Here is a wonderfully informative video by Artist Paul Taggart that discusses and demonstrates various wet on wet watercolor painting techniques.  Wet on wet technique is simply the process of applying wet pigment to wet paper. The wet on wet watercolor painting technique is not an easy technique to master and is one that causes a lot of problems for beginners.  In the following video, Paul will provide you with some great tips and solutions to overcoming the various problems folks run into while using this technique. Now you can finally enjoy your watercolor painting sessions instead of becoming frustrated by them.

I wanted to just highlight one problem and solution that Paul talks about in the video as it was one that really stood out for me personally.  The problem: When applying watercolor paint to the wet surface, the paint immediately starts to run and bleed every where or perhaps puddle up in spots.  This is of course a really big problem that can make painting a very difficult process.  The solution? The solution is to  remove excess fluid from the brush before you make your next brush stroke.  Sounds simple enough, but its the process of removing the excess fluid that can give folks a difficult time.  This is demonstrated in the video below.  There are a couple of different ways to remove the excess fluid.  You could simply move your brush from side to side on your palette in a downward direction, or, you can use the edge of your palette to gently remove the fluid. This is done by pushing down on the edge with the brush while moving either left or right.  This not only removes fluid, but it also reshapes your brush into a nice chiseled edge.  Learn more by watching the video below!

“Painting Problem Solver” by Paul Taggart — Starting Off in Wet-on-Wet Watercolours

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIL16fW-I6I

A really big thanks to Paul Taggart for making this video tutorial available on the Wet on Wet Watercolour Painting Techniques.  You can learn more about Paul, see more of his videos and view his artwork by following the links below:

Visit Paul’s YouTube Channel Here

Visit Paul’s Website Here

About Steve Fleming

Good art is the result of hard work and dedication. It only happens when the artist finds his or her own story to tell and then learns to do so with his or her own unique language.

I am an artist who works in watercolor and acrylic, and I teach both for The Art League in Alexandria, Virginia, as well as workshops across the country and abroad. My goal as an artist is to be creative; my goal as a teacher is to help my students learn to interpret the world around them, not to promote the belief the goal of art is the perfect rendering of a subject. One of my core messages: art is a creative process and is not just the sum total of the work we sell. In this era of digital cameras, I caution artists to look — really look both inside and outside — for the subject matter that lights our artistic fires. Otherwise, our work will be lacking everything but technique.

Click over to my blog for behind-the-scenes insight into some of my paintings in progress, musings and a few complimentary lessons for you to take and learn from.

Enjoy. — Steve Fleming

Creative Jumpstart

The “Creative Jumpstart” section of  Steve’s blog is designed to help all artists, regardless of medium, with ideas to get them thinking in expressive ways. They are intended to take about 30 minutes to an hour to finish and are warm-ups not finished paintings. Each one has a specific focus, such as gestural drawing with color accents, and they will be of value to artists of all levels. I plan to do at least 1 per week and hope to challenge readers to really broaden their horizons and move beyond their comfort zones. Along the way the artists will enhance their skills in drawing, color usage and have general less fear when being creative.

Follow this link to learn more!

Abstracting the Shapes, Simplifying the Message

(Click Images For Larger Views)

(“On the Rocks, Bass Head Light” watercolor on paper) The idea in this painting was to create on big shape using the shadow shapes and using that compound form to move the viewer from the upper left corner of the painting down through the figures and out on to the rocks where the people are moving about on the rocks. It leaves some really nice white pieces of paper to contrast against the abstracted shape.

When painting it is easy to become so involved in the subject matter with all of the details, textures, and colors presenting so many possibilities that our paintings never quite have focus or a feeling of unity. Sometimes we achieve nothing more than to present to the viewer either a collection of random thoughts about a place or detail laden color drawing. We paint around the subject never quite making a point. The work lacks creativity and artistic involvement, and the painting lacks a dominance of major shapes. By not focusing on the major shapes we are forced to paint a collection of things and this is a difficult and tedious task.

