Fall Storm
8/23/06 Update:
Today, we're starting a new how-to. But we're starting a little earlier in the process
than we normally do. How do we do that, you say? To answer that question,
here's the first image:
But it's just a blank piece of paper! Yes, but I've listened and observed Rita and
others struggle with this very thing. A blank piece of paper can be very intimidating,
challenging and at times defeat you before you ever get started! It can represent a
battle! Ok, I may be overstating the case a bit. But, my point is this. Fear or self
doubts can prevent you from starting your next piece. I've wondered how many artists
or writers have had an idea that never became anything more than a great idea?
For Rita, this often occurs before she starts a particularly difficult piece. Will it
be as good as the last one? Can she (technically) do what is in her head? What if it
doesn't turn out? And so on, it goes. The questions, the self doubt and the fear are
endless. And the more time that elapses between pieces, the stronger those questions
can become.
I've read that fear is like a 'roaring lion'. And as I understand the imagery, lions hunt
as a group. The old lion is on one side of the prey. And the young lions with the sharp
claws and teeth are on the opposite side of the prey. The old lion is good for one thing,
he can still roar. And so he does. If the prey responds to his fear and runs away from the
lion's roar, he runs right into the group of young and dangerous lions. Rather, had the
prey disregarded his fear and run towards the 'roar', he would have found safety. As an
artist, the moral of this story is this, if fear or self-doubts are preventing you from
starting, then by all means start the piece! Disregard the fear and self doubt and move
towards the fear! Again, just start painting!!!!
One other observation about creativity; it's a process that requires repetition and
practice. Like any other skill, if you don't practice the skill, then you don't improve
the skill. Particularly with watercolors, this is so true. So, if you've just finished a
piece and it didn't turn out. And you're staring at another blank piece of paper, then
try it again. And again! Each time looking for ways to improve your technique. It's a
process! Practice, practice, practice!!!
How about you? Do you have a blank piece of paper staring at you right now? Go for it!
Pick up the brush and get started. After all, it's just practice! And along the way, just
enjoy the process!!
9/2/06 Update:
A full size sheet of watercolor is 22X30 inches. And as you can see, Fall Storm is a
panoramic half-sheet, i.e. 11X30 inches. From a shape perspective, this provided Rita
the opportunity to have a different look than most of her other pieces.
Lately, Rita has been exploring the interaction of atmosphere and light. And this piece
continues that theme, exploring how light filters through the trailing edge of a storm.
Have you ever stepped outside your house after a storm has passed through and observed
how intense the colors tend to look after the storm? It's almost like the moisture is
magnifying the colors! Or it may be as simple as the rain washes off the dust so you can
see the real colors again. Regardless of the explanation, this was the 'look' Rita was
after!
For the stormy clouds, Rita used two pigments for the base color:
- Windsor Blue
- Payne's Gray
She wanted to paint the clouds on a horizontal plane with enough separation to allow the
sun light to filter through the clouds at an oblique angle. In order to do this, Rita
got the paper nice and wet, i.e. she let it soak for a while, so that the paper would
stay damp for a while. She then applied the mixed paint to each cloud and let the water
bleed the color out. That gave clouds the soft edges. And she'd use a dry brush to pick
up paint from the paper where she wanted more separation and interesting shapes. As the
paint was drying she'd begin stroking in angles to get the areas defined where the sun
would eventually shine through!
Just below the clouds, you should see a very light coating of blue/gray. Do you see it?
This base coat will provide a toned down look to the tree's still in the shadow of the
remaining storm clouds. Now is that cool or what!!
9/23/06 Update:
Today, we're going to finish the sky. And to do that, Rita use the following pigments:
- Quinacridone Coral
- Lemon Yellow
- Cobalt Blue
- Windsor Blue
She used a combination of red/yellow to high-light and accent the clouds, giving them
the illusion of sunlight passing through them. The colors will also help tie the sky
into the trees in the rest of the image. More on that later.
For the rest of the sky, she used a combination of the two blues. And painted them on
as a flat wash, i.e. get the paper wet and let the paint flow all over the paper. But
can you see light rays streaking through the sky? How did she do that? Was it the same
technique as last week where she used a dry brush to pick up the excess paint? No, that
would be too easy. But you're more than welcome to try that. Rather, Rita tilted the
paper so that each ray was vertical. And then she sprayed additional water on the paper
and let the little stream run off the paper onto a towel. Where the little stream ran,
it picked up part of the paint and left the paper whiter, giving it the sun ray look.
She repeated the process for each ray. And she had to change the tilt for each individual
ray. How cool is that?
9/30/06 Update:
Today, Rita begins to build out the trees. She uses a variety of pigments (see the list
below) and custom mixes her greens and purples.
- Quinacridone Coral
- Quinacridone Gold
- Lemon Yellow
- Brown Madder
- Burnt Umber
- Windsor Blue
- Payne's Gray
Rita has begun building out the autumn trees. With the exception of the right most tree,
all of the trees are reflecting the sunlight. The white buiding will become a farm house.
