Greens Revisited
Hi gang, have been busy with new artist in residence studio on my property and a new book project. A reader had some concerns about the green exercise I last gave so will clarify.
The basic idea is to practice making greens in each family of colors (transparent delicate, intense, and opaque) with the basic blues and yellows. you will be able to make lots of greens just by varying the amount of yellow or blue that you mix.
then, add the red in that family to the green mixtures of yellow and blue and you will create a green gray, very useful green colors. you will see the mixtures going from orange-brown (too much red and yellow) to blue gray (too much blue). practice.
then, you can do the basic mixtures and try some of the staining or intense colors, the pthalos, to the basic mixtures and see how you can enrich each of the green mixtures.
essentially that is the intent of the exercise. practice and i will have another section for you at end of next week.
keep painting, ron kasprisin
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Common Flaws
Hi gang, sorry i have been away, went fishing in Ontario Canada and had a great time.
This section is on common flaws when beginning your watercolors. Flaws is a weak term but my students view them as that so we will use the term. When beginning watercolor painting, there are characteristics that show up in your washes etc. that are normal and natural and will go away with time. Here are a few:
BANDING. when doing washes for practice and you are using a back and forth brush stroke, moving down the page as you paint, you may get banding marks in the wash. this is usually due to a number of things:
1. you are putting too much pressure on the brush, driving the brush into the paper where the brush has more than one point of contact with the paper, leaving two marks or streaks not one
2. your brush angle may be too low, again putting more than one part of brush on paper and leaving a banding affect.
3. i suggest really lightening up on your pressure, move your hand away from the ferrule up the handle, and put the pressure of your hand into your pinky with the pinky resting on the paper and moving with the stroke, it really helps.
BLOSSOMS AT BOTTOM OF WASH. when you get to the end of a wash, and the paper is dry, the bead left at the bottom will usually not keep running down the paper but will sit there. here is where the example of drying wash sucking up the wetter wash comes into play. as the wash above starts to dry out, it pulls the wetter bead back up into itself (the damp dry sponge affect on your wetter brush) and you will get a blossom. HINT: wipe your brush and use it as a blotter and run it over the bead to pick up the excess water into your brush from the paper.
FLOODING. i prefer students to be more wet than dry so i dont worry about flooding where you have water from previous strokes running down the paper into the new wash area. sometimes this can be the cheaper studennt grade paper or just too much water in the brush. just keep practicing and dont get too dry.
BREAKING EDGES. get in the habit of breaking or lifting out your edges as you finish a wash. quickly either add water no pigment to the end of the wash as if doing a merging and let the wash edge just soften out like cotton; or quickly go into the wet edge with a damp brush and lift our or break the wet edge to soften it and avoid hard edges.
More later, have fun. Ron K
This section is on common flaws when beginning your watercolors. Flaws is a weak term but my students view them as that so we will use the term. When beginning watercolor painting, there are characteristics that show up in your washes etc. that are normal and natural and will go away with time. Here are a few:
BANDING. when doing washes for practice and you are using a back and forth brush stroke, moving down the page as you paint, you may get banding marks in the wash. this is usually due to a number of things:
1. you are putting too much pressure on the brush, driving the brush into the paper where the brush has more than one point of contact with the paper, leaving two marks or streaks not one
2. your brush angle may be too low, again putting more than one part of brush on paper and leaving a banding affect.
3. i suggest really lightening up on your pressure, move your hand away from the ferrule up the handle, and put the pressure of your hand into your pinky with the pinky resting on the paper and moving with the stroke, it really helps.
BLOSSOMS AT BOTTOM OF WASH. when you get to the end of a wash, and the paper is dry, the bead left at the bottom will usually not keep running down the paper but will sit there. here is where the example of drying wash sucking up the wetter wash comes into play. as the wash above starts to dry out, it pulls the wetter bead back up into itself (the damp dry sponge affect on your wetter brush) and you will get a blossom. HINT: wipe your brush and use it as a blotter and run it over the bead to pick up the excess water into your brush from the paper.
FLOODING. i prefer students to be more wet than dry so i dont worry about flooding where you have water from previous strokes running down the paper into the new wash area. sometimes this can be the cheaper studennt grade paper or just too much water in the brush. just keep practicing and dont get too dry.
BREAKING EDGES. get in the habit of breaking or lifting out your edges as you finish a wash. quickly either add water no pigment to the end of the wash as if doing a merging and let the wash edge just soften out like cotton; or quickly go into the wet edge with a damp brush and lift our or break the wet edge to soften it and avoid hard edges.