Sometimes it is a worthwhile exercise to minimize the complexity of the subject matter and reduce the shapes down to three to four major shapes. We need to look at each of these shapes for the quality of their shape, what relationship they have to the other shapes in the painting and what would be the best way to contrast these shapes against one another. Several ways I contrast shapes is by color, value, and texture.

If I am looking for a really dramatic statement I push the relationships between the shapes as far as I can. I use big value jumps, lots of line and texture at the edge of the silhouette, and look for color chords that are rich, expressive, and complementary. I make sure that the edge of the shape is where I create focus and is where I define the identity of the objects. Remember if you put good information at the edge of the shape then you need less details in the interior of the object. Although you have reduced the subject matter down to major shapes in the design phase, you will be able to clarify some of the individual shapes inside the big shapes during the painting process. The goal will be to keep a big shape feel to the painting.

(“Rockport Village” 18 x 24 Watercolor on paper) I have used all of the areas of light and invented a few more and the tied them all together into a shape that moves the viewer up into the painting. Along the path of the light I have added details, textures and color to create a reason for the white paper. It is one shape made up of multiple objects.

It is important to understand that although a shape can be a singular object, it doesn’t have to be. It makes for a really great painting when you can tie several related objects together and create a very expressive shape. As an example Try linking figures together as one value shape, or take a row boat, a figure, a rock and a pole and hook them together into one shape. When we begin to see objects in terms of their potential joining with other things to make larger more dynamic shapes we make a huge jump towards becoming creative shape makers. I believe this is one of the great goals of an artist. This allows you to rearrange the scene in front of you to tell your story with clarity and focus. I believe very strongly that no amount of detail and finish will make a poorly conceived painting work.

(“Camden Harbor” 18 x 24 watercolor on paper) This scene is very complicated and I took all the pieces and made on shape out of them. They are related to each other by a similar value, dark middle value, and again I have only put in the details that are necessary to move you through the painting.

What makes a good shape? A good shape should have a significant difference in it’s width and height. It should have movement or direction, a static shape is not as exciting a one that moves through the picture space. Good shape should have a variety of edges, hard, textured, and soft or blended. It should have a exciting silhouette, exaggerate the position of elements to improve the edge.

Remember the edge of the shape is what defines it, not the interior, so put a lot of interest and defining information at the edge. It is good to try to get some gradation across the shape for instance from warm to cool or intense to less intense, or one hue to another hue. A good shape should tie into the background or foreground at several points, try to invent a rock, a fence, or a figure to help attach the major shape into the adjacent shapes. Lastly and of utmost importance this wonderful shape must not have major value jumps across it. You can have some slight changes in value, but you can’t jump from light to dark to light to dark or the shape will fall apart into value pieces. You can make many color changes and they will not tear up the shape but big value changes will destroy the continuity of the shape.

(“Plains Virginia”, Shacks, 15 x 22 watercolor on paper) The dark shape is a very dynamic one it has a nice variety of edge and definitely moves across the paper.

To begin a painting with a focus on the big shapes it is best to start with a value pattern in your sketch book. Look at the subject matter and mentally organize the different pieces of what you are looking at. Think about which small shapes could be moved around or joined to other shapes. The goal is to connect minor pieces together as one big interlocked shape. At this stage don’t concern yourself about which shapes are lighter or darker in value because you will change their value for the purposes of the painting. Also mentally try to eliminate the shapes which are not going to help in creating good big shapes. Remember this is going to be your painting and you are under no edict from the painting gods to paint everything you see in front of you. Only use what you need.

Once you have thought about what to make your big shapes roughly sketch them onto the page in your sketch book. Analyze and adjust the shapes to follow the rules of a good shape. Remember to incorporate the unique features of the subject matter to enliven the silhouette. Make sure the shapes have an interesting relationship to the other shapes in the painting. Always work from the largest shapes to the smallest shapes and leave out all consideration for the details of the shapes until all of the shapes are well established on the page. Try to have all of the major shapes be a different size, make sure exterior angles are not the same and make sure shapes do not enter and leave the paper at a similar place on the opposite side of the paper.