More on that in a future update.
To help convey where the sun is hitting the trees, Rita used the brighter lemon yellow
to highlight the trees. Otherwise she used the gold pigment to express the fall color in
the shade of the clouds. On the right side, Rita has started to apply some shadows. But
she's not even close to being done, so more to come!
From a composition perspective, today I'd like to discuss how Rita maintains a good
perspective (pun intended!). Perspective is the ability of a 2D medium to present a 3D
subject matter. And it does this by varying the size of the subject matter on the 2D surface.
Notice how Rita excels at conveying this idea with the trees. As you look from right (closest)
to left (farthest) the size of the trees begin to get smaller and smaller. Your eyes are
fooled into thinking that the left most trees are farther away than the right most trees.
However, the reality is that the two sets of trees are the same distance from your eye on a
piece of paper (or monitor in this case). Good perspective provides depth to an image and
can help draw the viewer into the image.
Also, by having the right most tree in the shade, it helps to keep the viewer's eye from
going off the page. And compositionally this is a great technique!
10/07/06 Update:
Rita has continued the build-out of the trees, i.e.there are new trees on the right side.
But more importantly, she has finished adding shadows to the majority of the trees. If you
compare this image with last week's, notice how the contrast from light to dark adds more
depth to the trees, making it look like the sunlight is striking the tops of the trees.
Next Rita begins to put in the wash for the grassy area (pasture). And she's using the
same colors as the trees keeping the lightest area in front of the house. This helps to
keep a sunlit look on the focal point.
Continuing last week's discussion on composition. This week, notice how Rita has a break
in the trees to the right of the house. Those trees are set back with a grassy area in
front of them. This helps to add interest to the tree line. Generally, an interrupted line
adds more interest than a uniterrupted line. Here's another example:
________________ vs ____ __ ________
Which line holds your eye longer? Which line is more interesting to look at? Well, hopefully,
you agree that the interrupted line adds more interest. Regardless, that is the technique
Rita used for the line of trees. By interrupting the line, she gave your eye something to
pause on and spend more time in the image.
11/04/06 Update:
This week, Rita finishes the build-out of the trees on the right and left sides of the piece.
If you observe the right side, you'll notice that the shrubs (or is it trees?) are a little
darker than the trees on the left side, given that they're in the shadow of the clouds. But
notice how Rita leaves the edges of the bushes just a bit lighter than the edge of the rest
of the shrub? Ok, it may be hard to see in the web images. But Rita did this to provide more
definition to the shape of each tree/shrub. Also note how the right-most foreground shrub has
every tree color in the palette blended into the shrub. How cool, errrr, warm (colors) is that!
The trees/shrubs on the left side also have ligther edges to define their shapes. But here
Rita has left a broader edge of white to yellow before adding the rest of the colors. This
helps give the illusion that the trees & shrubs are sitting in the sunlight. Also, the shadows
are not as intense because you're seeing the sunny side of this group of trees.
You can also see that Rita has rubbed off the resist for three tree and one house. Notice how
she maintains an odd number of shapes. Three trees are more interesting to the eye than two
or four. And one building is more interesting than two.
11/11/06 Update:
Today, today we're going to wrap this piece up by discussing four items:
1. Rita added the foreground weeds on the left side of the piece. The technique she used is
same as we've previously discussed in other pieces, so we'll not repeat that here. But notice
the colors used in the foreground. (I know it's small!) But she's using every color in the
painting in the weeds. So, you'll see the blues, yellows, greens, reds and grays in the weeds.
2. Next she painted in the three leafless trees; the left foreground, the one to the right of
the house and the far right. The left foreground has sharp shadows given that it is in the
sunlight. Yet, the far right tree is fairly mono-chromatic given that it is in the shade of
clouds. Rita paints incredible detail into her trees. It gives the illusion that every branch
is connected to a larger branch. And when multiple colors are used, each color represents a
different pass over all of the branches. Very tedious!! But the effect is very gorgeous!!
3. The focal point....the house. She left the house fairly white. But inserted enough color to
give definition to the features of the house, doors, windows, roof etc. Since there is no white
watercolor pigment, the white is simply the paper itself. In this case, she also added a slight
yellow wash to the house to warm it up a bit.
4. Rita signed it (lower right hand side) to signify that she's done!
From a composition perspective, let's discuss a couple of points about how she ties the foreground
into the background of the image. The foreground weeds on the left side and the foreground shrub
on the right side both have all the colors of the painting. Why did Rita do this? Because it helps
to tie the foregrounds into the rest of the piece. Plus it adds more interest to the foreground.
Second, Rita also painted a left foreground tree branch that intercepts the house for the same
reason, i.e. to help interlock the foreground with the background.
That concludes our discussion of Fall Storm! But to see the piece is to appreciate all of the
subtle differences that the web image can never replicate. Enjoy!