Anticipation
10/07/05 Update:
Several months ago, Rita was working at the gallery. And a gentleman
came into the gallery and and was showing photo's from a recent fishing
trip. One panoramic photo definitely caught Rita's eye and she began
to comment how pretty it was. He continued to flip through the photos
and Rita saw additional photos, that when combined would make a great
painting. This gentleman was kind enough to offer the photo's to Rita
to use as reference material for a future painting. Thank you Ron!
As a side note, Rita has had several inquiries about commission work.
She is more than willing to do commission work, however, she's concerned
that it won't be exactly what you see in the original reference photos.
This piece is a good example of how Rita will blend components of the
reference material into a piece, but the final painting can be different
than the original reference photos. If you understand and agree to that
creative license, then Rita would love to discuss with you the possibility
of a commissioned piece! Just send an email to peacefulreflections@rlohr.com
to ask Rita for an initial meeting to discuss the possibilities.
This is the original photo that caught her eye:
And here are the next two pics that helped her to visualize the entire
painting:
10/14/05 Update:
If you were handed this reference material, how would you paint it? That
is always the key question. The image below is a copy of one page in Rita's
sketch pad. She divided it into 4 sections and quickly sketched in the 4
drawings. Rita was attempting to create different compositions to see how
she wanted to pursue this piece. Go from drawing to drawing and keep your
eye on the boat. It changes positions and sizes. The lower right drawing
became the winner. However, Rita would have kept drawing until she found
a composition that she was satisfied with.
Years ago, Rita started keeping her sketch pad handy so she could practice
her drawing skills. At first, it her took a couple of hours to do one
small sketch. And sometimes her perspectives were off just a tad. But
she practiced and practiced. Today, those skills have been refined but it
did not come easy. So, if you find that your drawing skills need to be
developed, then practice, practice, practice!
Based on the last quick sketch (lower right) Rita began to sketch a full
size drawing. Since this was a full size sheet of watercolor paper (20X30)
Rita began drawing this on a large piece of tracing paper. Now this took
several hours to do over several days. She'd erase and redraw areas that
that didn't look just right. The pic below is an image of the final drawing
on the tracing paper.
I had been wondering how she was going get the image on the watercolor
paper itself. She had taped the tracing paper to the stretched watercolor
paper. In fact, you can see the watercolor paper to the left and the right
of the tracing paper in the pic. Next, Rita took an 8.5X11 sheet of white
paper and a pencil. She held the pencil so that the exposed lead was
parallel to the paper and begin coloring the page so that it was covered
with pencil lead. In effect, this became her carbon paper. She slid it
under the tracing paper, lead side down, and began tracing the sketch onto
the watercolor paper. Once she was done with one section, she'd move it
over and begin tracing the next section. If the lines became too light
on the watercolor paper, she'd refurbish by applying more pencil lead to
her carbon paper. So there you have it. That's how she got the drawing
onto the watercolor paper exactly as she wanted it!
10/21/05 Update:
In the past how-to's we've discussed layers at some length. If you have
not read them, I'd encourage you to do so (either Change or Season or Days
Gone By). We're not going to repeat those comments. However, Rita will
be doing layers for this piece. But she will also be doing the same
layer more than once. Now this is dangerous, because it's very easy to
overwork the paper. When that happens the colors start to lose their pop.
And Rita has thrown away many originals in the past because of this very
issue. Just like it takes time to develop your drawing skills, it takes
time to develop your painting skills. So approach each piece as if it
were a practice piece. So, when it does not work the way you wanted it to
and it's overworked, there is no stress because you're just practicing!
Today, we're going to focus on just the sky. Rita did apply a mask to the
large tree on the left side of the piece. But she did not apply any mask
to the mountains just below the sky. To create her blue sky, Rita used a
combination of Cobalt Blue and French Ultramarine. She will custom create
her sky color for each piece. She'll apply it to a discarded piece of
watercolor paper (same brand and weight), until she gets the color she's
looking for.