More later, have fun. Ron K
Monday, September 7, 2009
watercolor lesson: greens
Watercolor Lesson: Greens
Greens are dominant in most landscapes and often provide real challenges for beginning painters. Architects and landscape architects are traditionally fond of olive green and are often surprised to find out that it is actually a green gray: all three primaries are present and the red quiets down the color intensity of the yellow and blue mixture.
Mixing greens requires some practice with each palette family and with the staining colors.
Basic Greens. for each palette, the delicate transparent, staining and opaque palettes, mix the yellow and blue in varying amounts for a range of greens from yellow green to green to green blue. For example, mix azo yellow and cobalt blue to get a nice bright green. vary the amounts of azo and cobalt to mix a range of greens. Repeat this for each of the other two palettes, pthalo yellow and pthalo blue, and yellow ochre and cerulean blue.
Green Grays. Now mix the family red with each of the green mixtures and do a number of variations (you will see the green going from a green to a brown so be careful and use your eye judge). for example, mix azo yellow, cobalt blue and add rose madder to take the brightness away. Next for the same palette family, instead of using the family red, as in red madder, mix a staining red such as pthalo red or alizarin crimson to see the more intense version of the green gray. do for each family.
Mark down under each mixture what the colors used are so you have for reference.
More later, have fun painting.
Greens are dominant in most landscapes and often provide real challenges for beginning painters. Architects and landscape architects are traditionally fond of olive green and are often surprised to find out that it is actually a green gray: all three primaries are present and the red quiets down the color intensity of the yellow and blue mixture.
Mixing greens requires some practice with each palette family and with the staining colors.
Basic Greens. for each palette, the delicate transparent, staining and opaque palettes, mix the yellow and blue in varying amounts for a range of greens from yellow green to green to green blue. For example, mix azo yellow and cobalt blue to get a nice bright green. vary the amounts of azo and cobalt to mix a range of greens. Repeat this for each of the other two palettes, pthalo yellow and pthalo blue, and yellow ochre and cerulean blue.
Green Grays. Now mix the family red with each of the green mixtures and do a number of variations (you will see the green going from a green to a brown so be careful and use your eye judge). for example, mix azo yellow, cobalt blue and add rose madder to take the brightness away. Next for the same palette family, instead of using the family red, as in red madder, mix a staining red such as pthalo red or alizarin crimson to see the more intense version of the green gray. do for each family.
Mark down under each mixture what the colors used are so you have for reference.
More later, have fun painting.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Back to Basics: Rich Darks
Back to Basics: Rich Darks
Before we get too far with our merged washes, we need to keep practicing how to mix our washes, our actual wash approach and application of that wash to the paper. Remember that you will constantly improve as you practice washes, darks, greens, etc. so do as many of the exercises as you can. The more paint and water to paper the better you become.
Remember: wet on wet is taking a wet charged brush to wet paper; dropping in the wet wash onto the paper when the shininess of the paper disappears (goes from floating on the surface reflecting light to being absorved into the paper fibers); and wet on dry is taking a wet charged brush to dry paper, the Direct Method, and method I prefer as I have more control and choices over my edge conditions (more on that later).
ALWAYS REMEMBER TO STAY AWAY FROM DAMP WASHES WITH NEW WETTER WASHES. Yes, wet on wet specialists can go into a damp wash but they are very experienced in how fast washes set up or dry. If you go into a wet or damp wash on paper with anything but pure pigment, you will get a blossom--a flower like blemish. A few are fine but a lot are not. Also, with water in the paper, your new wash will be moved around in the fibers and mix way more than you want, creating a muddy dull affect.
Remember: I prefer a "clinging wash" to a "swimming pool wash" where the pigment in the mixing well on the palette is not in a large and diluting pool of water; where I would have to bring a lot of pigment in to get a good dark or rich color, wasting pigments. And I do not recommend those small wash tubs or bowls. Too much diluted wash of one color.
Remember: when mixing a wash or getting ready to mix washes on palette for mergings on the paper, go to the pigment well with a damp dry brush to get pigment and not dilute the pigment well with excess water; getting rid of the excess water in brush by slatting (my technique but make sure dog is not behind you!), or touching brush to damp dry sponge or roll of TP. Work fast, clean off brush in wash water container, check excess water, go to pigment well, bring pigment to palette mixing area, get more water as needed from wash container, go to paper, clean brush and do over. FAST.
