More Strategies.
I enjoy evaluating an image or possible scene to paint, whether sitting outside with sketchbook (preferred) or in the studio with sketches and photographs (often necessary). I begin by asking myself how can i increase or create a sense of drama? I do not simply want to render or represent the image or scene for a couple of reasons: I want to engage painting a composition that has life and vitality; and, i want the viewer to experience a sense of drama and stimulation from the painting--all enhanced by the way the composition, value and color go together.
I have been told by local gallery owners that I "should" paint images that are local as they sell better to visitors. Nope. I need to be engrossed in what I am painting and select images that have a sensual orgaic nature to them: old trucks, motorcycle riders (real characters, many), decrepit buildings, etc. so the first characteristic that i look for is sensuality from my perspective. this can mean very different things to different people.
Sensuality. For me, the objects I am looking at or researching have a story to be told, whether it be a personality to be emphasized and dramatized or a mood. there is some nature of the emerging composition that wants to say something.
The next step for me is the exploration of composition in conjunction with a center of interest or focal area.
Composition and Center of Interest. These go hand in hand. A composition without a center of interest is a mono-view where everything is equal in the eyes of the viewer and can be confusing and vague. Adding a center of interest sharpens, highlights and focuses the emphasis in a composition. this establishes an "aha" emphasis supported by the rest of the composition. I do many small sketches in my sketchbook to explore composition. for me this is a process of discovery through exploration not a predetermined outcome that i then polish or finalize. Big difference. At times, I will change the composition because the center or focal area is not working or not strong enough as a strategy for painting. and these are all critical for the value exploration that we have discussed in the past blogs. VALUE structures the composition, eliminating the mono-view and increasing drama through light to dark hierarchial shapes.
More later. ron k
I just read an article in American Artist, May 2011 by John A. Parks on "The Teachings of Charles Webster Hawthorne" (1872-1930), renowned teacher and founder of the Cape Cod School of Art. Parks quotes Charles Hawthorne, "Anything under the sun is beautiful if you have the vision--it is the seeing of the thing that makes it so." Wow. This is more than painting the flower the way it looks, painting the barn just as it is...the task is to seek ways to bring the objects to life, to make those objects a part of their surronding, to bring out the drama in their composition. this is why I emphasize the act of play-work in developing a strategy for your vision. this is not a formula, nor a hard-in-concrete paint by numbers exercise. the strategy for a vision provides the painter with a direction, as aspiration not a goal. Once you begin painting, the water--the medium carrying the pigment--will come into play: being pulled by gravity, soaking into the paper fiber, evaporating quickly or slowly depending upon the temperature, and moving! and as the painter engages this fascinating physics, the strategy becomes a dance with the medium, changing and challenging and the strategy assists in maintaining the overall principles of the vision. Challenging stuff!
I have watched master painters like Eric Weigardt, in an hour demonstration, get to a point where the painting changes direction from where Eric may have aspired..and he danced with that change, resulting in a dramaatic outcome that still held aspects of the original vision and now contained new and creative adjustments.
keep painting. ron k
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
painting strategies
Hi folks: has been a very busy month and trying to get into my painting again. This post discusses how I approach a painting; how I develop a strategy to use as a guide to work with composition, values and color.
I will do this in parts as I have limited time today. I have been going through lots of photographs collected over the years looking for a direction and category for a set of new paintings. This is the first hurdle for me as I need to be stimulated by the topic as well as the painting challenge. I have settled on three areas of interest: rural northwest towns (with old trucks); old railroad cars; and, maritime scenes of working ships.
As I begin, I look for strong compositional views from a set of photographs, seeking the most drama with the basic shapes (triangulated gables, etc.). I follow this with a study on the shadow shapes either existing or imagined that can further dramatize the strong shapes in the composition. once that is accomplished through a series of 2 x 3 or 3 x 5 inch pentel sign pen sketches, I begin to look at simple colors and color complements. I have mentioned before that i certainly get myself in trouble when i use too many colors in a painting so i try to limit.
Okay that is a start and i will come back to this today or tomorrow. ron k
I will do this in parts as I have limited time today. I have been going through lots of photographs collected over the years looking for a direction and category for a set of new paintings. This is the first hurdle for me as I need to be stimulated by the topic as well as the painting challenge. I have settled on three areas of interest: rural northwest towns (with old trucks); old railroad cars; and, maritime scenes of working ships.
As I begin, I look for strong compositional views from a set of photographs, seeking the most drama with the basic shapes (triangulated gables, etc.). I follow this with a study on the shadow shapes either existing or imagined that can further dramatize the strong shapes in the composition. once that is accomplished through a series of 2 x 3 or 3 x 5 inch pentel sign pen sketches, I begin to look at simple colors and color complements. I have mentioned before that i certainly get myself in trouble when i use too many colors in a painting so i try to limit.
Okay that is a start and i will come back to this today or tomorrow. ron k
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Reproductions
Reproductions
Hi folks, been awhile do to projects and festivals. I had a booth at the Loganberry Festival in Greenbank on Whidbey Island this past weekend and the weather was great and the music and food fantastic. Local and creative with lots of artists and musicians here on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound (now a part of the Salish Sea). these festivals really are not a great venue for selling fine art whether originals or reproductions but they can be fun and good exposure for your art (I had follow up emails requesting reproductions after the festival).
Let us clear up one important point: Giclee reproductions are high quality pigments on archival watercolor paper, designed to last a long time (over 100 years) and be collectible art work. These reproductions cannot be called "prints" as a print is a reproduction that has been added to, altering the original image (adding another medium as an overlay, for example).