Assign each shape a value and try to keep your lightest value shapes next to your darkest value shapes this will create the strongest focus and contrast. It is always a good idea to put your center of interest where the strongest value change is located. Once you have the design finished sketch it on the watercolor paper and paint it remembering to follow the value organization. Put some change of color, texture or value in each shape and watch that the edges have variety. Keep the painting simple. When your are done try reversing and rearranging the values of the major shapes and changing the color chords. This will result in some exciting variations on a simple theme.

(“Avon North Carolina” 18 x 24 Watercolor) The shapes are the light and I have played with them to create a nice passage through the painting. Keep thinking movement and attaching objects by using similar values. You will get this abstract shape idea.

(“Avon North Carolina” 18 x 24 watercolor on Paper) This is the same subject as the painting above I just took a lot of liberties with the shapes and colors, but I really have thought of good shapes and movement. Art is about invention and interpretation so loosen up on those shapes and have a good time. Allow yourself to make a few clunkers to get to the gems.

Exercises

• Take a subject with a strong shadow pattern and just paint the shadow areas. Play this pattern against a light middle value
• Take a black and white newspaper photo and with a small view finder, a 35mm slide holder is perfect, pick a interesting dark shape and use for the shape in your painting.
• Extract the key elements from the photo and make one large shape against a light midtone background

About Steve Fleming

Good art is the result of hard work and dedication. It only happens when the artist finds his or her own story to tell and then learns to do so with his or her own unique language.

I am an artist who works in watercolor and acrylic, and I teach both for The Art League in Alexandria, Virginia, as well as workshops across the country and abroad. My goal as an artist is to be creative; my goal as a teacher is to help my students learn to interpret the world around them, not to promote the belief the goal of art is the perfect rendering of a subject. One of my core messages: art is a creative process and is not just the sum total of the work we sell. In this era of digital cameras, I caution artists to look — really look both inside and outside — for the subject matter that lights our artistic fires. Otherwise, our work will be lacking everything but technique.

Click over to my blog for behind-the-scenes insight into some of my paintings in progress, musings and a few complimentary lessons for you to take and learn from.

Enjoy. — Steve Fleming

Creative Jumpstart

The “Creative Jumpstart” section of  Steve’s blog is designed to help all artists, regardless of medium, with ideas to get them thinking in expressive ways. They are intended to take about 30 minutes to an hour to finish and are warm-ups not finished paintings. Each one has a specific focus, such as gestural drawing with color accents, and they will be of value to artists of all levels. I plan to do at least 1 per week and hope to challenge readers to really broaden their horizons and move beyond their comfort zones. Along the way the artists will enhance their skills in drawing, color usage and have general less fear when being creative.

Follow this link to learn more!

Painting those Light-Filled Days – Watercolor Lesson by Steve Fleming

(Click Images For Larger Views)

(18 x 24 watercolor “Treasure Hunters” using an invented passage of white paper I have moved the viewer from the left corner of the painter up through the figures and into the building. A clearly stated center of interest with a strong feeling of sun and light)

One of the most wonderful subjects you’ll ever find to paint in watercolor is the landscape bathed in sunlight. To paint with authority, it is a must for you to first spend time observing the unique characteristics of the sunny day and then use these observations as the structure of your painting.

Too many artists fail in their attempt to interpret the sunny day because they forget to use or don’t know the characteristics of the typical sun-filled setting. If you mix a little knowledge, careful observation and pre-planning in the form of a well-designed value pattern, you’ll create quality paintings infused with the realistic play of light and shadow.

(15 x 22 watercolor “Bleached White” notice the cast shadows and form shadows feel like they are on white but they have color merged into them.)

I believe the most important aspect of a sunny day is the need for shadows, both cast and form. Cast shadows are those that are cast by the object. Form shadows are the dark side of the object that is casting the shadow. Also, depending on the amount of sun and time of day, the painting must have bounce and reflected light that shows up primarily as reflected color in the form shadow areas. Typically the higher the sun is in the sky the more bounce light and reflected color shows up in the form shadows. Remember the sun is much bigger than the earth so it is flooding the horizontal planes with light which bounces off of the irregular surfaces and goes up into all vertical surfaces.