Rich Darks: Rich and Dark. When mixing darks, remember that the less times you make the attempt, the more fresh your wash will be. Conversely, the more you make efforts, washing over and over, to get a dark the more chance of making muddy and lifeless colors. So practice making darks by mixing the primaries and secondaries on the opaque and delicate palettes with staining colors. I suggest you not use black or Indigo because you will definitely get black and lose the richness of the dark color.
Darks Exercise: Sketch out a number of 3x5 rectangles, minimum, or favorite shapes as needed side by side. Paint a primary color into the first rectangle, say rose madder; in the next shape, mix in a pthalo red to the rose madder and try to make it dark; do again with rose madder and alizarin crimson. If you make the mixture too dark, the wash will go flat or shiny and not allow light to get through--this is good as you will know what dark is too much rather than being overly cautious and thinking a medium mixture is a dark!
Repeat this exercise for the other reds and blues in your palette; then do the same for the secondary colors (purple, orange, green).
Other colors to use to make darks are Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, pthalo green as well as the other staining colors.
try other combinations. If you mix all three primaries together you will get a gray. Grays are fine as long as they have a COLOR DOMINANCE and can make muted and rich darks.
Before we get too far with our merged washes, we need to keep practicing how to mix our washes, our actual wash approach and application of that wash to the paper. Remember that you will constantly improve as you practice washes, darks, greens, etc. so do as many of the exercises as you can. The more paint and water to paper the better you become.
Remember: wet on wet is taking a wet charged brush to wet paper; dropping in the wet wash onto the paper when the shininess of the paper disappears (goes from floating on the surface reflecting light to being absorved into the paper fibers); and wet on dry is taking a wet charged brush to dry paper, the Direct Method, and method I prefer as I have more control and choices over my edge conditions (more on that later).
ALWAYS REMEMBER TO STAY AWAY FROM DAMP WASHES WITH NEW WETTER WASHES. Yes, wet on wet specialists can go into a damp wash but they are very experienced in how fast washes set up or dry. If you go into a wet or damp wash on paper with anything but pure pigment, you will get a blossom--a flower like blemish. A few are fine but a lot are not. Also, with water in the paper, your new wash will be moved around in the fibers and mix way more than you want, creating a muddy dull affect.
Remember: I prefer a "clinging wash" to a "swimming pool wash" where the pigment in the mixing well on the palette is not in a large and diluting pool of water; where I would have to bring a lot of pigment in to get a good dark or rich color, wasting pigments. And I do not recommend those small wash tubs or bowls. Too much diluted wash of one color.
Remember: when mixing a wash or getting ready to mix washes on palette for mergings on the paper, go to the pigment well with a damp dry brush to get pigment and not dilute the pigment well with excess water; getting rid of the excess water in brush by slatting (my technique but make sure dog is not behind you!), or touching brush to damp dry sponge or roll of TP. Work fast, clean off brush in wash water container, check excess water, go to pigment well, bring pigment to palette mixing area, get more water as needed from wash container, go to paper, clean brush and do over. FAST.
Rich Darks: Rich and Dark. When mixing darks, remember that the less times you make the attempt, the more fresh your wash will be. Conversely, the more you make efforts, washing over and over, to get a dark the more chance of making muddy and lifeless colors. So practice making darks by mixing the primaries and secondaries on the opaque and delicate palettes with staining colors. I suggest you not use black or Indigo because you will definitely get black and lose the richness of the dark color.
Darks Exercise: Sketch out a number of 3x5 rectangles, minimum, or favorite shapes as needed side by side. Paint a primary color into the first rectangle, say rose madder; in the next shape, mix in a pthalo red to the rose madder and try to make it dark; do again with rose madder and alizarin crimson. If you make the mixture too dark, the wash will go flat or shiny and not allow light to get through--this is good as you will know what dark is too much rather than being overly cautious and thinking a medium mixture is a dark!
Repeat this exercise for the other reds and blues in your palette; then do the same for the secondary colors (purple, orange, green).
Other colors to use to make darks are Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, pthalo green as well as the other staining colors.
try other combinations. If you mix all three primaries together you will get a gray. Grays are fine as long as they have a COLOR DOMINANCE and can make muted and rich darks.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Merging Clarifications
Some additional information on the merging expansion recent blog:
when I refer to "bouncing around" in order to avoid horizontal banding affect, remember that I want variety in the color merge and am essentially painting across the paper and down (I usually paint in an angled direction across and down the shape to use gravity for my wet washes); I do not always bounce around the shapes with my merges, particularly if i know i am going to be changing colors rapidly in a given shape and know what "local" colors i am going to use; however, if i want to create a lot of variety in a larger shape and again avoid a banding look, i may go to the right an inch or two, lay down a new color then go back to the first and still wet wash and fill the space between that i left blank, jumping back and forth to get more variety. I mention this as a lot of my students do get a banding affect when they begin the merged washes exercises. Part of this is because they are using limited colors. again, I recommend sketching out some landscape cluster shapes and practicing until you can see more variety in your washes. I hope this helps.
