Watercolor and Pastel Painting Demonstration – Let’s Paint Winter Woods!

About Christine Kane

Christine Kane is a pastel and watercolor artist who is inspired by the Midwest landscape and it’s seasons. To find new ideas for her paintings, she hikes in the forest preserves during all seasons.

Christine began drawing at an early age. She focused her education on art and has a degree in Graphic Design. She is continuing her studies and is currently pursuing a degree in Natural Resources.

Translating weather is also evident in her work. “Weather makes a landscape painting come to life. How I love to show leaves blowing in the Autumn time, snow falling in winter, or a beautiful thunderstorm approaching in my summer paintings.”

Christine finds God’s handwork in all aspects of nature and tries to translate her awe and reverence in her artwork. Never disappointed, she relies on His creation for inspiration.

To learn more about Christine and to view more of her work, please visit her site by following the link below:

==> http://letspaintnature.com/

Christine’s work can be viewed at the LaGrange Art Gallery

Watercolor and Pastel Painting Demonstration – Let’s Paint Winter Woods!

About three years ago I went hiking at Bull Frog Lake, right before evening in January. I came upon a scene that made me pause for a moment and fall in love. Winter’s intense setting sun was casting long shadows from the trees in the woods. Right on que it seemed, three crows in the distance began to caw. I almost wanted to cry. Call me a fool for nature, but West Nile almost eliminated all the crows in my area and I haven’t heard that beautiful, “CAW, CAW, CAW”, in a very long time. They are my 2nd favorite bird in the world.

So here we go! Let’s remember that moment forever by painting the winter woods…

Step 1: I am using an Ampersand Pastelbord 16×20. This is going to be a watercolor and pastel painting. With charcoal, make a simple sketch before you paint. Remember the 3rd’s rule…great composition happens in thirds. Notice my horizon line is 1/3 from the top. My deer tracks will be 1/3rd from the left.

Here is my reference photo. I had it enlarged and printed at 8×10. Notice I have a clear plastic cover on it. This will help you greatly! I am a very messy painter and get junk all over the place (and I don’t care…it’s part of the process), if I didn’t protect the picture it would have been destroyed.

Step 2: Turn your board upside down. This will help the paint flow down with gravity. Spray the sky with clean water. Using watercolor paints, paint Naples yellow in the sky (remember we are upside down so it is at the bottom). Next, with a mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt umber, paint some distant trees using up and down strokes.

Step 3: When dry, paint some far trees using ultramarine blue and a lot of water so the mixture is not dark. Paint closer trees using a darker mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt umber.

Here is a close-up of the distant trees. I love how the watercolors spread out at the edges representing rough bark…YES! Effortless painting!

Step 4: When completely dry, turn your board right side up. In this step I am just laying down big blocks of color using watercolors. I am only using cobalt blue, ultramarine blue and alizarin in different mixtures. You might be thinking, “Are you nuts? Those colors are so dark!” Don’t worry, most of this will be covered by pastels.

Step 5: With sap green, ultramarine blue, and alizarin crimson, make a black mixture and paint the closest trees. Try to vary their sizes. That took me a long time to accomplish in my early years of painting. Your brain just wants to make trees, so after a while you realise they are all the same thickness. NO! In nature they are all different.

Step 6: We are done with watercolors. When everything is dry, start painting with pastels. I used a medium Unison purple for the tracks and shadows and a medium blue for snow.

Step 7 Final: Make layers and layers of snow, using three different light blues. I also used light purple for the snow as well. On the tree trunks I painted spots of deep dark purple and fuchsia. You can’t really see it, but it is there. I also painted tiny spots of yellow in the snow to reflect the setting sun.

Don’t worry if you do not paint with pastels. You can use the same principles to paint with oils. It’s all about layer upon layer.

“Before Dusk in Deep Snow”

16×20

This painting will be on display at the LaGrange Art Gallery March 2010. I hope you enjoyed this step by step painting demonstration on how to paint a winter scene in the woods using watercolors and pastels.

Introduction to Watercolor Painting Supplies For Beginners

Watercolor painting is probably the most convenient of all the painting mediums. All you really need to get started is a box of paint, a few brushes, water and some paper. There are no toxic solvents or mediums to be concerned about and your brushes can be cleaned with a little soap and water. This convenience makes watercolour painting one of the most economical painting mediums as well. This article will provide an introduction to the more popular supplies that a beginner should consider investing in.