The length and direction of the cast shadows are related to the position of the sun and the angle of the object that the sunlight is cast upon. The lower the sun is in the sky, the longer the cast shadow conversely, the higher the sun, the shorter the shadow. If you don’t pay attention to this interplay of sunlight and shadow, your sunny-day painting will be less of a success.

So, before beginning your painting, you should embark on a study of how sunlight falls on the landscape, object or person. Then, you should decide what time of day you want the painting to suggest.

Long dark shadows really give the impression of early morning or late in the day. Midday has very short shadows. Shadow areas are darker and less colorful in the early morning and late afternoon, and lighter and more color-filled in the strong sun of the middle of the day.

When painting shadows, a few pointers you should keep in mind are: Cast shadows are darker than form shadows, form shadows will have the reflected or bounce light in them, and cast shadows have harder edges, cooler and darker the closer to the object producing the shadow. They soften, warm and lighten the farther away from the object that they are. The color of the shadow is a darker color and less intense than the object on which it is cast but it is the same color. A shadow on a white building is a darker, cooler white, and it should read as white. A shadow on green grass is green but darker, cooler and less intense. It is absolutely acceptable to paint the shadows any color you want as long as your painting has a more abstract or expressive feel to it.

(18 x 24 Watercolor “Lazy Summer Days” Although I have painted the light of the building white, I have told you that it is a red brown building because of the color of the shadows. Remember the shadow is the color of the object it is on and form shadows have reflected color.)

The beauty of art is to be creative. You are inventing your own world on the canvas, so feel free to use any and all possibilities, limited only by your imagination. One thing to remember, though, is that if you intend to use a more traditional, realistic palette of colors, then you should consider making shadows relate to the color of the illuminated object.

Another important thing you should remember when expressing a sunny day is to have a wide value range in your painting. You should use a value scale that goes from lightest light to darkest dark. The relationship in your painting between the values should not be equal lights, darks and middle values. You should design your painting with a dominance of one of the three, and leave the remaining two values with an unequal share of the painting. Here are a few examples: For either early or late in the day, the darks should represent a larger share of your painting than the lights. If you’re portraying the middle part of the day, light colors should dominate. On a bright, sun-filled day the form shadow areas should be cool hues with hints of warm bounce lights painted into them. To really get the feeling of sunlight, put a strong value and color contrast right at the lightest area of the subject. Also, it is a good idea to use a little piece of a complementary dark color in the adjacent dark — if you are painting the light a yellow hue, for example, then daub some purple or violet into the shadow area. Or if the color of the light is orange, make the dark color a bluish pigment.

(detail of “Bleached White” I have brushed cobalt blue and violet with a strong touch of raw sienna into the shadows to get the reflected light. Also notice the top edge of the rocks are very textured which gives the feeling of light on the top of the rock. Remember to always consider the edges on your major shapes.)

Another very important feature of a sunny day painting is the use of white paper or lightly tinted paper to indicate the strong power of the sun. Although I am not a big believer that all good watercolors must have white paper, I do think that it is easier to paint convincing sun by leaving large areas of paper which are very light and warm. The more you leave the areas facing the sun a light value or warm color the more you will achieve the feeling of a sunny day. Something to consider is that the part of the object that faces directly to the sun will be the lightest area of the painting no matter what its local color is. A black roof facing directly into the sun will be lighter than a white wall which is turned away from the sun.

(detail of “Portland Head Light” the top of the light house is black but in full sun it appears to be white.)