I also suggest painting fast, wet and loose as you try this..it is fun and helps you to do less analyzing about what you are doing and more reflex, letting the paint, brush and water do their thing.
Next blog will talk about the advantages of painting fast and doing a lot of painting sketches for practice.
Have fun. Ron K
when I refer to "bouncing around" in order to avoid horizontal banding affect, remember that I want variety in the color merge and am essentially painting across the paper and down (I usually paint in an angled direction across and down the shape to use gravity for my wet washes); I do not always bounce around the shapes with my merges, particularly if i know i am going to be changing colors rapidly in a given shape and know what "local" colors i am going to use; however, if i want to create a lot of variety in a larger shape and again avoid a banding look, i may go to the right an inch or two, lay down a new color then go back to the first and still wet wash and fill the space between that i left blank, jumping back and forth to get more variety. I mention this as a lot of my students do get a banding affect when they begin the merged washes exercises. Part of this is because they are using limited colors. again, I recommend sketching out some landscape cluster shapes and practicing until you can see more variety in your washes. I hope this helps.
I also suggest painting fast, wet and loose as you try this..it is fun and helps you to do less analyzing about what you are doing and more reflex, letting the paint, brush and water do their thing.
Next blog will talk about the advantages of painting fast and doing a lot of painting sketches for practice.
Have fun. Ron K
Merging Expanded
Hi gang: today I want to expand the merged washes section as it may sound easy but it takes practice and some speed.
First, for one of the best merge wash artists, in my opinion, I suggest you look up Charles Reid, a very famous east coast American Impressionist who essentially mixes his washes on the paper as opposed to in the palette. In addition, Charles Reid uses bright mid values in his shadow shapes and holds off a bit on the very dark values. His paintings are full of life and color variety and that is the point of this expanded lesson.
Merging: to review, merging is a way of bringing two or more colors together on the paper instead of in the palette. Merging results in more color variety in smaller shapes; and when you are working on larger watercolor sheets, as the shapes get larger, you will be able to wash with more variety in those larger shapes instead of boring mono-chromatic color. I find that speed helps.
Here is an example of how i work my mergings:
I can premix some colors on the palette (secondary colors like an orange or a purple)
then I go to the paper and start laying down a yellow for example and then quickly swishing brush in water, getting rid of excess water, going into palette and grabbing an orange and back to paper and push it into but not over the previous wet wash...(only at the edge--maybe about a quarter to one half inch into the previous and still wet first wash); keep adding colors this way.
to avoid getting bands of merged colors, I bounce around a bit as I go across the paper then come back to the spaces i left blank (and I am always painting down working the wet edges); I know this may sound a bit confusing but visualize an island in Puget Sound with fir and hemlock trees partly lit by the sun and part in shade. I do not want bands of merged colors going across the islandscape; so i lay down a yellow and then a yellow green and a blue into the wash and maybe skip an inch and lay down oranges and then go back to the one inch space and add some blue green or green. still working fast and across but bouncing a bit to avoid banding.
dont get frustrted: try some simple shapes. Again, a good exercise that i learned from Charles Reid's work is to sketch out some fun shapes, say a tree; mix a green with yellow and blue in your palette and paint the first tree with that color. monochromatic. exciting? hardly. Now in a similar sketch shape, put down a yellow, then a yellow green into the yellow then a blue into the green and back with a yellow into the green edge--pushing into but not painting over the previous washes.
Exercise: Sketch out some simple landscape cluster shapes (bushes, cluster of trees) only along their outer contours or edges. then start playing with merged washes using about six colors (yellow, blue, yellow and blue, pthalo green (careful!)); i also like to use multiple yellows and blues, say Indian Yellow with Azo Yellow, and Cobalt Blue with Cerulean or Ultramarine)
Have fun. Comments are appreciated. Ron K
First, for one of the best merge wash artists, in my opinion, I suggest you look up Charles Reid, a very famous east coast American Impressionist who essentially mixes his washes on the paper as opposed to in the palette. In addition, Charles Reid uses bright mid values in his shadow shapes and holds off a bit on the very dark values. His paintings are full of life and color variety and that is the point of this expanded lesson.
