Value Painting in Watercolor.
Hi painters! I just talked to a good friend in England as he settles into his new painting studio in their wonderful garden. Time to paint again. I have been sidelined working on a new book entitled: "Urban Design: The Composition of Complexity" about the elements and principles of design composition applied to complex urban settings. Having fun.
Value Painting. Why is it so important?
The next couple of sessions will involve what I think is the most important aspect of painting: value relationships. Why? As you arrange shapes into a larger pattern or composition, you begin telling a story in the composition. The color adds mood through temperature (warm or cool dominance) and local colors (an apple is red, green and yellow). but, the drama of a painting and how the composition is structured or assembled is done through value patterns, the relationship of light to dark. essentially, the eye of the observer will go to the point or area of highest contrast of light--lightest next to darkest. To soften a mood, i may have values in the mid range next to each other that reduce that contrast, reducing the effects of the light--middle value next to a mid-light value.
Value Scale.
In printing, a nine value scale is often used. In painting, a five value scale is more common and is actually a derivation of a three value scale--something like this: (1) lightest, (2) middle value, (3) darkest value. Let's expand that to the following: (1) light, (1.5) mid-light, (2) middle value, (2.5) mid-dark, and (3) dark. So we will use a five value scale for our exercises and experiments.
Recommended Preparation.
What i have learned through practice, reading, self-teaching is that the value pattern of your painting and the composition are inherently entwined. In my sketchbook, i rough out a number of compositions, around 3x5 inch sketches until i start to get a compositional relationship that i like--that has some strength at the center of interest with movement, direction, etc. Next, i do quick value studies of each composition using the value combinations below, emphasizing the center of interest as the place i want the observer's attention. Here are the combinations:
(1) light next to (2) middle value for a sunny and hazy affect;
(1) light next to (3) dark value for a bright and strong sun with strong shadow affects
(2) middle next to (3) dark value for a moody, overcast or darker affect.
Skip Lawrence in "Painting Light and Shadow" helped me greatly through his writings and examples with a nice concept: the majority of value change (assuming three values 1, 2, 3) occur in and around the center of interest with the remaining value occuring predominantly everywhere else. Watch out! Your head will hurt as I did not say that everywhere else is the same color, simply the same value.
For example, for a moody day, i choose to put the mid and dark values at and around the center of interest and everything else is a light. where the light value is can be many colors, local colors, but they are all roughly the same value. Yahoo! Mood. With Skip Lawrence's approach, you can arrive at a matrix of nine moods for the SAME COMPOSITION WITH THREE DIFFERENT CENTERS OF INTEREST.
Exercise.
sketch nine small studies in pencil approx. 2x4 or 3x5 largest three per row, three rows
in row one, select a center of interest and with one color paint three value patterns using that center of interest: 1/3, 1/2, 2/3.
for row two, select another center of interest in the same ccomposition and do 1/3, 1/2, 2/3
repeat of a new center of interest for row three.
ask your eye to tell you which sketches have more drama, which less? and do i need to alter the composition to improve the value patterns?
Try these and get back to me as I am back in the saddle again.
Ron Kasprisin AIA
Monday, January 4, 2010
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Greens Revisited
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
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
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
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