You’ll also go a long way towards creating the feel of a sunny day if you use vibrant colors. Of course, it’s important to remember that the time of year you’re portraying is going to affect the type of vibrant colors. In most areas where there is a season change, winter is a time of muted colors compared to spring and summer. The vibrant colors of the winter landscape are different than those of summer. The use of expressive grays, rich browns, and blues create the vibrancy of the winter and late fall. When painting a sunny day I use a lively color palette and shy away from the pigments that lead to a gray mood. For example, in mixing a green, I would use yellows like New Gamboge, Auereolin and all of my blues. I would stay away from mixtures of Raw Sienna and Ultramarine Blue. I pay close attention to the graying effects of complementary colors and use them with care in my mixtures. I also try not to overmix my color on the palette. I like to get my colors to merge on the paper, which emphasizes the feeling of light. The more light, the more color we can see. If I was doing a sunny late fall landscape the grays I would use would definitely be merged on the paper to create a feeling of vibrant colors.

(detail of “Fall Plains, VA” I have really merged the colors into the shadow side of the tree getting reflected color and maintaining the feeling for the true color of the tree. Also notice the warm tones in the background it really feels sunny.)

Another related characteristic is that on a sunny day you will see more texture on the surface of the objects in the landscape. Feel free to liven up your paintings with creative colors and expressive texture when painting the sunny day.

Although it is best not to become a slave to hard and fast rules when painting, you will be well served when trying to paint a sunny day if you’ll keep all the preceding pointers in mind.

(18 x 24 watercolor, “Culpeper Farm”, Although the light is a very small piece of the painting it captures the light on the building and even the porches. I was pretty happy with the merged colors in the background trees and the undulations in the field which moves you into the painting. I scraped the trees with a pocket knife.)

Ideally, before embarking on your painting, you’ll go outside and do some sketching or painting of the sunny landscape you want to portray. Pay close attention to the effects of light on the subject and don’t worry as much about the details of the subject. If the light is not right, then no amount of detail will enhance the feeling of sun. Remember, the sun is continuously moving across the sky so shadows don’t stay put but the shape of the buildings they are cast upon will stay the same. So, it’s wise to sketch the shadow pattern you are looking at and worry about the subject matter later. You can refer to the sketch of the shadow throughout the painting process.

(Value pattern of with a definite understanding of where the lights and darks are going to be placed. Never begin a journey without a road map.)

I also never proceed on a sunny, light-filled painting without a very solid value sketch. I find that knowing the placement of lights and darks before I start painting really helps me stay focused. Light is hard to paint with a good sketch and almost impossible to grasp without one. I begin my value pattern with the emphasis on the movement of light across the page or with a strong dark shape against a well-lit background. In both situations the emphasis is on the shape of the pattern of light or the silhouette of the dark shape against the light. A good painting always rests on the quality of the major shapes in the painting. Shapes are not always specific things but can be a collection of objects tied together into a large shape. A major shape can be just the passage of the light as it weaves throughout the darker shapes.

(15 x 22 watercolor, “Owls Head Pines)

When looking at your painting and doing a critique of how well you did on creating the feeling of sunny day, check these key points:

• Are the shadows related to the direction of the sun?
• Are the shadows lively and is there reflected color in the form shadows?
• Have you used a wide enough value range?
• Do the lights dominate?
• Did you remember the white paper and the dark values?
• Are your shadows cool and complementary to the color of the light?
• Are your colors vibrant and did you allow them to merge on the paper?
• Are your horizontal surfaces or the surfaces facing the light warmer in color temperature?
• Did your value pattern have a feeling of light and do you need to refine it?
• Did you follow the value pattern?

About Mary Ann

Raised in Mississippi, my interest in art began at an early age, but was secondary to my study of music until at the college level when I decided to pursue art as my major…..then studying Advertising Design, and not taking up watercolor painting until much later when my children were in school all day and I could devote long hours to the practice of painting.  Eight to ten hours a day were spent trying to “catch up”. I was driven by the desire to learn the craft and excited when I began winning awards in both local and national shows.

My subjects have been so varied over the years, that I don’t know which is my favorite. As I tackle a challenging subject, and learn the ins and outs of painting it successfully, I move on to another challenge. I, perhaps will never be known for painting one thing all my life, as the world is so full of wonderful experiences that I want to paint them all!