Rita used a 2 inch flat brush to wet her paper. The goal is to get an even
coat of water where the sky is going to be. In watercolor, if you want a
hard edge, then leave the paper dry. If you want a soft edge, then get it
all wet. Rita wanted a hard edge to her mountains, so no water was applied
there. But she wanted a soft edge to her clouds, so even the clouds, which
will receive no paint, had water applied to them. Rita knows that she's done
when the paper has absorbed the water, but it not standing on top. If it's
too wet, then it will bleed uncontrollably. Again, this just takes practice
to learn how far to go.
Now comes the fun part! Rita has a large 1 inch round brush (it holds lots of
water!). She will soak up the paint from her palette and then begin applying
short and long stokes where she wants blue sky. You can see places where it's
darker and lighter. This is directly related to how much paint she releases
in a given area. She may move it around a bit, but then she'll just leave it
alone. I'm always surprised at how fast she moves with this portion of the
piece. It doesn't take her long. Once she has it looking the way she wants,
she will use a hair dryer to dry the paper and stop the paint where it is.
10/28/05 Update:
When you find yourself in a location where you can see objects that are several
miles in the distance, what colors are they? The answer is, the farther away,
the bluer they become. This atmospheric effect can be reflected in your art
to provide some realism to the scene. For example, if you're standing where
you can see several layers of hills or mountains, the closest hill or mountain
will have the most vibrant color. Each layer beyond that becomes a little bluer
than the previous. So as you look at today's image, you will see that Rita is
adding in the most distant layer of the mountains and the color is predominantly
blue.
In fact, Rita uses the same colors as the sky; Cobalt Blue and French
Ultramarine. But she added in a 3rd color, a little red (in this case she used
Daniel Smith's Quinacridone Coral but other red paints could have been used).
So it creates a blue with a purple tinge. If you've spent time in the mountains,
this is fairly representative of what you will see.
Unlike oils or acrylics, the only way to get white in watercolors is to leave the
paper white. Rita was unsure if she wanted a cloud moving through the peaks so
she left the paper white (unpainted). You can see the cloud effects on the left
side of the mountain range. She could always paint it in later, but it is more
difficult to lift watercolor pigments once they have been applied to the paper.
The snow patches on the mountains are also white paper (unpainted).
Side note: There are three types of watercolor paints; staining, transparent and
opaque. In the early days, Rita did not realize this and spent many frustrated hours
attempting to lift watercolor paint from the paper. What she discovered is that
staining pigments can not be lifted, no matter how hard you try. But transparent
(Cobalt Blue) and opaque (French Ultramarine) paints can be lifted if you're careful.
Once Rita understood this, she did some research and created a palette with mostly
transparent and a few opaque pigments. So, if you're building your palette for the
first time, there are advantages and disadvantages with each type of watercolor
pigment. Careful research is required to obtain the right mix of paints to use
in your palette and to reflect your style of painting.
The technique for painting the mountains is a little different than the sky. For
the sky, Rita soaked the entire sky with water and then applied the paint. For her
mountains, Rita would apply the paint to a small area of dry paper. She then wet
her brush and applied water to the paper around the paint and let the paint flow to
the edges of the mountains. The snow patches are where she left the paper dry. Once
that section was done, she'd move to the next section and repeat the process. The
clouds were soft edges, i.e. the paper was wet and Rita controlled the flow of the
paint to create the softer edge of the clouds.
11/4/05 Update:
While the mountains were drying, Rita moved to another area, the foilage to the
left of the boat. Rita used the following colors for this area:
- Windsor Yellow
- Raw Sienna
- Antwerp Blue
- Fench Ultramarine
- Brown Madder
- Burnt Umber
- And several others in smaller quantities
As a general rule, Rita never uses a green pigment paint straight from the tube.
She finds the greens straight from a tube, are too flat. Rather, she always
custom mixes her greens. She'll start with a yellow, add some brown and then
blue to create the greens. Today, we're going to show you two pics:
Rita did apply a mask to the boat and the fellow sitting in the boat to protect
them from stray specks of paint. Before, Rita painted in the sky layer, she
had applied a mask to the tree trunk in the middle of the foilage.
