Tall grass flourishes in Center Cemetery, obscuring the old gravestones scattered among the tall fir trees. It’s a quiet place, long forgotten and abandoned to nature. I found it quite peaceful. The shadows beneath the fir trees drew my eye, so I tried to capture the feeling of light and shadow.
Who remembers the dead? Read More »
Painting can be lonely. Laboring away at a painting all by yourself, with no one who understands, can feel isolating. But last Thursday and Friday I painted with about 25 members of Plein Air Washington Artists (PAWA) at Dosewallips State Park on Hood Canal. Most of us camped at the campground where we met for our throwdown (daily art show) and a potluck. It was great to be with people who are excited by the same things I’m excited about.
My best painting was Friday morning. I walked out the clammers’ trail to the tide flats where I saw a lone tree with character. This tree was painted by many other painters in our group.
Later I walked way out onto the tide flats at low tide where probably a hundred people were scattered, digging clams. I made a value painting to get the lights and darks established, then I made a colored painting. The value sketch is good, but the watercolor is disappointing.
On Thursday afternoon, I drove about six miles up the Dosewallips River Road, where I found the river pouring through a narrow gorge next to the road. Although it was a blazing hot afternoon, I found some shade and made my painting. I like the drama of the light and dark areas.
Painting with friends Read More »
I was challenged to raise my level of painting last week when I attended Eric Wiegardt’s four day watercolor workshop in Long Beach, Washington. Every morning and afternoon, Eric painted a demonstration painting for the twenty-two participants, and gave us enough time to paint the same scene after he did. At 3:30 each day we gathered for a critique of of our paintings. Watching over the shoulder of a master painter is the best way to learn how to paint.
Eric is that rare combination of a great painter and a great teacher. He says there are three goals of a painting. 1. Attract the eye to the painting from a distance. 2. Carry the eye throughout the picture plane. 3. Bring the eye to the area of dominance and hold it there as long as possible.
To achieve the first goal, he uses a few connected shapes and a limited number of values (three to five values are sufficient). He often begins a painting by boldly sweeping in the middle values. Then he moves to the darker values, and last of all he puts in the light values (usually the sky and water). He brings the eye to the area of dominance by increasing the use of detail, color, lines, etc., as he gets near the area of dominance.
That constitutes the majority of his teaching. He keeps it simple and avoids confusing his students with lots of rules or guidelines. Use a big brush, keep your shapes interesting and connected, keep your values clean and limited, keep your paint fresh, and use details only as necessary. Those general guidelines will lead to a good painting.
For his first demo, Eric painted the dramatic cliffs at Cape Disappointment (below). Notice how he’s not bothered by drips and runs in the painting. They make the painting more connected and harmonious as the colors run together.
Here’s my attempt to capture the same scene.
On our second day, we painted an old wooden sailboat in the Ilwaco City Harbor. Eric let the colors of the sailboat run down into the water so that the boat’s reflection was connected to the boat.
In my first two attempts, I didn’t use enough water in my paintbrush, so the sailboat looked pasty and dry. On my third attempt, I finally got the paper wet and used lots of water in my brush. Success!
On the third day of the workshop, Eric brought us to the historic community of Oysterville. It was a hot, sunny day, so he chose to paint a copse of roses on a picket fence in a shady lane. It seemed like a complicated subject, but he wasn’t intimidated. He began with wet washes of red, followed by green washes that partially overlapped the red, giving a rich mix of colors for the roses which were still undefined. He cautions against defining your subject too early. He then cut in darker values to bring out the roses, and finally added detail to the roses in his area of dominance.
I gamely tried the same subject and was pleasantly surprised to see the red and green washes mix together to produce a rich color. At the critique, Eric suggested that I outline the roses in my area of dominance and add some detail to them. This helped a lot
On our last day, we visited the Port of Nahcotta, a working port for the oyster dredges in Willapa Bay. Eric painted the Tokeland, a historic oyster dredge sitting on blocks in a corner of the port. He began by wetting the paper front and back, then he painted the outlines of the boat in yellow, using the brush only (no pencil marks). Then he added the mid-tones in the boat’s hull, allowing them to run down and mix together.
I wet the paper and i was pleased to see the washes running down like Eric’s. Pretty happy with this painting.
Our group of painters developed a great sense of camaraderie during the workshop as we all struggled to put Eric’s teaching into practice. On Wednesday evening, we were invited to the home of Kathryn Murdock, who pampered us with a delicious dinner of appetizers, spanakopita, salad and dessert. On Thursday evening, several of us gathered at Oysterville Sea Farms for a tantalizing bowl of chowder on the deck overlooking Willipa Bay. It was a great week together.
Review of Eric Wiegardt watercolor workshop July 9-12, 2024 Read More »
Last Thursday morning I drove to Marrowstone Island near Port Townsend. Marrowstone Island seems like a throwback to a quieter time. The old farms still give the place a bucolic feel, the traffic is sparse, and the pace is slow.
I stopped at the Nordland Store, which faces the harbor filled with sailboats lying to their anchors. An old dock and shellfish processing shed on pilings caught my eye, and I found a shady place on the beach to paint the boats, pilings, and sheds. I spent a pleasant hour an a half making this painting.
Marrowstone Island Read More »
On Friday I drove to Dabob Valley near Quilcene to make a painting. I found a good subject, made a pencil sketch, set up my easel, and got ready to paint. No palette! I had left my palette and all my paints back in the studio. Feeling a little foolish, I drove home and made the painting from memory and the photos I took. Perhaps the painting was better because of it.
My memory of the valley includes a series of ridges receding into the distance, all covered with scraggly fir trees. I set a barn in the valley to provide a pop of red color.
While I was at it, I made a second painting from memory. This is Dabob Bay looking toward the Olympic Mountains. I made up the boat in the water and the red skiff on the beach.
Painting from memory Read More »