At my ripe old age, I am really having fun learning new things about waterbased mediums, and my latest is painting in acrylics with a palette knife. Using blending mediums and retarders, I can make it feel as if I am painting with oils, yet they dry much faster. It is fun to get three-dimensional textures to my work. Another avenue, another adventure. I try to upload images frequently so that my students and the public can see what I am up to! It is fun, and I encourage your responses to what I produce…

Mary Ann’s Websites:

http://www.watercolor-painting-tips.com/ – Great website loaded with free watercolor painting tips and techniques.

http://www.maboysen.com/ – This is Mary Ann’s personal Website.  Learn more about her and view her exceptional work.

http://www.youtube.com/user/maboysen – This is Mary Ann’s YouTube page .  Visit today to watch her video lesson and demonstrations.

Watercolor Blooms – Making the Best of the Bloom

By Mary Ann Boysen

My first watercolor instructor, a very fine artist, was opposed to using watercolor blooms. I assume that because his paintings are  highly detailed and controlled works, that he found no use for these so-called mistakes. They do begin as mistakes when you are first learning to paint, but I have discovered a way to make them work for me…especially in flower paintings.

At this time, try to force a bloom on your watercolor paper. First, lay down a colorful wash. Any color. Then dip your brush in water, swirl it around if you like, and then, without blotting it on a towel, touch it to the paper where your wash is. Have your painting surface rather flat; not too tilted.

You need not rub it around. What you have just done is add more water to a portion of the wash, and this water will force the pigment into a circle. The edges will be rough, and look somewhat like ruffles. If you do not want this look in your painting, then you must not go back into a wet area with a very wet brush. It is advisable to allow a wash to lose its shine before adding another color. Even then, you must be sure that you brush is not loaded with too much water.

Another way to cause watercolor blooms is to put a very wet wash of color across your painting surface. Tilt the surface slightly or even more drastically. Allow this wash to dry. Notice that the color has drifted to the bottom of the page, and when it had nowhere else to go, it started floating upward again….thereby causing another type of bloom.

These are the kinds of watercolor blooms that you usually have no use for. Therefore, you should soak up the extra wet pigment as it collects at the bottom of the paper. Illustrations below.

By doing these intentionally, you will learn just what causes watercolor blooms. To avoid problems (if you think they’re problems) like these, there are steps you can take to avoid them. When you dip your brush in water and then color, slightly blot the excess water on a paper towel or sponge. Blot at the ferrule end so that the towel will absorb more water than pigment. Also, if you allow your wet paper to lose its shine, the addition of more color will not cause a bloom.

If your paper is tilted quite a bit, and you are doing very wet washes or glazes, you must be attentive to the puddle at the bottom of the wash, or at the bottom of the paper. You can take the very tip of a towel to touch that puddle and it will be absorbed into the towel. Allowing the paint so be soaked up in the towel is much more effective than blotting the color.

	If you blot it with pressure you will lift the entire color!

To make use of the watercolor blooms, let’s try painting a bearded Iris. The petals of these flowers are slightly ruffled at the bottom, or they appear that way. So when I make the stroke that forms the petal, I allow the color to slide to the bottom and create that appearance without having to labor over doing it with brush strokes. If I haven’t made the wash wet enough, I can always drop a little water into the petal while it is still damp, and the same thing will happen.

Working on a small piece of 200# Waterford Cold Press watercolor paper, this is my first wash depicting the top petals of the Iris. I rarely draw a flower first, because I love the spontaneity of the color as I lay it down. I am not inhibited by the lines, and can drop color in at random.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with drawing it first, but you should really try a loose approach. It makes you think in shapes, and work the brush to create these shapes with simple movements. My board is tilted about 20º to allow the pigment to flow and puddle. I could not photograph it in the upright state for fear it would drip down the page.

	Learning to paint without drawing will be in a future newsletter. It is easily applied to flowers, but more importantly it can be used in architecture…and even figure painting.

Before the color of the top petals dries, I begin the lower petal wash allowing the previous wash to bleed into it. This ties the two together with a fresher look. Detail will be added later. I have always told my students, “Detail comes at de-tail.”