After Rita finished mixing all of her colors, including the greens, she begins
to apply the base coat (1st pic). And once that has been applied, she then
applies the second coat. What makes her technique somewhat unique is her
choice of brushes! Any ideas? Would you believe a toothbrush? That's right,
she used a toothbrush! She would dip the bristles into the paint and flick it
onto the paper. No other brushes were used for this layer!
Now, the first time she did this, Rita underestimated the scatter range of the
flicking. A near-by lamp shade was soon speckled with a variety of watercolor
dots. So, if you try this yourself, be careful to protect objects around where
you are painting. Even transparent watercolor pigments are virtually impossible
to remove from lampshades!! That lampshade is still with us to this day, however,
it does not reside in a very prominent place in our home! :)
If you look at the first pic and then the second, does the yellow base coat
accomplish any specific purpose?
11/11/05 Update:
The answer is yes, it does accomplish a specific purpose. The yellow tinge on
the bushes provide a highlight to represent where the sunlight would be reflected
from the back side of the foilage. How fun! If you go back and review our
write-up/pics for Days Gone By, you can observe how Rita applied yellow to the
foilage in that image to reflect how the sun was hitting the trees and shrubs
from a different angle. If you're looking to improve the look and feel of your
foilage, try practicing various approaches in how you use yellow to highlight
where the sunlight is coming from.
This week, Rita removed the mask from the tree in the foilage on the left side
and from the man in the boat. Notice how the mask protected the paper and it's
still white beneath the mask.
If you scroll back and look at last week's images, you will see that Rita began
working in three areas; further extension of the mountain peaks downward, the
trees on the right and on the left. And you can see that she began interweaving
the green of the trees with a light brown and a few spots of red. Because she
wanted to add interest to the scene with the fog still hanging in the air, she
was being careful to protect the white of the paper as she built up each of the
layers.
Her technique for painting the trees is more traditional than the approach she
used last week to paint in the foilage. Using a watercolor brush (no toothbrushes
here!), Rita would apply water to the paper where she wanted the browns to flow.
The green of the trees is applied to dry paper. If you look carefully at the trees
to the left of center, you can see where the tree tops are painted on dry paper
and the foggy area and the base of the trees are painted on wet paper. That let
the greens and browns mix.
Keep in mind that this is a full sheet of watercolor paper, 30 inches across. So
if you begin counting the number of trees individually painted, you can start to
see why this is so time-consuming to do for a piece this size.
11/18/05 Update
Both of these images show you the steps Rita used to fill the trees into the
various layers on the mountain sides. Again, Rita was being careful to not
lose her white paper and left much of it as fog rolling through the valleys.
As you move further back into the mountains, the trees become less colorful.
The technique used for the balance of the trees was the same as what we
described in last week's update. However, as Rita moved further back in this
layer, she softened her colors, but also applied them to damp/wet paper. This
helps to create the 3D illusion on a 2D surface.
This concludes Rita's first application layer of the trees on the mountain sides.
In subsequent weeks, she will begin to apply additional applications to the existing
layers until she is satisfied with the look and feel of that portion. Till then ....
11/25/05 Update:
In this week's image there are some subtle but very important changes. Try looking
at last week's image and see if you can identify what has changed. Do you see any
changes?
The technique Rita used is called glazing. Glazing is the process of applying
multiple coats of paint to a given area. Some artists will apply as many as 50
glazes to achieve the look that they are after. For this week's update, Rita is
applying only one glaze. Here's where transparent watercolor pigments are
really cool! If the base coat is opaque or transparent pigments, and you apply
a transparent glaze, you will see both colors (base and glaze) coming through. It
adds a richness to your colors that you can't achieve by simply pre-mixing your
paints.
When glazing, you just need to be careful not to overwork your paper. That occurs
when the colors begin to lose their pop and become muddy in appearance. Again,
it just takes practice. So have fun with it!
In this week's update, you should be able to see how Rita has added a glaze. As
you compare this week's image with last week's, you will notice more trees. Rita
added evergreens to the brush layer on the far left side. She then added more trees
to each of the layers on the mountain sides. As she does this, she is eliminating
more and more of the white paper, i.e. the fog with this glaze.
Rita also added the shoreline in the center of the piece. And to the right of the
shoreline, she has painted in just a little bit of the water.