PAINT

Watercolor paint is made by mixing powdered pigments along with a water soluble binding medium. In the beginning you will do fine by using a cheaper brand of paint, but you will definitely enjoy a much better painting experience if you use artist quality paints. Artist quality paints use more high quality pigment and are noticeably richer and more vibrant. After you become more comfortable working with watercolors, you should then consider upgrading to artist quality paint. Paint is available in both pan and tube form. The main difference between the tube and pan paints is that the tubes have more glycerine and they tend to be more water soluble.

BRUSHES

There are generally two types of brushes that are available to artists: your soft hair brushes like natural sable and squirrel hair and your hard hair bristle brushes. Soft hair brushes are the most popular choice amongst artists and highly recommended. Bristle brushes are sometimes used with techniques that require you to scrub the paint into your paper or other support. Among the soft brushes used by artists, sable is the most popular. These soft hair brushes are resilient and effective at holding a lot of paint. Because of the high quality of these brushes, they also come with a high price tag. This of course leads artists to seek a cheaper alternative. This cheaper alternative comes in the form of synthetic soft hair brushes. As the name implies, these brushes are not made with animal hairs. They are made from man made materials and consequently, are not of the same quality as the sables. They are still a pretty good alternative and many artists use them.

BRUSH SHAPES

Now that you are a little more familiar with the types of hair brushes are made with, lets us cover the shapes brushes are available in.

Round Brushes

As the name implies, the hair of these brushes are round and can be shaped into an excellent point. Depending on the size of the round brushes, they can be used for detailed work or for applying washes.

Wash Brushes (or Mop Brushes)

This is a brush that forms a mop like shape and is used primarily for applying washes.

Flat Wash Brush

The flat wash brushes are square and flat in shape and closely resemble the brushes you use for house painting. These brushes are made for applying washes over large areas and can also be used for modifying existing washes.

Large Flat Wash Brushes

The large flat wash brush looks very similar to the regular flat wash brush only its a little larger, usually about 2 inches wide. This brush is also excellent for laying down washes over large areas.

PAPER

Watercolor paper comes in a variety of different sizes, weights and textures in order to accommodate the various preferences artist have. Whatever paper you decide to use, it needs to be very strong and have a certain degree of absorbency to prevent breaking and tearing.

Absorbency

Watercolor paper is made to have certain degree of absorbency depending on the amount of sizing used in the manufacturing process. The more sizing used, the less absorbent your paper will be. If you are not happy with the level of absorbency in your paper, you can always purchase your own sizing and apply it yourself.

Acidity

You should look for papers that are acid free with a neutral PH. This will lessen the darkening of your paper as it ages.

Weight and Surface

Watercolor paper is available in three different surfaces: Hot pressed, cold pressed and rough. Hot pressed paper has a smooth surface, cold pressed paper has a semi-rough surface and rough paper has, you guessed it, a rough surface. The weight of the paper refers to the weight of a ream (480 sheets) of paper.

Free Step By Step Watercolor Lesson By Aileen McLeod

About Aileen

Aileen is a multi-medium artist/tutor. Her portraits have been included in major portrait exhibtions and she has been commissioned to paint VIP. Aileen has been a guest on national TV pertaining to her art and appeared in various leading magazines. Portraits are a great love and she welcomes commissions in this and other subjects/mediums.

Visit Aileen’s Site by Clicking Here.

Aileen offers lessons in other mediums and subjects are available on CD /DVD. She also offers personal critique via email . Please contact her for more information.

Step By Step Watercolor Painting Lesson

I love to share this SPONTANEOUS EXPERIENCE in WATER COLOUR.

This sweet face belongs to Harmoni and I was drawn to paint her portrait for her first birthday. The paper used was Canson 33.gms. a lovely surface for detail and a good weight to prevent buckling. No. 12 and 4 sable brush was my choice.

STEP 1. Sketch the features with a Light Red aquarelle pencil.

STEP 2. A wash of Burnt Sienna was used to establish the shadows.

STEP 3. Golden Red was washed into the hair.HINT: Try to hold the brush in a relaxed manner as in sample 2.

STEP 4. Flesh was painted in for the face tones and the cheek colour, Vermillion was then placed in, still using the same brush.

STEP 5. The eyes were painted in Brown with No 4 brush and the eyelashes were established with a Dark Brown tone. HINT: Do not paint the individual lashes.

STEP 6. Still using the No 4 brush the mouth is painted with Vermillion. some deeper tones were painted into the hair with Brown plus Burnt Sienna.

STEP 7. Decisions….decisions….I was not sure whether to leave the washes in the free-flowing technique…see sample 3:

I then decided to apply some Flesh plus White into the lighter areas of the face; this blended the edges of the shadows and formed some middle tones. With a No 4 brush and White I then established the reflected light on the side of the face and some highlights on the cheek, chin, nose and upper lip. The highlights on the lip, tongue and the eyes were painted in with the tip of the brush.

