17TH OCT WAVE REFERENCE FOR WED AND THURSDAY WATERCOLOUR CLASS

COMBERTON W C'S BEGINNERS, AND CAMBOURNE DRAWING FOR W C'S 9TH & 10TH OCT 2013

EXERCISE FOR WATERCOLOURS FOR BEGINNERS WAS FOCUSSED THIS WEEK INTO PUTTING INTO PRACTICE THE EXERCISE WE DID LAST WEEK, --THE COLOUR WHEEL, AND INTENSITY SCALE.
WE TOOK WHAT WE LEARNED FROM THESE EXERCISES AND APPLIED THEM TO A LESSON IN WET IN WET WASHES.
FIRST WE MAKE THE DARKEST TONE WE COULD OUT OF THE 3 PRIMARIES, RED YELLOW AND BLUE, AND WE CREATED DARKS BOARDERING ON BLACK, SEE ABOVE FOR THE FINAL HILL IN THE FOREGROUND

WE EXPLORED WHY IT WAS NECESSARY TO CREATE VARIATIONS OF DARKS USING MORE THAN 1 COLOUR TO CREATE INTERESTING NEUTRALS, SEE ABOVE, AND BELOW

WE HAD FUN SPLODGING ABOUT TO CREATE VARIATIONS OF MIXES BY APPLYING COLOUR TO A CLEAR WASH WITHOUT MIXING ON THE PAPER,, THEN TIPPING THE PAPER UP AND ALLOWING THE WATERCOLOUR TO DO THE MIXING WORK FOR US, CREATING SECONDARIES AND TERTIARIES. WE MIXED DARK COOLS AND LIGHT WARMES, USING THE CLOUDBURST AND SUNSET REF ABOVE AND THEN WE PAINTED THE LAKE IN THE MIST SEE ABOVE.

 FOR THIS WE NEEDED TO CONTROL THE AMOUNT OF WATER ON OUR BRUSHES SO THE PIGMENT WOULDN'T RUN AS FAR AS IT HAD DONE IN OUR PREVIOUS EXERCISES, THIS MEANT THAT AFTER THE YELLOW HAD BEEN PAINTED AROUND A DRY SUN IN A VERY UNDEFINED, ( WET ) WASH, WE PAINTED THE CENTRAL SECTION WITH A BRUSH WHICH WAS DRYER THAN THAN THE SURFACE WATER ON OUR WASHES

I WAS SO DELIGHTED WITH THE RESULTS THIS CLASS PRODUCED ON ONLY WEEK 3 FROM BEING COMPLETE BEGINNERS I FORGOT TO PHOTOGRAPH THE RESULTS, SO CAN YOU BRING YOUR WORK IN NEXT WEEK PLEASE, OR SEND ME SOME PICS OF YOUR OWN.

COMBERTON IMPROVERS AND AND ADVANCED, WED AND THURSDAY 9TH & 10TH OCT

THIS WEEK WE WERE LOOKING AT DARK BROODING SKIES, AND THE DRAMATIC EFFECTS WE CAN CREATE BY MIXING COLOURS ON THE PAPER SUFFICIENTLY TO CREATE INTERESTING TONES OF NEUTRAL DARKS AND LIGHTS

BELOW ARE SOME PHOTO'S I TOOK MYSELF OF THE SKIES NEAR BASSINGBOURN, AND WE USED THESE IN CLASS AS A ROUGH GUIDE TO CREATE OUR DRAMATIC CLOUDS TO A BROODING MOODY PEER GYNT PIECE OF MUSIC TO HELP US GET IN THE MOOD!

SOME SKIES WERE MORE DIFFICULT TO REPRESENT THAN OTHERS, AND REQUIRED US TO PAINT HARD AND SOFT EDGES

FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO PUT THEIR SKIES OVER WIMPOLE, HERE IS YOUR REFERENCE

HERE ARE SOME XAMPLES OF PARTIALLY COMPLETED SKIES, OTHER WASHES CAN BE ADDED ONCE ALL THE PIGNMENT IS THOROUGHLY DRY

A FEW MORE WASHES WERE REQUIRED TO ADD TO THE PHIL PAINTING, BUT AGAIN WE NEEDED TO PRACTICE PAINTING THE HARD AND SOFT EDGES FROM EXERCISES WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN PREVIOUSLY

WE DECIDED THAT WE WOULD COMPLETE THE PAINTING OF PHIL AT HOME

DRAWING & M M IMPINGTON, AND DRAWING AND W C SAWSTON 8TH OCT 2013

THIS WEEK WE WENT TO THE BEAUTIFUL CAMBRIDGE BOTANIC GARDEN TO PUT OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GAUGING PROPORTIONS AND TONE INTO PRACTICE, BY MEASURING FROM LIFE

WE FIRST CHOSE A PLANT THAT WE COULD IDENTIFY AS BEING PARTLY DARK, ( LEFT,) AND PARTLY LIGHT ( RIGHT & BOTTOM )

THEN THE OBJECT OF THE EXERCISE WAS TO MEASURE THE PERAMITERS OF THE 2 CACTI HEADS, AND PLACE THEM IN AN OBLONG FRAME, AND THEN DO A THUMBNAIL SKETCH, ( FIG 2 ) ABOVE, SIMPLY TO ASCERTAIN THE INTRINSIC TONAL VALUE OF EACH OBJECT IN BOX 1 AND 2.