12/03/05 Update:
Again this week the changes are more subtle. However, Rita did add another glaze
to the front center group of trees. She was attempting to create a little more
definition with the addition of more trees and darkening down the color of the
bank. It was at this point in the process that I began teasing her that she
should add a yellow 18 wheeler truck on the road above the bank area. Obviously,
I don't have much influence! But it resulted in some laughter because when she'd
ask my opinion on how it was going, I'd generally make some serious(?) comment about
the missing yellow truck! OK, so it's artist humor and maybe not that funny now!!
But we enjoyed it at the time! Seriously, when you're painting, it does help to
have someone that is not emotionally attached to provide critical feedback during the
painting process. Many times though, Rita will ask for my opinion and I can't even
see what has changed let alone provide any meaningful comments. Hence, my quips
about the yellow truck! All this to say, that if you're at an art show, and you
see this piece, please provide Rita some feedback about how much better the piece
would be if there had been a yellow truck on the road! Thanks!!
Ok, back to being serious. You can see that Rita also added some color washes to
the water. She used the same technique as the sky. In next week's image, you'll
see .... Oops! You'll just have to wait until next week! :)
And finally, on the bank to the left of the boat, Rita painted the shoreline. And
to do this she used a different technique. It's called the dry brush technique. To
do this, you leave the paper dry and the brush dry. However you have to have the
paint wet enough (medium to thick consistency) that you can pick some up with the
brush. And then you just sweep the brush over the dry paper. And what will occur,
is that the texture of the paper will begin to create the look and feel of pebbles
on the shoreline. This technique works best if you're using cold press or rough
paper. Rita's favorite is Arches 140lb cold press paper. Again this technique is
one that can be practiced before you attempt it on the real thing. Just take a
scratch piece of paper and practice the look until you get it to look the way you
want. And then do it again on the real thing. Have fun!
12/10/05 Update:
To finish my comments from last week about the water, you'll notice that it's much
darker this week and that the shadow of the boat and the bush to the left of the
boat are the darkest. Essentially this is another glaze for the water using a
similar technique. However, the darker areas were painted a little drier,
particularly the shadow under the boat. That created the moderately sharper edges
of these shadows.
Rita also applied another glaze to the mountain peaks themselves. If you compare
this image to last week's image, you can see how darkening down the color begins
to make the peaks look closer to you the viewer. Isn't that cool!
In this second image, you can see that Rita has added another glaze to the
mountain peaks adding more color and definition.
12/17/05 Update:
If you compare this image with the last, you'll see just two changes. But this
may end up being a rather lengthy discussion!
Good composition dictates that when you add a color to the image, you should
reuse that color repeatedly in the image. If you study the principles of design
this is usually called 'repetition'. And it is a very effective compositional
technique. While we're going to focus on color today, repetition could be used
with shapes, textures, etc., in addition to color.
If you are not familiar with the principles of design, look for some watercolor
books that discuss this important topic. (Rita owns a couple of books, but I
believe they are no longer in print. So, we can't make a recommendation. If
you have a recommendation, please leave a guestbook entry for others to see!)
But approach the principles of design as if you are looking to learn and apply
something new. Rita will review them periodically looking for ways to improve
the next piece.
This week, Rita painted in the dead tree on the far left side of the image. She
used a drier brush because she likes to let the brush create the texture of the
bark. And she painted the right side of the tree darker to give the illusion
of shadows. How fun!!
But you may wonder why she used these colors for the dead tree. Do you see those
colors anywhere else in the image? And since we're going to be talking about
repetition, the correct answer is yes! The most obvious is the treeless bank just
to the right of center. More subtly, if you look at the pine trees on the sides
of the mountains, you will also see these colors. Isn't that cool! Do you see
how the repetition of these colors creates a nice composition? If Rita had
painted the tree with new colors, what would have happened? Your eye would see
that it's different and go there. Since Rita did not want the viewer's eye to
stop there on the far left side of the image. And that it just wouldn't belong
there. Does this make sense?