Merging: to review, merging is a way of bringing two or more colors together on the paper instead of in the palette. Merging results in more color variety in smaller shapes; and when you are working on larger watercolor sheets, as the shapes get larger, you will be able to wash with more variety in those larger shapes instead of boring mono-chromatic color. I find that speed helps.
Here is an example of how i work my mergings:
I can premix some colors on the palette (secondary colors like an orange or a purple)
then I go to the paper and start laying down a yellow for example and then quickly swishing brush in water, getting rid of excess water, going into palette and grabbing an orange and back to paper and push it into but not over the previous wet wash...(only at the edge--maybe about a quarter to one half inch into the previous and still wet first wash); keep adding colors this way.
to avoid getting bands of merged colors, I bounce around a bit as I go across the paper then come back to the spaces i left blank (and I am always painting down working the wet edges); I know this may sound a bit confusing but visualize an island in Puget Sound with fir and hemlock trees partly lit by the sun and part in shade. I do not want bands of merged colors going across the islandscape; so i lay down a yellow and then a yellow green and a blue into the wash and maybe skip an inch and lay down oranges and then go back to the one inch space and add some blue green or green. still working fast and across but bouncing a bit to avoid banding.
dont get frustrted: try some simple shapes. Again, a good exercise that i learned from Charles Reid's work is to sketch out some fun shapes, say a tree; mix a green with yellow and blue in your palette and paint the first tree with that color. monochromatic. exciting? hardly. Now in a similar sketch shape, put down a yellow, then a yellow green into the yellow then a blue into the green and back with a yellow into the green edge--pushing into but not painting over the previous washes.
Exercise: Sketch out some simple landscape cluster shapes (bushes, cluster of trees) only along their outer contours or edges. then start playing with merged washes using about six colors (yellow, blue, yellow and blue, pthalo green (careful!)); i also like to use multiple yellows and blues, say Indian Yellow with Azo Yellow, and Cobalt Blue with Cerulean or Ultramarine)
Have fun. Comments are appreciated. Ron K
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Watercolor Lesson Series
Hi watercolor enthusiasts! Yes, watercolor is said to be "hard and difficult" and do you know why? Water! It is wet, fluid, affected by gravity, evaporates and is absorbed into the paper at varying rates; not like oils or even acrylics. and is it fun and challenging. So, as an instructor in watercolor at the University of Washington in Seattle, i am going to begin a series of watercolor lessons for interested beginners on this blog. i hope you like the series and pardon my bad jokes when i tell them as there is a purpose behind them: reducing your fears or reticence (form of fear) so that you can engage the exercises and gain confidence. Here we go!
For this first Blog, I will set you up with materials at a more reasonable cost and a few exercises to get you going until two weeks from now.
Materials:
Materials purchased online via mail order companies are on average 50% cheaper than in retail stores and that is the way i suggest you go. I use Art Supply Warehouse (aswexpress.com) due to their large inventory and great prices (and no they are not paying me for this). Others are Cheap Joes, Blicks, Artorama and others. Do your research and compare both prices and inventory. iwill suggest all student grade materials below as your effort here is to paint not be a master. The more paint on the paper the more learning occurs.
Brushes: brushes are your most important purchase. you need a watercolor brush, not bristle brush, that both absorbs water and springs back when used. Many quality brushes have a combination of synthetics and sable hairs. Student grade watercolor brushes are usually synthetic. DO NOT BUY BRUSHES THAT ARE GOAT, SQUIRREL, CAMEL, YETI OR AUNT HILDA'S HAIR! Why? they absorb water (not sure about Aunt Hilda's) but will not spring back to a vertical position and flop over instead. You cannot paint this way and it will be the tools fault, not yours.
At a minimum:
(1) one large round, about a 16 pt. minimum and the student grade brushes are a bit smaller than the professional grade. I use Winsor Newton Septre Series but these are professional grade brushes and more expensive. I urge you not to spend money on small brushes. Why? They will not hold a "charge" or water volume in the brush. they are good for final detail and signing your name.
(1) One inch flat brush, for larger washes like sky and other applications. I also use a wash brush, 2 or more inches in width but they are expensive.
(1) optional 10pt or 12pt round for smaller shapes and detail.
Paper:
again, student grade only...
