Painting Lesson
Seasonal Change
by Dan Meyer
 

     As in the first demonstration, the brand of watercolor paper I prefer is Arches 140# cold press. I recently purchased a roll of arches cold press from my friends at Hyatt's, our local art supply store, and thought this would be a good test of the role stock.
     I want to maximize the expanse of the sky so I'm going as wide as the drawing board I'm using to stretch my paper on.
     Arches is one of the finest watercolor papers available. It is made of 100% rag and can stand up to vigorous scrubbing if need be. All papers are given a protective coating during the manufacturing process called sizing. Thin and water-soluble, old dogs like me prefer to remove the sizing and stretch my paper.
     To do this, I cut the sheet to size and place it in a shallow bath of water, gently washing each side with a sponge. I then lift the sheet by one corner and let it drain. I place the sheet on paper towels I have previously placed on the table and again gently wipe the surface with a sponge, this time removing any excess water. Next, I place the sheet, right side up, on a solid wooden drawing board. 		 
      With a staple gun, I staple and stretch the sheet from the opposite side of the staple. I proceed back and forth until I have stapled the sheet on all sides.
   Most all paper, including watercolor paper, has a tendency to bulge, buckle or ripple when wet. Good quality, heavy rag paper, washed and stretched, will show minimal wrinkling after it is dried and rewet for painting.
    I prefer to air dry my paper but you may want to expedite the process by using a hair dryer. While my sheet is drying overnight, I prepare my subjects for transfer to the watercolor sheet.
    Once the paper is dry, I draw my images onto the sheet. I draw only as much information as I need. For this painting, that will include the buildings, the horizon line and the geese. I avoid drawing the trees. Pencil lines become targets for applying paint and I would rather be spontaneous with my strokes when creating trunks and branches.
    Before I apply the color wash to the sky, I'm going to mask the geese by applying masking fluid. This will keep the water from penetrating those areas and allow me to flow color across the sky without worrying about going around each bird. I want the birds to reflect some of that sunset which makes it imperative that I maintain the paper surface for rendering the geese later in the process.
    Before you apply the masking fluid, be sure to saturate the bristles of the brush with liquid soap. This makes clean-up a lot easier and prevents the masking fluid from sticking to the hairs and ultimately ruining the brush.
   

 

The Value Sketch
    If you looked at my first demonstration, Gator, I started with a value sketch. This is always a good idea in order to get a feel of where the darks and lights will be in your painting. We are, however, going to skip the value sketch for reasons that will soon be self evident.
    This painting began as a class demonstration about painting a sunset. At 7" x 15", this painting is more of a color rough. I liked it enough to attempt it in a larger scale with a few embellishments and a little more detail.
 
    This was, or is, my photographic reference. I mean that sincerely. Most of us started painting by copying our reference verbatim, myself included. As we progress, we need to reduce the mechanicalization and become more reliant on our artistic interpretation.
    Thinking about the reason for the value sketch we didn't do, I'm looking for value changes in the photo. The contrast between the bright sky and the silhouetted barns is what I want to paint. The cloud shapes, number of and size of buildings, location and size of trees in the photo is somewhat immaterial. The size I make these subjects and where I position them along with their values is what's important.
    First, the demonstration painting will be larger. Secondly, I don't feel the values are quite right. I need to darken the cool barns and perhaps tone down the strong warm colors in the sky. From a design standpoint, there is conflict in the point of interest. Is it the sunset or the barns? I have decided to take advantage of the large space given to the sky and add a flock of geese. This will not only draw interest but will complete a basic design principle, that of the triangle. The eye should flow from the geese to the sun to the barns or some variation thereof.
   

 

   
    Once the masking fluid has dried, I'm ready for the first wash. As I've said previously, watercolors are traditionally painted light to dark. This means the lightest colors are applied first followed by the midtones and the darkest values last. That said, I'll start with the lightest sky tones.
    I first wet the sky with clear water and let it absorb into the paper. When it reaches the "glistening" stage, it's time to apply paint. Yellows of varying tonal strengths followed by oranges and perhaps light reds.
    We want to show clouds of varying colors sitting on the sky, not in it. To do this, it's necessary to layer the washes of color. This is also known as glazing. A layered wash will sit on top of the previous one. 		 
    Once the first wash has dried completely,  gently apply another water wash over the entire sky again. Use minimal strokes as you do not want to activate the colors of the first wash. When the glistening stage is reached, it's time for the second wash of midtones. You can repeat this several times until you have reached the value changes you want to make up your sky.
    The photo below is the final wash for the sky. A side note: Digital cameras, monitors and printers all display colors differently unless they have been color calibrated to each other. Don't be overly concerned about the colors you see in this demo. They will vary from shot to shot. I want you to think more about the values.
    Let's put the brush down, let this dry thoroughly and we'll continue next week.