When the lower petals are painted, notice the pigment and water pile up at the bottom of the petal. This is the time when backwashes or watercolor blooms will begin to work for you. The pigment (unless it drips off the page) will have no where to go, and as the water evaporates, the pigment seems to run back into the painting.

While the pigment is beginning to run back up into the petal from the bottom, I worked on the more intense color in the upper part. You can begin to see the watercolor blooms in this illustration. I also took a small brush filled with water and drew it down into the blue petals to create more backwashes in a linear form.

When the first Iris was dry, I added a second one behind it and tilted the photo just a bit more vertical so that you can see the detail. Notice, at the point of the arrows, the backwashes at the bottom of the petals and also in the throat of the darker Iris. More detail was painted into the throat of the first iris with a little less water on the brush. I actually planned this “so-called” mistake that so many artists think should be avoided. You be the judge.

When painting flowers and delicate subjects, try to never use heavy pigment when working on watercolor paper. It begins to look dull and pasty. In working on watercolor canvas, I have used more opaque pigments with some success, and they look more like oil or acrylic paintings. The heavier pigment work well on the watercolor canvas but I do not get the ruffled edges without painting them. On paper, I allow the water to help create the effect. It is my belief that watercolor is the only medium that does not require laborious brush work to create effects, if you just give up a little (or a lot of) control and let the water do the work!

We can also use watercolor blooms in a landscape. First paint in your mood, your sky, and cover the entire paper with these washes. Never paint just down to the horizon, as the color of the sky is usually reflected in everything in the foreground landscape. Sometimes you will have a body of water in the landscape, and it is important to paint the sky color into the foreground, since the water reflects the sky.

Paint background trees, whether dark or light in color. Allow the pigment to lose its shine. You can see the shine when held up to the light. That is the water that is still sitting on the surface of the paper… or whatever surface you are painting on.

In this painting I put in pale yellow green foliage, as if sunlight is filtering thru the trees. Then, when almost dry, I loaded the tip of a round brush, and brushed lightly back and forth to simulate leaves and limbs.

The water pushed aside the pigment, creating the watercolor blooms that we have been discussing. They have feathered edges and add to the visual as leaves and sparkle. I even added strokes in the stream of water to be leaves and rocks on top of the surface of the water.

I also used this technique in the hillside to the left to simulate leaves on the ground. I will go back into the painting with darker pigment for those trees and leaves that are silhouetted against the light.

See the details of the Watercolor Blooms

To finish the painting I added all the silhouetted tree trunks, and with a number of glazes of color, I darkened the shadows and some of the leaves. In doing so, I painted over many of the watercolor blooms, but this is OK, as we always should hide our technique whenever possible. To have a painting that is only blooms, doesn’t show our ability to finish a painting. Here is the finished painting: Woodland Spring

It is fun and relaxing to paint this way… No real attention to detail unless I need it later. I always said that watercolor will paint for you is you let it, and this is an example of just that! When you drop the water in, just let it “do its thing”. Wait, give up control, and watch what happens.

About

I have been painting with watercolor since 1998.

My paintings cover a wide range of subjects including portraits ,seascapes, landscape, flowers, wildlife and townscapes. I do not feel inclined to specialise in any one category as any subject can make an interesting work of art.

I have been exhibiting at regional and National art shows over this period at which I have sold many paintings and received many of awards. In 2009 I won the prestigious John Copes Watercolour Prize.

I have also also exhibited and sold paintings at other major exhibitions such as the Sydney Royal Agricultural Easter Show and the Blacktown Art Show.

The Australian Artist Magazine has published my articles on two occasions.

I am a member of the Macquarie Towns Art Society as well as the Nepean Art Society at which I teach watercolour and run regular workshops.

I have created this site so it can act as a resource for my students and as a repository of some of the things I have learnt about watercolor.