A significant problem for artists is that most lay people do not understand the difference in quality between Giclee or fine art reproductions and copies (ink jet copies of watercolors on bond paper or even watercolor paper). Why? they are comprised of INKs and not PIGMENTs for one. inks will fade rapidly. Talking to other artists at the festival, one laughingly told me of a friend who came over and said "look at the neat signed watercolor I bought for $20." Ouch and we all laughed and cried. He bought a digital copy, made with ink and signed--cheap and fragile and not a fine art collectible. Many artists now are discontinuing the "giclee" label and using "fine art reproduction" instead.
Have fun and keep painting. Ron K
Hi folks, been awhile do to projects and festivals. I had a booth at the Loganberry Festival in Greenbank on Whidbey Island this past weekend and the weather was great and the music and food fantastic. Local and creative with lots of artists and musicians here on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound (now a part of the Salish Sea). these festivals really are not a great venue for selling fine art whether originals or reproductions but they can be fun and good exposure for your art (I had follow up emails requesting reproductions after the festival).
Let us clear up one important point: Giclee reproductions are high quality pigments on archival watercolor paper, designed to last a long time (over 100 years) and be collectible art work. These reproductions cannot be called "prints" as a print is a reproduction that has been added to, altering the original image (adding another medium as an overlay, for example).
A significant problem for artists is that most lay people do not understand the difference in quality between Giclee or fine art reproductions and copies (ink jet copies of watercolors on bond paper or even watercolor paper). Why? they are comprised of INKs and not PIGMENTs for one. inks will fade rapidly. Talking to other artists at the festival, one laughingly told me of a friend who came over and said "look at the neat signed watercolor I bought for $20." Ouch and we all laughed and cried. He bought a digital copy, made with ink and signed--cheap and fragile and not a fine art collectible. Many artists now are discontinuing the "giclee" label and using "fine art reproduction" instead.
Have fun and keep painting. Ron K
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Sketching
Hi Folks: sorry about my absence but have been out along the Washington and British Columbia coastal communities doing workshops on various topics, including tsunami preparation. Another day on that. I have had a number of people asking what to do if they are not experienced or confident about pencil sketching. good questions.
Some instructors will say that sketching is not critical to watercolor in that a few lines are sufficient to provide enough guidance for a painting study. Well and good if you are very experienced. I think that the bottom line is__learn how to sketch!
Sketching for watercolor painting varies as much as the methods of watercolor painting. Realism painters may sketch in a lot of detail whereas impressionists may reduce the amount of detail, as i do, and sketch in mostly shadow shapes. Charles Reid and Ted Nuttel, both impressionists, sketch in very detailed fine line methods. Here are some guides:
Teach yourself (assistance is always helpful like workshops): start with contour drawing--painting what you see not what you think you see (from memory); read Betty Edwards' DRawing on the Right Side of the Brain, section on pure and modified contour drawing. ANYONE CAN DO THIS AS IT SIMPLY TAKES PRACTICE LIKE EXERCISING A MUSCLE--DEAL WITH YOUR FEARS AND JUST DO IT!
i do not recommend sketching with perspective estimation as you will experience more distortion than contour drawing.
gesture drawing: gesture drawing looks for the key movement aspects of an object in composition and limits the sketch to a few gestural lines.
shadow sketching: this is essentially what i do--look for the shadow shapes and sketch only those plus a few basic overall contours. as an architect, i was taught in school how to draw, fortunately because now i am not so sure about a lot of design schools and the impacts of digital graphics--another story. during a workshop with Eric Weigardt, Eric looked at my preliminary sketches and suggested i draw less detail. Why? the amount of detail was affecting the way i painted, pulling me into painting shapes and not larger cluster in the composition. Reid does the opposite, a lot of detail using contour drawing for an impressionist.
i find they both work using contour drawing that can be self taught. i use less drawing now as i did earlier and enjoy how that forces my brain to think about the larger painting and not inidividual shapes.
Hope this helps, let me know, keep painting. Ron K
Some instructors will say that sketching is not critical to watercolor in that a few lines are sufficient to provide enough guidance for a painting study. Well and good if you are very experienced. I think that the bottom line is__learn how to sketch!
Sketching for watercolor painting varies as much as the methods of watercolor painting. Realism painters may sketch in a lot of detail whereas impressionists may reduce the amount of detail, as i do, and sketch in mostly shadow shapes. Charles Reid and Ted Nuttel, both impressionists, sketch in very detailed fine line methods. Here are some guides:
Teach yourself (assistance is always helpful like workshops): start with contour drawing--painting what you see not what you think you see (from memory); read Betty Edwards' DRawing on the Right Side of the Brain, section on pure and modified contour drawing. ANYONE CAN DO THIS AS IT SIMPLY TAKES PRACTICE LIKE EXERCISING A MUSCLE--DEAL WITH YOUR FEARS AND JUST DO IT!
i do not recommend sketching with perspective estimation as you will experience more distortion than contour drawing.
gesture drawing: gesture drawing looks for the key movement aspects of an object in composition and limits the sketch to a few gestural lines.
shadow sketching: this is essentially what i do--look for the shadow shapes and sketch only those plus a few basic overall contours. as an architect, i was taught in school how to draw, fortunately because now i am not so sure about a lot of design schools and the impacts of digital graphics--another story. during a workshop with Eric Weigardt, Eric looked at my preliminary sketches and suggested i draw less detail. Why? the amount of detail was affecting the way i painted, pulling me into painting shapes and not larger cluster in the composition. Reid does the opposite, a lot of detail using contour drawing for an impressionist.
i find they both work using contour drawing that can be self taught. i use less drawing now as i did earlier and enjoy how that forces my brain to think about the larger painting and not inidividual shapes.
Hope this helps, let me know, keep painting. Ron K
Monday, May 9, 2011
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
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
Sunday, May 8, 2011
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.
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.
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