140 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper in tablet or spiral form, block pads (edges are glued to pull the paper tight as it absorbs water); do not get any paper lighter than 140 lb. as the buckling will really create too many valleys and bulges that will affect your washes
I use hot press but do not recommend it for beginners as it is smoother, runs faster and leaves more blemishes...which i like as it causes me to work faster and staying looser.
the student grade papers are cheaper and have a gesso like finish but will allow you to play and experiment so dont have great expectations on results. and you can use both sides of most papers as you are practicing.
Pads are usually 9 x 12 in size and I suggest not getting anything smaller.
Pallettes:
you want a decent paint pallette with at least eight or more pigment wells (the place you put your pigment ($) in) and three to four good sized mixing wells (the place you mix the pigments with water). you want to keep diluting water excess away from the pigment wells as you will be losing pigment ($).
Plastic rectangular and circular pallettes are inexpensive. I urge you not to get a field or sketching pallette as they just are not large enough to be effective except when travelling.
When you purchase the pallette, wash is with a dish detergent and a scrubby type sponge as many have some coating that makes your washes bead up for awhile.
Other pallette choices include metal with enamel interior which I like, ceramic plates as in dinner plates. Do not invest in wash cups, to be explained later.
Pigments:
There are lots of new pigments on the market. Later you can have fun and explore them. I suggest that you stick to the basic three families of color pallettes, in student grade paints, and learn how to mix and use these before moving on to exotic paints.
Manufacturers include (student grade name in ()): Grumbacher (Academy), Winsor Newton (Cotman), Da Vinci and many more. Here is the critical rule: do not buy any watercolor that does not have a common name: yellow ochre, cobalt blue, rose madder (all common names). Say no to "blue, red, " etc.
Delicate Transparent Pallette (bright and delicate meaning they can be lifted off of paper after dried with a brush and clear water and blotter)
Rose Madder (red)
Cobalt Blue (blue)
Azo or Aureleon Yellow
Veridian is a mixing green that is optional, not pleasant by itself and used to mix and cool other colors.
Staining Transparent Palette (bright and intense and will not come out of paper after application i.e. stains)
In professional grade paints, the stains are often called by the manufacturer's name, such as Winsor Red, Grumbacher Red etc. In most other cases they are called pthalo, intense, permanent.
pthalo red, yellow and blue
I often use a pthalo green as a mixing color for getting darks as well as alizarin crimson, a cooler red and great for mixing (be careful it will glow if over-used).
Opaque Transparent Pallette (oxymoron i know but they are transparent and chalkier as they do not totally dissolve)
Cadmium Red (great color but not a great mixing color as it gets "foggy" or murky)
Cerulean Blue
Yellow Ochre
Other colors that i like and use a lot are: Cadmium yellow and orange, burnt sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Indian Yellow.
Other Materials:
paper towels
soft pencil (not softer than a 3B as softer pencils can get oily due to density and hard to come out of paper and they can smear)
kneaded erasure (I do not recommend erasing at all!)
water container such as a margarine type for cleaning brushes and getting water during painting
water reservoir if painting outside or away from water source, such as hiking jugs
one inch drafting tape if desired (not masking tape as this kind can dry and tear paper when being removed)
object to elevate your watercolor paper when working so you create a minimum of 30% angle to bring gravity into picture
brush holder that breaths and has a bottom so you dont lose your brushes; if you use a hard container punch some holes into it so you dont mold your brushes
backpack
And, set up a place at home that is YOUR place; small desk whatever...so that you can start painting immediately without having to clean up and get all materials out each time you paint--this helps reduce "circling the wagons" avoidance.
Okay, a couple of basic exercises to get you going, get you familiar with tools, get you familiar with what your pigments are like and how to begin mixing pigments and water.
First, the Basics of Painting Techniques:
There are many ways to paint in watercolor and there are a number of ways to begin with that are conventional and very useful: WET ON WET, WET ON DRY, GLAZING, MERGING
WET ON WET (developed in the southwest of US in hot dry climates)
this provides water in the paper prior to adding a wash in order to better control evaporation and drying. Wet the paper in your rectangles 3x5 with clear water, let the shininess disappear (water is now in paper fibre and not floating on top reflecting light) and then immediately add your wash--see how the water in paper grabs your application and gently or quickly moves your wash around and creates a soft edge.
WET ON DRY (DIRECT METHOD)
This is the method I use and consists of bring a wet wash to dry paper. more control and leaves a dry edge unless you bring water to that edge and keep working it (more later)
GLAZING AND MERGING
Glazing is simply applying another wash over another DRIED WASH and creating a transparent or translucent color effect. DO NOT GO OVER A DAMP WASH AS THE WATER REMAINING IN THE PAPER WILL GRAB YOUR NEW WASH AND SPREAD AND MIX IT INTO MUD. LEAVE IT ALONE! Merging as described below can also be glazed over a previous DRIED WASH.
