March didn’t exactly come in like a lion but it’s still been fairly cold and gray. Our colourful apples look very cheerful but, as simple as they seem, the students often find them to be a challenge.
The usual comment is that they are so smooth and perfect that there is no margin for error. Every wash has to be immaculate. Well. One way to get over that is to use a flat angled brush and a swatch-like approach to the watercolour painting.
I used yellow and the white of the paper for the lightest areas in my demonstration. Cobalt Blue was used as a light middle tone. I made, and added, a slightly darker middle tone by adding a bit of Rose Madder Quinacridone to the Cobalt Blue. I’ve created a kind of value study in cool and warm colours.
Most of the students followed, more or less, the same process. Once, the values had been developed in blue and yellow, local colour (such as green in a green apple) was introduced.
It’s a demanding exercise. Almost everyone was surprised at how quickly the images developed and many of the students completed two, or even three, studies in our three hour classes.
Tuesday AM Critique
Tuesday PM Critique
Tags: Barry Coombs, Canada, Ontario, still-life painting, Studio Classes, Toronto, Toronto watercolour classes, value study, watercolor, watercolor demonstration, watercolour demonstration, watercolour painting
Barry Coombs Art Workshops 
06/03/2013 at 3:22 pm |
Great demo, and a fabulous display of student work. I love the mosaic feel of the flat brush approach.