YOU WILL NOTICE THAT ON MY HANDOUT FOR THE GUIDLINES ABOVE, I UNDERLINED NOT A DRAWING
FOR THE THUMBNAIL, IN ANTICIPATION OF MY BEGINNERS WISHING TO LAUNCH STRAIGHT INTO DRAWING A PICTURE WITHOUT FIRST DOING A PRELIMINARY THUMBNAIL TO ESTABLISH TONE.

BELOW IS AN EXAMPLE OF AN EFFECTIVE THUMBNAIL DRAWN BY A LEARNER WITH PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE OF MY TEACHING PRACTICES ( SEE SMALLER SIMPLIFIED VERSION ON THE TOP ROGHT OF HER PAGE ) THIS IDENTIFIES AN ABSTRACTED AND SIMPLIFIES VERSION OF WHAT WE WERE LOOKING AT, IT IS ESSENTIAL AS ARTIST TO WORK THROUGH THESE EXERCISES IN ORDER TO TRAIN OUR BRAINS TO SEE IN THIS WAY, IN TERMS OF TONE AND COLOUR SHAPES.

 

A THUMBNAIL HELPED THEM TO BLOCK IN TONE ON THE OBJECT AS A WHOLE, AND TO TAKE ACCOUNT OF THE RELATIVE TONAL VALUES OF THE BIGGER PICTURE.

IF I HAD ALLOWED MY LEARNERS TO START SHADING IN WHEN A CAREFUL DRAWING HAD BEEN COMPLETED, THE TEMPTATION MIGHT HAVE BEEN TO SHADE THE LIGHT AND DARK OF EACH INDIVIDUAL PETAL AND TO LOSE TOUCH WITH THE OVERALL CONTRAST BETWEEN THE 2 CATI HEADS, WHICH IS WHY WE FIRST BLOCKED IN ONE DARKER THAN THE OTHER TO START WITH, SO WE COULD HAVE A RELATIVE SHADE TO ADD RELATIVE DARKS ONTO.
IT WAS PERHAPS NOT APPRECIATED HOW TRICKY THIS CAN BE TO RECOGNISE.

I DIRECTED SOME LEARNERS TO A MORE STRAIGHT FORWARD SUBJECT,  TO BLOCK IN THE LIGHTS AND DARKS BEFORE ADDING ANY DETAIL

IT HELPED TO SEE THE SUBJECT THROUGH THE VIEWFINDER OF MY CAMERA ON THE BLACK AND WHITE SETTING

HERE IS A VERY SUCCSSEFUL THUMBNAIL OF THE YELLOW POPPY HEAD, SHOWING A RANGE OF TONAL VALUES WITHOUT WASTING TIME ON DETAILED DRAWING

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF DARKES BEING BLOCKED IN INTO THE NEGATIVE SHAPES

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF A THUMBNAIL CORRECTLY COMPLETED
AND THE DRAWING PARTIALLY FINISHED

HERE WE ARE LOOKING AT A CONVERSION FROM COLOUR TO TONE, TO SEE THE TONE MORE CLEARLY, SQUINT AT THE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO, TO LOSE DEFINITION OF THE SUBJECT, AND SEE IF YOU CAN DRAW A SIMPLIFIED THUMBNAIL OF THE TONE SHAPES.

THIS STUDENT CHOSE A VERY DIFFICULT SUBJECT TO DRAW, BUT I BELIEVE HE PULLED IT OFF VERY WELL, IN CORRECTLY MEASURING THE TONE OF THE PLANT WITHIN THE CHANGING TONE OF THE BACKGROUND

COMBERTON 2 & 3 OCT IMPROVERS ( wed ) AND ADVANCED ( Thursday )

 This week Improvers and advanced were working to finish the painting of Phil, painting, the photo ref you have from last week., 

We were aiming to keep it tonally light, with a warm colour bias, and a wet in wet application to enhance a hazy lazy mood of summer.

We worked on creating the ripples in the water to join up, whilst still wet, with the rest of the painting behind it, to avoid the ripples from looking like logs floating on the surface.

We added higher definition to legs, arms & foliage without any hard edges by applying a dryer brush & pigment to a clear wash to inhibit too much pigment flow. The example below shows this, ( mine, I forgot my camera, sorry ) but I would not consider this painting finished, it is merely, as much as I could do in the short demonstration intervals I give, but it does show, 'lost and found edges' illustrating that you don't need to be too literal with a visual description of a painting if it is the mood you want to put across primarily, as is the case here.

I was delighted to see some of you having a quick go at the still life I set up as a contrast to the tonally light, where the colours are tonally dark and intense on an analogous bias with a small splash of complimentary.

Sorry that I didn't get the angle you were painting folks, but in a way, I loved the attempts you did for their freshness due to being hurried, please bring them in next week : ) and I will put them on my blog so the wednesdayizers can see!