Exercise One: Three values for each pigment.
This may seem like a bit tedious but it is not. for each color in your three families of colors, paint each one three times in 3x5 rectanles with one being very light, two being rich and in middle value and three being as dark as you can paint it. if you go too far then I give you a gold star as you now know what too far is instead of a cautious and ineffetive "dark". It is okay to "fail". Mark the colors. If you go too far, usually you will see a shininess to wash as the pigment is so thick that there is no light getting to paper as it is being reflected back to you.
Exercise Two: Merging Washes
Instead of regular mono- or same washes, I like to start my students out on merged washes as a prelude to mixing colors on the paper as well as on the pallette.
for each family of colors, mix at least two colors together on the pallette and paint in a 3x5 rectangle; e.g. mix red and yellow to get orange;
below that rectangle, put the yellow down, immediately put the red down and push it into the yellow about a quarter to half inch minimum and mix some red and yellow in pallette for an orange and add that as well, repeat and keep going with all three colors until you achieve a merge wash. If you look at my work on the web site, www.ronkasprisin.com, you will see a lot of merging in all of my work.
More next week.
Have fun painting
Ron Kasprisin AIA
For this first Blog, I will set you up with materials at a more reasonable cost and a few exercises to get you going until two weeks from now.
Materials:
Materials purchased online via mail order companies are on average 50% cheaper than in retail stores and that is the way i suggest you go. I use Art Supply Warehouse (aswexpress.com) due to their large inventory and great prices (and no they are not paying me for this). Others are Cheap Joes, Blicks, Artorama and others. Do your research and compare both prices and inventory. iwill suggest all student grade materials below as your effort here is to paint not be a master. The more paint on the paper the more learning occurs.
Brushes: brushes are your most important purchase. you need a watercolor brush, not bristle brush, that both absorbs water and springs back when used. Many quality brushes have a combination of synthetics and sable hairs. Student grade watercolor brushes are usually synthetic. DO NOT BUY BRUSHES THAT ARE GOAT, SQUIRREL, CAMEL, YETI OR AUNT HILDA'S HAIR! Why? they absorb water (not sure about Aunt Hilda's) but will not spring back to a vertical position and flop over instead. You cannot paint this way and it will be the tools fault, not yours.
At a minimum:
(1) one large round, about a 16 pt. minimum and the student grade brushes are a bit smaller than the professional grade. I use Winsor Newton Septre Series but these are professional grade brushes and more expensive. I urge you not to spend money on small brushes. Why? They will not hold a "charge" or water volume in the brush. they are good for final detail and signing your name.
(1) One inch flat brush, for larger washes like sky and other applications. I also use a wash brush, 2 or more inches in width but they are expensive.
(1) optional 10pt or 12pt round for smaller shapes and detail.
Paper:
again, student grade only...
140 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper in tablet or spiral form, block pads (edges are glued to pull the paper tight as it absorbs water); do not get any paper lighter than 140 lb. as the buckling will really create too many valleys and bulges that will affect your washes
I use hot press but do not recommend it for beginners as it is smoother, runs faster and leaves more blemishes...which i like as it causes me to work faster and staying looser.
the student grade papers are cheaper and have a gesso like finish but will allow you to play and experiment so dont have great expectations on results. and you can use both sides of most papers as you are practicing.
Pads are usually 9 x 12 in size and I suggest not getting anything smaller.
Pallettes:
you want a decent paint pallette with at least eight or more pigment wells (the place you put your pigment ($) in) and three to four good sized mixing wells (the place you mix the pigments with water). you want to keep diluting water excess away from the pigment wells as you will be losing pigment ($).
Plastic rectangular and circular pallettes are inexpensive. I urge you not to get a field or sketching pallette as they just are not large enough to be effective except when travelling.
When you purchase the pallette, wash is with a dish detergent and a scrubby type sponge as many have some coating that makes your washes bead up for awhile.
Other pallette choices include metal with enamel interior which I like, ceramic plates as in dinner plates. Do not invest in wash cups, to be explained later.
Pigments:
There are lots of new pigments on the market. Later you can have fun and explore them. I suggest that you stick to the basic three families of color pallettes, in student grade paints, and learn how to mix and use these before moving on to exotic paints.