Where does your eye go right now? Hopefully, either to the large white spot (boat)
or the red jacket of the fisherman. Since the boat has not been painted yet, we're
going to discuss the fisherman. Now do you see that red anywhere else in the
image? We'll answer that in a minute. But notice that the new color (red in this
case) causes your eye to stop on that portion of the image. That is called the
focal point. And in this situation, that is exactly what Rita intended.
So, to recap, Rita has painted in the bare tree and the fisherman. Both of these
are new shapes. But the tree was painted with existing colors, i.e. your eye sees
it but doesn't stop there. The fisherman with a new color (or is it?) and your
eye sees it and does stop there. So through the use of repetition, the artist can
control the viewer's eye!
In last week's update, I pointed out that Rita had added another glaze to the
mountain peaks themselves. What I did not say, was that Rita darkened them down
with more purple. And to make purple, you add what (?) to blue? You guessed it,
red! And which red did Rita use, the same red as in the fisherman's jacket! And
since the fisherman is on the small side, it's hard to see the red reflection of
jacket in the water. So even in the addition of the red jacket, Rita has used
that color in very subtle, but repetitous ways.
Hopefully, you've enjoyed this lengthy discussion about repetition of colors.
And that it has stimulated your creative juices to try this yourself! Practice,
practice, practice!
12/24/05 Update:
If you compare this week's image with last week's, you'll notice only one small
but significant change, the boat! Based on last week's discussion of repetition
of colors, how would you approach painting in the boat? And to add a little
pressure, you have invested in several hours (ok, many many hours) painting a full
sheet of watercolor paper. And if you mess this portion of the piece up, then it
becomes a huge sheet of practice paper! Obviously, Rita did not want that to
happen, so what did she do? What would you do?
It's fairly common for artists to grab a scratch piece of paper (that's why you
practice, so you have scratch pieces of paper!) and play with the colors until
they have them just right. But in this case, Rita surprised me with her solution!
She redrew the boat a couple of times on scratch paper, painted the boats with
different color schemes. She then used a pair of scissors to cut both boats out.
Here's the two boats:
So, that night when I got home from work. Rita plopped these down on the image
and asked, 'Which one do you like?' She would trade them back and forth. I don't
recall which one I voted for, but obviously the oarless boat was the winner. Ok,
so I'm not an artist, but I thought her approach to making this decision was very
creative! I guess that's why she is the artist!!!
Based on that discussion, Rita painted in the boat and oars for real. At the time
I wondered why she added the yellow/brown to the sides of the boat. That question
remained unanswered until I did the first installment on the web page. If you
look at the reference photos, you will see the answer. Of course, all of these
colors are already present in the piece, which means she continued to apply the
design principle of repetition.
One last interesting tidbit! Since this piece is a composite of several different
photos, the gentleman that provided the reference material was photographed by
someone else. He's the guy in the boat and the guy fishing in the water.
Literally, he's in two places at once!! Now, how often does that ever happen?
12/31/05 Update:
After Rita had painted in the boat, she set the piece asside for a week or so.
Her goal was to get hersefl emotionally unattached to the image. That let her
be more objective about what was needed to fine tune the image. And it's during
this time, that she'll move the artwork into whatever room she's in. That way,
she can look at it in different lights and settings. So here's the final image:
If you compare the final image with the previous one, you should be able to see
at least six changes Rita made to complete the image:
- Rita's first conclusion was that the mountain peaks were not purple enough. So
she added another glaze to the moutain peaks and that made them look much closer to
you the viewer. It also reinforced the repetition of the red color or the red jacket.
- Next she applied a light green-brown wash to the pine trees below the mountains to
darken them down a bit and help tie them into the overall image.
- Rita added another glaze to the boat itself. She brightened up the reflection of the
oars on the boat. She also added in more purple and blue to the boat sides. Again,
this also helped to tie the boat into the overall image better. She also painted in the
registration numbers on the side of the boat.
- She also added more texture to the shoreline to the left of the boat. This helped
darken down the shoreline some.
- She painted in the fishing rods.
- And last, but certainly not least, she signed it in the lower right hand corner.
Whew! We're done!! Hopefully, you've enjoyed reading about this as much as Rita
did painting it! If you're hoping to improve your watercolor techniques, then we have
just one final recommendation! Practice, practice, practice!!!