To learn more about Joe and to view more free watercolor demonstrations, please visit his website by following the link below:

===>  http://www.paintingwithwatercolors.com/

Bridge Steet, Melbourne

Street Scene Demonstration in Watercolor

(Click Images For Larger Views)

Reference Photo

Required Materials

Arches 300gsm Rough Watercolour Paper

Brushes: Sizes 24 and 16 for larger washes and 12 and 10 for the smaller areas and detail. Rigger to paint in the power lines.

Paints: All Winsor and Newton – Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Orange, French Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna, Alizarin Crimson are the main colors.

Backing board, masking tape, old towel to control wetness of your brushes.

Step One

Draw a line across the sheet at eye level and then adjust everything from there. Start by drawing a person, in this case the one on the bottom left hand side of the painting. Then draw the car near him. Think about the proportions of the car to the man, the man to the awning above in etc, when doing the drawing. In this way everything should look like it fits together. I will be doing a future demonstration on just how to draw a street scene.

Notice in the drawing below that I made adjustments I felt added to the overall design of the image e.g. I put in the tram and car on the other side of the road and made the road a little narrower. I removed some of the trees on the right hand side and simplified the buildings there. When I do a painting like this I do not stick completely to what is in the photograph or the scene in front of me when painting from life. If I want an image with everything in it as is then I might as well just frame my photograph. Instead I make adjustments which I feel will give the message I want to convey with a minimum of brush strokes and drawing. In this case I wanted to show the sunset with people no doubt on their way home after a days work!

Step 2

After you are happy with the drawing you will do your first wash. I make, very pale, separate mixes of Cobalt Blue and then another of Cad Orange. These will go into the sky as in Figure 3. I also use a mix of French Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson and a touch of Burnt Sienna for the road surface.

I start by laying down the wash of Cad Orange (remember this must be very pale or it will lose its transparency) and Cobalt Blue in the sky. These washes go over the building areas as in the image. This under wash over the buildings will act as the cool and warm highlights later in the painting.

Make sure the sky washes have lots of water in them and let the Cad Orange mix bead at the top of the distant road surface. They put in the road wash. In this case you want to create a graded wash from light in the distance to strong tones in the foreground. Furthermore the Cad Orange bead should flow into the road and create a lighter section which will enhance the distance effect.

Drop some of the road mixture under the awnings to act as an under wash for the shadows there.

Leave this to dry thoroughly.

STEP 3

We will now paint the buildings on the right hand side of this scene.

Make the distant ones very light and not so distinct with the colour leaning towards the blue grey (e.g. Cobalt Blue with a touch of Burnt Sienna and then as your move towards the edge of the paper add more pigment to strengthen the mix and warm it up with warmer colours (Burnt Sienna, French Ultramarine (instead of Cobalt Blue), Alizarin Crimson. Keep varying your colors. The tree is painted using Cad Orange. With swift expressive brush strokes leave highlights on the closer buildings to hint at windows and high lit parts of the walls.

I paint underneath the awning with French Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson and Burnt Sienna leaning towards the blue. I leave some highlights here too.

I run some of the building colour into the front of the car and tram to connect them with the bigger shapes.

STEP 4

Next we paint the buildings on the left hand side.

Start with a strong mix of French Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna and some Alizarin Crimson for the parts above the awning and then lighten (by adding more water) and cool (by adding more blue) as you move towards the distant sections of the scene. At first leave highlights and sharp edges and then soften these edges towards the distance.

Under the awning lean the color more towards the blue as can be seen in figure 5. Leave unpainted areas as impressions of windows, signs and table tops. Paint around the figures if you can.

STEP 5

Painting the lamp posts, cars and tram come next. Keep in mind where the light is coming from as this will tell you which sections of each object will be lighter than and which will be dark. Make sure as well that objects which are closer to the foreground are stronger in tone that those in the distance. I used a pale green colour for the tram.

We can now finish the painting by doing the figures (again more detail and stronger tones of the figures closer to the viewer), shadows under the cars and tram as well as texture and shadows on the road surface.

I also added more color to the tree (more Cad Orange).

Finish off with signage, power lines, birds, etc.

Happy painting!

Joe Cartwright