A couple of Kitsap scenes
These two watercolors are of scenes near my home.
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Watercolors
Painting the marsh
In his demo last week, Eric Wiegardt painted a marsh on Willapa Bay. He emphasized the importance of adding a complementary color to a background wash to make it come alive. The actual color isn’t as importance as the vibration that comes from the two colors together. In his painting, he started with a yellowish wash, then he added strokes of purple, the complement. In this painting, he also showed how to use the mop brush with its bristles splayed out to make the texture for the trees and the grasses.
I made a copy of his painting, then I made another painting from my photo of a marsh on Brownsville Road.
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Snow Creek farm series
For my homework for last Saturday’s watercolor class with Eric Wiegardt, I painted a farm I visited a couple of summers ago on Snow Creek near Discovery Bay. I wanted to show the hills behind the barn as misty, cloud-draped shapes, and keep the barn and silo as my center of interest. I wasn’t satisfied with my initial attempts, so I kept trying. I did a series of eight paintings all together. Here’s my best attempt and a photo of a bunch of the others.
Eric commented that this watercolor has good separation of values (light grass and dark trees), and he liked the lines showing the curve on the road. He liked the way the green tree color fades into the right side of the shed in the front, and he suggested that I add some color into the shadows of the barn. These gray shadows need to be warmed up with color from the grass.
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Winter barn scene
In my last post, I showed three value studies I painted of a winter scene. I took the third one and developed it into a more complete painting. I used only three colors: ultramarine blue, burnt umber, and raw sienna. I think the composition as a whole works well.
Value studies from Claude Croney
I just bought a used copy of a book published in 1981 by the watercolor artist Claude Croney. In the book, he emphasizes using good abstract composition when creating a painting. In other words, the design should have a good composition regardless of the subject matter. I made three value studies based on his thumbnail sketches. These are small paintings, 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches.
In the first one, you can see that the dark line of trees and bushes leads the eye from the right side to the barn, the focal point. The slash of blue beneath it brings the eye back to the right side to start the path again.
In the second study, the eye is drawn upward to the barn by the strong vertical shape in the lower part of the painting. The dark shape to the left of the barn holds it in place, so that the painting has an inverted ‘L’ shape.
In the third painting, The dark shape in the foreground (it might be a stump) starts the eye around a circle shape that leads the eye to the barn.
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Colorado ranch scene
I was in La Junta, Colorado, for my mother’s funeral last week. It was good to be with my whole family and celebrate my mother’s good and long life (she died a few days short of her 103rd birthday).
While I was there, I made a couple of paintings of a scene near La Junta. Last April I painted some ranch buildings located near the highway about five miles south of town. This time I took that plein air painting and tried to improve on it by lowering the horizon and painting a dramatic sky. My first painting is 7 x 11 inches. The second one is 11 x 15 inches. I like these paintings, although it seems like there’s an awful lot of raw sienna (tan) in them.
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First Avenue street scene
When we were in Seattle in September for the Van Gogh Experience, I took a photo of First Avenue as we walked to the show. Today I made a painting from that photo. My first attempt was a bit clumsy, so I tried again.
For this painting, I stood at the easel so that I had a free sweep of my arm. I wet the back of the paper which helps keep the surface moist and allows he washes to blend for a longer period of time, and I used a big mop brush. That seemed to help.
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Oyster company dock
In Eric Weigardt’s watercolor class last Saturday, he painted a demo painting of an oyster company’s dock. I painted a small copy (7 x 10 1/2 inches) yesterday, and painted two larger copies (11 x 15) today. Eric emphasized the single-point perspective that draws the eye to the figures, and the washes on the side of the buildings. These washes are made up of blue, yellow, and red to give a rainbow effect. I think my first, smaller painting was my best. I’m trying to use big washes and stay loose.
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Abstract painting of marsh grass
Our assignment in watercolor class this week is to paint an abstract image of marsh grass. Our instructor, Eric Weigardt, emailed the class a demonstration video, showing how to paint from a photo of marsh grass. He talked as he painted, explaining his thinking and his technique. He used a big mop brush, splaying out the bristles before picking up paint from his palette.
The idea is not to make a literal painting of marsh grass, but to show the pattern of values and colors that give the feel of marsh grass.
I’ve painted this image six times now. It’s a lot harder than it looks. My paintings tend to be muddy and I lose the overall pattern. Below is my best effort so far, with an earlier attempt below that.
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Watercolors are hard
In preparation for my watercolor class with Eric Weigardt last Saturday, I painted a scene from a photo I took at the Petersburg, AK, harbor. The photo shows a fisherman’s warehouse on pilings, with the tide flats in front. In designing the painting, I thought it needed something of interest in the foreground, so I added a figure and a couple of boats. I painted the first version on Monday:
What I like about this painting is the freshness of the brush strokes. The whole piece is painted loosely, which is a goal of mine. It tells a story with the figure and the boats, and it has interesting features to draw the eye, such as the partly obscured warehouse roof on the left and the vague forms on the upper right. But it’s muddy and the shadows seem too dark and prominent.
So I tried again. In fact, I tried again six more times. But none of my repeated attempts were better than the first one. In fact, they were worse. Poorer composition, less connectedness, awkward color choices. So for class, I just submitted the first one I painted. Eric’s suggestion was to bring more color into the shadows in the boats and under the warehouses. That’s a good suggestion. I think my shadows are “dead,” and they need more liveliness, more colors.
I think I tried to put to much into the painting. I could have left the boats out and focused on the warehouses. Or I could have painted the boats and left out the warehouses. Or maybe I should have just started a completely different painting rather than spending so much time on this scene. Here are some of my attempts:
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