads to stronger and more expressive compositions.

It’s time to showcase the work of the Tuesday students. What do you think?

Tuesday AM Critique

Tuesday PM Critique