Backgrounds

Background. No, the "background" is not a separate and distinct part of the painting--it is the anchor and foundation for the painting. If your main "object" is the only shape painted then the object is foremost and floating, like a cut-out of construction paper glued onto another sheet of paper--no connection--no integration. why is this important? compostional integrity.

in any given composition whether it is still life or plein air or from sketches etc., the selected center of interest is the drama point, the aha. many emerging artists overlook the background as a prop or blank setting for the main shapes. No. the background is a part of the composition, a part of the focal point so that the primary object and message is connected to the surrounding context or supporting shapes. i remember starting with value sketches in my first book ( another story for tomorrow),  where the values were divided between and among the foreground, midground and background, things i learned from reading. after many years of painting i realized that this was insane, that the fore-mid- and backgrounds all worked together to connect the composition and connect it to the frame or "window" of the painting.

tomorrow, i will tell a funny story about how i went from a classic pen and ink guy to a watercolorist. wow. keep painting  RK

Pencil or No Pencil Lines

Many beginning painters are curious about whether or not to leave the pencil lines of underlying sketches on the painting, or remove. the choice is personal from what i can gather from professional artists. American impressionists like Charles Reid, ("Pulling Your Paintings Together", "The Natural Way to Paint", etc. Watson-Guptill) leaves his pencil lines and they become an importatn part of his painting result and they assist in implying certain edge conditions and detail. Many painters, Eric Weigardt included, put minimal pencil lines on paper with more gesturing motions and large outlines, making them less visible in the final painting. I prefer to erase most if not all of the background pencil lines with a kneaded erasure. Why? I want the final watercolor painting to be as much about what the watercolor is achieving (edge conditions, detail illusion, etc.) and not depend upon another media for those conditions.  Bottom line, personal choice and desired affect--mixed medium or pure watercolor, or watercolor with a slight mixed medium assist (Reid).  Have fun. RK

Grays again

More questions on grays. bottom line, remember that grays must have a color! Battleship gray refers to the colorless neutral gray that navies paint their ships so that they are harder to see against the ocean and sky. in painting we want grays that are colorful, not neutral or the neutral will deaden your paintings. many painters will have 85% of painting in colored grays and the remaining 15% in primary and secondary colors for emphasis. no set forumula.

Remember: a gray is a mizture of all three primaries-red, yellow and blue.  if a red gray than red is dominant; if a purple gray then red and blue are dominant; if a green gray, they blue and yellow are dominant. I can use the same mixture in the mixing well of palette and bounce the gray all over the color spectrum by what colors i bring in to mix. if my mixture is somewhat greenish and i want more purple, i add more red and blue until the purple appears and the green disappears.  try this exercise.  refer to Jeanne Dobie, "Making Colors Sing", North Light Books, Cincinnati.

Approach Strategies

After years of ruining painting starts with impatience and a lack of a real direction (the pleasure of painting was not quite enough!), I settled back and went back to my small sketch studies prior to painting.  Why? Doing a basic study(s) for a painting required a number of thought processes: composition and focal point, value related to composition, and overall strategy on how to approach the painting--where to start, what to emphasize, what kind of edges, what color contrasts, etc. Working through these questions does not lead to a 'memorized' painting or regimented approach.  The process helps the painter explore various ways to proceed with the painting knowing that things will change and shift.  At least there is a few key objectives set out as guides.

Composition and Focal Point. the focal point or center of interest is the "Aha" area of the painting--highlight and drama.  i make every effort to assemble this focal point into a cluster of shapes or shape-parts, not just one obvious shape, i.e. a tree or building. the focal point may have portions of the tree, sky and building in the cluster with othe parts of the tree, sky and building all parts of the background area.  Think clusters.  Once this has been represented in a number of sketches, i move on to the value relationships with composition.

Value Relationships with Composition. I put these in relationship because the value, light to dark relationship, structures and dramatizes the composition. Often, if the value patterns are not working for me, i go back and change the composition to assist the value patterns. I utilize Skip Lawrence's advice often, "Painting Light and Shadow" (North Light Books, Cincinnati, 1994), where he places the majority of values in the focal point or area and the remaining value in all other areas. (Hurts the brain doesn't it!). The key is simple: there is color change in local shapes and little or no value change; or, lots of value change at focal area and little color change.  If i am using three values, light/medium/dark (1,2,3), i can place the 1 and 3 at the focal area and everything else is a 2 value with lots of color change (local color, i.e. apple is red, leaf is green). Value contemplation and experimentation is critical for me in succeeding with a painting and i still struggle to make the value patterns clear and strong.

Cluster Painting. One of the early explorations is to decide on the cluster of shapes that will be included in early washes. Obviously, where are my whites (paper) that will be left alone; then, what shapes are clustered together for my merging washes, continually painting through the cluster and changing colors as needed for local color.  I may do the entire painting in lighter value merged washes without stopping; or, i may select a group of shapes and paint them and reserving others until later in the process.

More later, as i am off to Ocean Shores for a tsunami workshop, back next week. Keep painting. RK

Opaques

I received a few comments on the opaque watercolor trend and mixed media. Let me say that all are valid and challenging works of art. I did not receive any contrary comments but did want to emphasize my feelings: I love the transparency of watercolor. By adhering to pure transparent watercolor applications i challenge myself to resolve problems with white paper (as white) and get rich darks with watercolor pigment not other media. This is a personal choice driven only by my love of transparency, luminosity and the challenges of rich color etc. Enjoy. RK

Cleaning Palette

I am often asked what to do with the pigment in my pigment wells (the "bank" where you put your pigment gel, not the mixing area). Because i demonstrate in class, i leave the pigment in the wells if i am using them at least once or twice per week. At the end of a session, take a wet paper towel and wipe off the surface to remove other colors and stuff left over from your brush as you dip in to obtain pigment. I then almost always add new pigment when starting a demonstration unless it is more of a sketch--then i use the semi-dry pigment.  Bottom line: fresh pigment gel is the best way to go. Professional painters who are painting at least three times a week will clean out their pigment wells once per week (based on interviews with professionals such as Eric Weigardt and others). For students, i suggest cleaning the surface and using the older pigments as a base with new gel on top as a cost saving technique. RK

Mixed Media

I have just reviewed the American Watercolor Society's brochure on the 2011 Exhibit of watercolors with some disappointment. First, all of the work is truly excellent as the quality of the work is not in question.  What then? For me, and I express this individually as a dedicated transparent watercolor painter, I found the use of either acrylics, opaque watercolors including chinese white, etc. to be demeaning of the term transparent. Covering over a painting with Chinese White at the end of a painting is in my opinion careless, producing chalky and murky results. Again, the work is excellent and the watercolor medium is transparent and filled with light...so i find the AWS exhibit to be disappointing. the bottom line for me: if you want to be opaque and cover darks with lights, do acrylics or oils, not transparent watercolor.