Manufacturers include (student grade name in ()): Grumbacher (Academy), Winsor Newton (Cotman), Da Vinci and many more. Here is the critical rule: do not buy any watercolor that does not have a common name: yellow ochre, cobalt blue, rose madder (all common names). Say no to "blue, red, " etc.
Delicate Transparent Pallette (bright and delicate meaning they can be lifted off of paper after dried with a brush and clear water and blotter)
Rose Madder (red)
Cobalt Blue (blue)
Azo or Aureleon Yellow
Veridian is a mixing green that is optional, not pleasant by itself and used to mix and cool other colors.
Staining Transparent Palette (bright and intense and will not come out of paper after application i.e. stains)
In professional grade paints, the stains are often called by the manufacturer's name, such as Winsor Red, Grumbacher Red etc. In most other cases they are called pthalo, intense, permanent.
pthalo red, yellow and blue
I often use a pthalo green as a mixing color for getting darks as well as alizarin crimson, a cooler red and great for mixing (be careful it will glow if over-used).
Opaque Transparent Pallette (oxymoron i know but they are transparent and chalkier as they do not totally dissolve)
Cadmium Red (great color but not a great mixing color as it gets "foggy" or murky)
Cerulean Blue
Yellow Ochre
Other colors that i like and use a lot are: Cadmium yellow and orange, burnt sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Indian Yellow.
Other Materials:
paper towels
soft pencil (not softer than a 3B as softer pencils can get oily due to density and hard to come out of paper and they can smear)
kneaded erasure (I do not recommend erasing at all!)
water container such as a margarine type for cleaning brushes and getting water during painting
water reservoir if painting outside or away from water source, such as hiking jugs
one inch drafting tape if desired (not masking tape as this kind can dry and tear paper when being removed)
object to elevate your watercolor paper when working so you create a minimum of 30% angle to bring gravity into picture
brush holder that breaths and has a bottom so you dont lose your brushes; if you use a hard container punch some holes into it so you dont mold your brushes
backpack
And, set up a place at home that is YOUR place; small desk whatever...so that you can start painting immediately without having to clean up and get all materials out each time you paint--this helps reduce "circling the wagons" avoidance.
Okay, a couple of basic exercises to get you going, get you familiar with tools, get you familiar with what your pigments are like and how to begin mixing pigments and water.
First, the Basics of Painting Techniques:
There are many ways to paint in watercolor and there are a number of ways to begin with that are conventional and very useful: WET ON WET, WET ON DRY, GLAZING, MERGING
WET ON WET (developed in the southwest of US in hot dry climates)
this provides water in the paper prior to adding a wash in order to better control evaporation and drying. Wet the paper in your rectangles 3x5 with clear water, let the shininess disappear (water is now in paper fibre and not floating on top reflecting light) and then immediately add your wash--see how the water in paper grabs your application and gently or quickly moves your wash around and creates a soft edge.
WET ON DRY (DIRECT METHOD)
This is the method I use and consists of bring a wet wash to dry paper. more control and leaves a dry edge unless you bring water to that edge and keep working it (more later)
GLAZING AND MERGING
Glazing is simply applying another wash over another DRIED WASH and creating a transparent or translucent color effect. DO NOT GO OVER A DAMP WASH AS THE WATER REMAINING IN THE PAPER WILL GRAB YOUR NEW WASH AND SPREAD AND MIX IT INTO MUD. LEAVE IT ALONE! Merging as described below can also be glazed over a previous DRIED WASH.
Exercise One: Three values for each pigment.
This may seem like a bit tedious but it is not. for each color in your three families of colors, paint each one three times in 3x5 rectanles with one being very light, two being rich and in middle value and three being as dark as you can paint it. if you go too far then I give you a gold star as you now know what too far is instead of a cautious and ineffetive "dark". It is okay to "fail". Mark the colors. If you go too far, usually you will see a shininess to wash as the pigment is so thick that there is no light getting to paper as it is being reflected back to you.
Exercise Two: Merging Washes
Instead of regular mono- or same washes, I like to start my students out on merged washes as a prelude to mixing colors on the paper as well as on the pallette.
for each family of colors, mix at least two colors together on the pallette and paint in a 3x5 rectangle; e.g. mix red and yellow to get orange;
below that rectangle, put the yellow down, immediately put the red down and push it into the yellow about a quarter to half inch minimum and mix some red and yellow in pallette for an orange and add that as well, repeat and keep going with all three colors until you achieve a merge wash. If you look at my work on the web site, www.ronkasprisin.com, you will see a lot of merging in all of my work.
More next week.
Have fun painting
Ron Kasprisin AIA
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