 

    I would like to see more values in the overall painting so let's address the barns and foreground.
    Using a 3/4" or 1" flat brush, lay a wash over the barns and foreground. You can paint all with the same color wash with some variation in color and value.
    Those of you who are new to watercolor are probably wondering what that blob is in the lower left. That is a blossom. It forms when water is added to an already wet area. The excess water pushes the paint across the surface of the paper, stopping in an area where the paper has begun to dry, forming a dam.
    Artists lovingly refer to these as "happy accidents". I plan to dry brush darker colors in this area later so I'm not concerned. Nine times out of ten you end up making it worse if you try to repair it. If it is objectionable, wash out the entire area and repaint it.
    I don't want to leave the masking fluid on any longer than necessary. Left too long, it may become part of the painting and extremely difficult to remove. Two to three days is good.
    Using a mask remover or rubber cement pick up, press down on the masked area and lift up to remove the mask. Repeat as necessary!
    With the masking removed, we have a whole bunch of  "snow geese" which will become Canada geese in our next lesson.
 
    We'll leave the barns behind as well for a moment and address the foreground. There is a layer of snow on the ground but not enough to cover completely. In order to create a rough appearance of exposed turf, I'll use the technique known as dry brush.
    You need to practice this one. The paint mix is a little heavier than the mix for a wash. I load the brush with paint, pushing the bristles into the mix right up to the furrel. I usually touch the brush to an absorbent paper towel to get rid of excess moisture. Then, with the brush low and parallel to the paper, I gently drag it across the sheet.
   Cold press paper has peaks and valleys in the texture. When you lightly touch the brush to the paper the majority of peaks take paint while leaving the valleys untouched. Push the brush down and you begin to fill the valleys. If the brush is too wet it will leave a solid stroke. Adjust your paint, water mix, change brushes but like I said, PRACTICE!           
 
    Back to the barns. Using that same flat brush, I mixed a dark color using French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna, to create the openings using one or two strokes. The roofs are  a variation of  the same color.
    I also added a tree line in the distance. This is that same mixture of color with a lot of water and the addition of Cobalt Blue.

 

    OK, let's tackle the geese. I'm a large brush kind of guy but this is a job for mini brush! A no.1 or 2 round should do it. Use the brush that works best for YOU.
    I applied orange to the breasts and bellies of the geese to represent the reflected sunlight. The heads, necks and sides of the birds are Cobalt Blue with a little Burnt Sienna and maybe a touch of French Ultramarine. The birds are so small it's difficult to really determine color. That's fine, we're interested in value anyway.
        Some of the belly colors in the geese were a little too strong so I lifted some out with a little water.
    The dark portions of the geese are again a mixture of French Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna. As small as the birds are, you can see some variation in the dark color from dark brown to blackish. I painted around the cheek patch leaving the paper to represent that distinct feature on a Canada goose.

    Let's sit back and take another overall gander (no pun intended) at our work.
 
    I usually proceed with my plan for a painting before I make additions or corrections, however, I've decided to give the geese company and fill the sky with more birds.
    These additional birds are in the distance and should not be as detailed or prominent as the main flock. I'll use some of that dark mix, heavy on the Cobalt, that has dried in the pallet. A little water will get it moving again.
    We want these birds to be secondary to the main flock so cool, light tones should separate them from the main group but join them with the painting.

 


If you were paying attention last week, you may have noticed a few unmentioned additions to the painting while I was painting the geese.
 

Using a damp brush, I lifted out sunrays from the orange glare by applying the water and then pressing with a facial tissue. I found this too strong as I finished the painting and softened it further.

Strokes of warm tones were added to the foreground to represent some of the weeds and grasses picking up some of the sunlight. The paint is a little thicker than normal and more opaque than transparent.

The bigger barn received some warm tones as well under the overhang of the roof along with a few strokes to represent barn boards. Note the negative painting to create the fence at the right.

 

    We'll complete our painting this week with the addition of our darkest darks. These will be the silhouetted trees. I'm yet again using the Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna mix with the addition of Hooker's Green for my conifers.
    I load a 1/2" flat brush with the mixture and dab the edge to the paper in a vertical direction to represent the trunk. I then turn the brush to lay in horizontal strokes for the branches. Adjust the color to suit the situation. Lighter on the left, in the direction of the sun, darker to the right or shaded side. Make sure to vary the height from each other as well as the trees in the background.
    The hardwoods are the dark mixture of paint without the green. I add a little more Burnt Sienna or Burnt Umber to warm them up slightly.
    Switching to a round style brush, I paint in the heavier trunk portions of the deciduous trees.  I now switch to a rigger for the finer branches. The brush hair are approximately 1" in length and can carry a thin line of paint a long way.
    Hold the brush near the end of the handle in a vertical position. Place the tip of the brush at a point where a branch would grow from the tree and with a flicking motion, snap the brush to create a short branch. Find a spot on the newly created branch and repeat the action making the strokes shorter and thinner as you approach the top of the tree.

    That should just about do it. Step back and take a look. I usually leave it for the following day and take a fresh look. You may notice something that needs a little tweaking. I actually added a goose and softened the sun glare.

   Thanks for joining me for this demo. I hope you found the information helpful. Now, have some fun...GO PAINT!
   
 
Seasonal Change
by Dan Meyer

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