STEP 8. Golden Brown plus White was used for the highlights of the hair while some Brown indicated darker tones and tendrils. Brown plus Blue was used for the pupils of the eyes, corners of the mouth, and the nostrils.

STEP 9. Using a No 12 brush I washed White over the background, this gave “tooth” to the paper. I then painted Permanent Green with quick stroke coverage across the paper, taking it up to the hair and the face line. When the background was dry the tendrils of the hair were exaggerated. See sample 4.

STEP 10. Time for checking and I notice the cheek is just a tiny bit too full so I mix Permant Green plus White and with N0 4 brush I came up to the side of the cheeks and painted in the background. I also took some off the top of the hair.

STEP 11. The shadows were deepened on the side of the face. a Sienna wash was painted over the hair. The Green background was continued to the top and sides of the paper, with a wash of Yellow here and there. This painting has a spontaneous appearance and that is exactly what I set out to achieve. I hope you enjoy your “Spontaneous Experience” when you use this technique.

Watercolor Brushwork Lesson By Steve Fleming

About Steve

I am an artist and teacher who primarily works in watercolor. I have been painting for nearly 35 years, and teaching for 14. I believe that the goal of art should be a creative interpretation of the world around us and not the perfect rendering of what we see. I also strongly hold that art is a process not just a product. We should spend more time involved in the making and experiencing our art and less time worrying about the successful marketing of the piece we are working on. Good art is the result of hard work and dedication, but it only happens when the artists finds their own story to tell.

Please click here to visit Steve’s website to learn more about him and to view his work.

Brushwork

Although it is sometimes not what we notice first about a great watercolor painting, expressive brushwork is one of the most important qualities of a good work. Due to the fact that watercolor is fairly hard to remove from the paper and is somewhat less workable than oils, pastels, graphite and to some extent acrylics through the use of overlaying opaque colors on top, it is critical that you begin and end the painting with solid and creative brushwork. It will be very difficult to correct sloppy and repetitive brushwork in those major areas of the painting. Think of the trees you have painted with brushwork that evoke the look of a broom, not an elm, or the water you
painted that has the feeling of a parking lot, not a tranquil pond or the light on the side of a model’s face that looks like an advertisement for a beard commercial and you will understand that your freedom with the brush is a critical factor is expressing your creative intent.

Now I must say that there are times when you apply paint in big washes or solid color forms without a major concern for the individual brushwork, but you still want the brushwork in these forms and pieces of color to be reflective of your intent for this area of the painting and not be cluttered movement, conflicting movement or unintentional texture. If brushwork is not an important consideration in your painting then your work will not have the finish or quality of a masterful painting.  Learn to apply your paint with a purposeful and deliberate brush stroke and try to avoid continual rubbing onto the painted surface with a wet and soggy brush.  Get in the habit of thinking about the brushwork before you touch the paper and then have a confident and direct approach when your brush is in contact with the paper. The brush is the extension of your creative intent — it is your partner in the process, not just a stick with hair on it. Until we get to the point of painting with our hands and feet, the brush is the major way that the paint will get on the paper and the painting will always record for the viewer the  skills you possess in brushwork. Neglecting the improvement of your brush skills will always hold back your painting progress.

Ways to Improve Your Brushwork

First it is important to understand the factors that control the expressive marks you want to learn to produce.

Type of Brush

If you are like me you have a multitude of brushes in your bag and you have your favorite few with which you have a relatively good relationship. Each brush type whether it be flat or round, natural or synthetic, big or small has a range of marks it is capable of producing.

There is quite a bit of overlap in the type of marks brushes will make for the painter who will take the time to practice with each of the brushes in the bag. Some of these strokes are very familiar to you but I am quite sure that most painters have not really experimented with all of the favorite brushes to really see what they will do.

I think it is amazing how many brushes some of my students have and how few they really use. The common statement I hear is “Gee I really don’t like a round brush, they don’t work for me” or “flat brushes always make the same type of mark” or “I don’t have any control with that big brush so I use this small one”. These statements or this type of thinking leads us to buy a special brush for each specific problem when it would be a better idea to develop a varied repertoire of expressive marks using only a few brushes.

I am convinced that John Singer Sergeant could come back from the dead and do quite well with just a few sable rounds. Take the time to bond with your 1” flat sabeline, your #12 sable or white sable round, a 1.5 inch white sable wash brush and maybe a #4 rigger and your paintings will definitely improve. Think of them as the main tools in your tool box and then get some real mileage out of them — don’t move to new brushes until you can make these few really do the job in your paintings.

