Aspen Retreat
08/25/07 Update:
As an artist, how many times have you stared at this:
And wondered what you were going to do with a blank sheet of paper? Let alone
visualize this in your head:
But that is exactly what we're going to do! When Rita is caught sitting and
can do nothing else, she sketches! She has a small sketch pad (5.5 X 8.5) that
she uses to sketch out ideas. Generally, these ideas were prompted by something
she saw. And this was no exception. She had read a magazine and an image caught her
eye. Of course, what she saw in the photo was nothing like what she saw in her
mind's eye. So out comes the sketch pad and away she goes! So this is what she
saw in her mind's eye:
Now when you consider that this image is approximately 7 inches high and she will
paint this on a full sheet of watercolor paper that is 30 inches high, then it helps
to put some of this into perspective. This is a large watercolor painting! How does
Rita grow the sketch from 7 inches to 30 inches? Rita is a purist in the sense that
she prefers to re-draw the sketch on the watercolor paper. Sometimes, she will re-draw
the sketch on tracing paper, particularly when she's unsure about how she wants
some aspect of the piece to look. Tracing paper makes it easier to erase and re-draw.
So here is what she ended up drawing on the watercolor paper itself:
If you look carefully, you can see that Rita made some modifications to the original
sketch. How cool is that!
9/29/07 Update:
Mask, mask, mask! In the photo, you can see the mask fairly easily. It is yellow
on the right side and reflective on the left side. It's a rubber cement like
material that you paint on the paper. And it's goal is to protect the white of
the paper. Since Rita was going to be painting in the sky and background trees,
she used the mask to protect the foreground aspen, the cabin/house and the border
of the grass. When done, you just rub the mask off similar to rubber cement. One
caution though! Rita has experienced some problems with the mask adhering to the
paper and tearing the paper as she attempted to remove it. This is not good!! As a
result, she works very quickly to paint the areas in so that she can remove the mask.
As a rule, she doesn't like to leave it on for more than a week (a few days is
preferred).
For the sky, she used French Ultramarine, which is a strong blue. And she painted
it wet on wet, letting it bleed off into what will become the background trees. And
she left some of the white of paper showing to generate the look and feel of clouds.
01/05/08 Update:
For today's update, Rita used the following pigments to paint the mist and trees:
Payne's Gray
French Ultramarine
Burnt Umber
Brown Madder
New Gamboge
For the first two images, Rita left the paper fairly wet and allowed the wash to
spread out the colors. The sky area was left dry and she painted in the tops of
the trees. Given that these trees are farther away (set back) she has painted
them lighter than what the foreground trees will be.
In the last two images, she has left the paper much drier and she allowed the
paint to bleed for shorter periods of time. This helped to pump up the contrast
between the trees and mist.
And through-out all of the trees, i.e. the previous four images, she has woven
in some browns (warm color) into the wash to help break up the blue/green (cool
colors) of the trees and mist.
01/26/08 Update:
Before Rita started to paint the cabin, she rubbed off all of the mask to reveal
the white paper beneath it. If you leave the mask on too long it will begin to
peel the paper. Rita then re-applied the mask to the portion of the trees directly
in front of cabin.
Using the same pigments as what were used for the trees, Rita begins painting
the cabin. Note that the browns are the same, however, she uses more contrast
than what was in the trees. Also, note that the yellow is soft and accents the
white of the paper for the cabin with blues for the shadow areas. The use of the
same colors helped to tie in the entire composition.
And finally, note how the cabin sits facing into the composition. That helps to
draw the eye into the image. But also, given the angle of the cabin, Rita worked
hard to maintain the perspective which helps give the 2D image a 3D look and feel.
In our next update, Rita will tackle the foreground trees. Yes, she individually
paints every branch on every tree. Till then....