Angle and Edge

Brushes are very creative tools in the painting process when they are used by an artist who thinks about a variety of contact possibilities for the brush. Each brush has several edges to use and by exploring the different marks that can be made by each, your paintings will have a much more enlivened application of paint.

Try not to use the same edge repeatedly because this will lead to a tired and boring style. Also experiment with the pressure or amount of brush surface you are using. To complement your understanding and exploration of the edge, put more focus into pushing the brush in and out when in contact with the paper. Most brushes can take a whole lot more abuse than we give them — just remember to not put so much pressure on the bristles that you permanently break the bristles at the ferrule.

One last word of caution, when you are using a round brush or for that matter a flat brush, try not to paint too much with just the point because this will prematurely wear down the point. It is a better idea to paint with the side of the brush pulling it to the point, which keeps the bristles longer and the edge or point more defined and perfect. You can definitely use the point for those moments when it is required but keep it to a minimum.

Amount of Water in Brush and on Paper

The secret of watercolor painting is understanding the relationship between the amount of water in the brush to the amount of water on the paper. When experimenting with your brushes is the time to really pay attention to this secret.

Any brush will make a completely different type of mark when it is fully charged with water than when it is dry. It will also make a totally different type of mark when it is stroked across a wet, damp, or dry piece of paper. The amount of pigment in the brush also factors into the quality or character of the brushstroke. To really get the brush working for you in your painting you have to feel totally comfortable painting on the ever changing surface of the paper.

For me it is not as desirable to wait for the paper to dry before I move from stage to stage in the painting — I want to be able to keep right on working. I have learned to do this by practicing using a brush and applying pigment continuously throughout the painting process whether it is on wet or dry paper. I have found I can regulate the amount of water or pigment in the brush and be fairly comfortable painting whether the paper is wet, dry or somewhere in between. But I have to pay attention to the conditions on the surface of the paper and regulate the brush accordingly. Variety and creativity will be the result in your paintings if you work on changing the amount of water and pigment in your brush and paint on different types of surfaces.

Speed and Direction of the Mark

The faster the brush moves across the paper the less time there is for the paint and water to come off onto the paper. Practice using a fast pass across the paper and you will begin to see the wonderful textural effects you can achieve. Also by moving the brush quickly you can highlight a damp or wet area with a color and not have the usual explosive blossoms that are so problematic. I have found I can use the speed of the brush to put glisten on water or to highlight the light in trees without having to wait for the paper to dry. This does take some practice.

Distance from Paper and Arm Movement

For me there is no way I can really get into the painting process and develop expressive brushwork if I am sitting down and I am too close to the paper. I need to be able to get back from the painting and really get my arm and wrist working for me. I never hold my brush like a pencil I hold it like an extension of my arm and I work on  achieving a fluid and rhythmic painting motion. I believe this keeps me involved on all levels when I paint and the movement is translated into my expressive brushwork.

If you are so close to the paper that you feel cramped your work will show it. Your brushwork will be tight and tedious and your painting will lack rhythm and  movement. If you can’t stand up for physical reasons at least try to get back from the painting when you work. I always keep in mind that the brush is one of my most important tools I can use to translate my creative intention to the paper so I want to give it the most freedom and possibilities I can.

Exercises

Make as many brush marks as you can with all of your favorite brushes. Think of all of the factors listed above. Work on dry and wet paper and keep working until there is no white paper left. This is not about making paintings — this is about learning how to make creative marks and to develop a mental library of things you can do to create texture and interest in your washes and shapes.

Visualize a subject and make all of the marks that evoke the essence of the subject. Remember some subjects will require overlaying of washes and marks to really describe the object. Be creative not literal.

Learn to use two brushes, one flat and one round, better. Make every type of mark with these two. Try to duplicate the same type of marks and shapes with each. It is possible to come close to painting exactly the same types of shapes and marks with a flat and a round but it takes practice.

Wet to Dry over lay. This is a great lesson to combine both brushwork, value control and movement across the paper. Begin on wet paper and just start making expressive color washes and splatter marks — “Prouts Marshes” leave some large varied pieces of white paper. Immediately follow this without letting the paper dry, using expressive and varied brushwork. Try to think only of movement and creative line. Begin to cut away at the white paper creating more interesting and dramatic shapes. Remember to watch the water content in your brush and don’t over rub the pigment into the paper. Finally using big flat and round brushes lay on some dark values creating exciting and expressive areas of focus and interest. Keep working until you are using extremely dark passages of color and have really forced the viewer to move all around the paper. This lesson if done enough times will produce fabulous abstract results and give increased confidence with your brushwork and ability to apply paint.

Getting to Know Your Watercolor Palette By Angela Fehr

Getting to Know Your Palette Part 1

These are the colors that are currently in my watercolor palette. I use mostly Winsor & Newton tube paints, and I squeeze them on to my palette and allow them to dry. This makes my palette portable, and shortens my prep time. I also find I waste less paint this way.

Click Image For Larger View

Some colors here look quite similar – for example, the cobalt blue and ultramarine. They are different, but similar enough that I could probably use one or the other. I use about 3x as much cobalt as ultramarine, but I keep ultramarine in my palette because it is a granulating color and so it has a different texture when dry than cobalt. But I use cobalt for mixing with burnt umber to obtain my favorite gray.

Speaking of burnt umber, I really don’t like Winsor & Newton’s burnt umber. It is lighter than I am used to (not sure what my previous brand was) and also more orangey. I bought a tube of sepia recently, in search of a darker brown, but I need to make space for it in my palette. Maybe I’ll get rid of the Winsor Yellow light – I rarely use yellow, and when I do I use Gamboge or Raw Sienna. Not sure if Raw Sienna counts as a yellow.

My quinacridone and permanent rose magenta are also very close in hue. I will remove one from my palette, but I’m not sure which yet. I’ll check the labels to see which one is most lightfast, and which one is most staining, and decide from there.

I’m planning a part two of this post, showing a sheet where I’ve mixed all the colors. And a part three comparing staining & non-staining, opaque and transparent might also be a good idea.

If you are starting out in watercolor and aren’t sure what to purchase, don’t feel like you need to copy my palette. Get some basic colors and familiarize yourself with them. Make some swatch charts, one of pure colors like the one above, one showing gradation of each color from dark to light, and one mixing each color with the other colors in the palette. Then paint a lot and get used to the colors you have.

The paint colors I would recommend for a beginning watercolorist are:

Raw Sienna

Gamboge Hue

Burnt Umber

Sap Green or Hooker’s Green

Cobalt Blue

Cadmium Red Med. or Dark

Quinacridone or Permanent Rose

From these you can mix nearly every other color you might desire.

Getting to Know Your Palette Part 2

Click Image For Larger View

Color Mixing Chart for Watercolor based on Angela Fehr’s palette

Part two of getting to know your palette is all about color mixing. In part one you used water and paint to lay down a block of each hue, and if you did as I recommended, you went a little further and varied the ratio of water to pigment to gradate each color from dark to light, and are now familiar with the pure colors in your palette.

However, in watercolor (and perhaps in all painting disciplines), the artist almost never uses pure color - at least not in representational art. While pure Hooker’s Green will look phony and plastic for foliage, when mixed with a little red or brown, it rings much truer and more natural.

In order to know what colors to mix to get the hues you desire you need to experiment and get familiar with the results of different color combinations. With only a few colors, the combinations are vast, and I have used only six colors from my palette for the sample color mixing chart above. Click on the image to enlarge it.

I painted each of the six colors twice, once along the left side of the paper, and once along the bottom. Then I mixed each color along the bottom with the colors along the left, stopping before I started repeating mixtures or mixed a color with itself.

As you can see, some of the hues are pretty predictable, or are not too visibly altered. Some colors (like cadmium red) are opaque and dominant their more transparent companions. The interest is in the colors that dramatically change – like the browns created by mixing hooker’s green with the two reds. Used in its most saturated form, cadmium red and hooker’s green would make a great black, don’t you think? Like many watercolorists, I prefer mixing my darkest (black) values from two opposite colors, making a richer, deeper, more “alive” hue than using black paint.

Also, look at the green created by mixing hooker’s green and new gamboge. Another example of a color brought alive by adding another hue. Hooker’s green is a gorgeous green anyhow, but when combined with other colors it just gets better.

My standard gray is also here on this chart – the combination of cobalt and burnt umber. I’m not overly enamored of my Winsor & Newton burnt umber – it’s too light and orange-y, in my opinion, but it still makes a rich grey shade that I use frequently. By varying the proportions of burnt umber to cobalt blue, I get a wealth of grays, and when I have a little purple in my palette, I throw that in, too!

You can expand this exercise by mixing your palette’s colors in a variety of saturations. Try increasing or decreasing the water in the mixture to see the resulting color when lightened or intensified. Increased familiarity with color mixing and what each color can do will increase your confidence as a painter.

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