Assignment 2

Part 2: Painting from observation

Project 1: Drawing and watercolour

Exercise: Quick watercolour studies (page 50) & Exercise: Pencil and watercolour (page 52)

The first exercise requires to set up a simple arrangement and use only paint to explore composition, tone, colour, line and texture. The second exercise requires using the same composition as the first exercise and make two pencil drawings and paint over the first one slowly and over the second one quickly.

A2 smooth cartridge paper

The four drawings on the top of paper refer to the first exercise. I was working colour, tone and line at once and not focusing on each element separately. I think, this amplified the unity of the picture. Generally, I was mostly painting than drawing. I used line only to clarify edges. Working quickly and sketchy was quite intriguing because I should be cautious not to cover light areas, but at the same time I felt it was effective as it allowed me to be more creative and expressive.

The fourth painting (right at the top) worked better, because I was able to combine the good elements of the previous studies to that last one.

The first study at the bottom left, refers to the one adding paint over a pencil drawing in a slow, careful way. The remaining three studies refer to painting over a pencil drawing in a quick way.

Comparing the two methods, the pencil drawing gave me confidence when working the slow way, but it inhibited my movement when I was painting with the fast, loose way.

I observe that the precise method of fitting wash into pencil outlines, helped bring out the depth of the painting.

In the loose approach the pencil lines work as guidelines.

In case you use a darker pencil, the lines could be apart of the painting in an effective, additive way.

The accuracy is the advantage of the slow, careful method, but the energy and vividness is the advantage of the fast, loose method.

Exercise: Adding line to watercolour (page 54)

The exercise asks that you make colour sketches and subsequently add lines with pencil, pen or charcoal.

I started with a few studies in my A4 sketchbook.

I realize that is difficult to access up to what point of detail to go with paint. It’s easy to use paint more descriptively that makes the added line useless or detrimental to the picture.

Any details in paint should be applied up to the point that the added line would help for the definition of shapes and make the painting more intense and rich.

You should leave ”space” for the pencil, pen, charcoal or other medium to be incorporated effectively.

A4 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

A second, more successful try.

A3 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

Project 2: Light and tone

Exercise: From light to dark the watercolour way (page 56)

The exercise asks that you paint tonal squares by building up tone with layers.

When using sepia, the first three tones did not have much tonal difference, meaning that I might made the wash darker than needed.

The turquoise blue remains quite transparent to the end. The wash should be applied more evenly.

Exercise: Tones from a single layer (page 58)

The exercise asks that you set up a simple still life and make one tonal drawing study and one monochrome painting, establishing tones with single washes on the palette.

A4 sketchbook

A3 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

I find this a very good exercise to practice tone. It helped me to see and analyse tones, clarify and simplify tones. It also gave me the opportunity to practice making tonally graded washes.

you should be careful so that you choose the appropriate tone for each area.

I feel this was a successful painting, that could stand as a finished piece. I like that it is simple and abstract.

Exercise: Tones in several layers (page 61)

The exercise asks that you set up a still life with the same objects as the previous one, but this time you can use as many layers from a range of washes, as you need to built up tone.

I painted in a more precise, descriptive way when i was able to use multiple layers of wash. This is a good exercise and I think I learned from it. The result is nice, but maybe too tidy for me.

A3 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

Project 3: Tone and composition

Exercise: composition of an interior (page 64)

The exercise asks for an interior view with a large area of middle tone, a dark area and a very light area, using as many layers as required and make a monochrome tonal painting.It was quite difficult to scale up from still life to interior. I needed to make a few drawings in my sketchbook to be able to include more space of the interior view in the composition.

A3 sketchbook

A3 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

I was able to select only the important features and not overwhelmed by unnecessary details.

Having been asked to look for large areas of similar tones was a very helpful tonal exercise. It helped me practice on how to use tone in an effective way, that works in your painting. you don;t have to merely transfer any tone just because is there, but you interpret tone in a way that works in your composition.

I definitely realize the importance of tone in composition and that you should use it selectively for the harmony and balance of the composition.

Exercise: Dramatic interiors (page 65)

The exercise requires to look for a view from one space into another, with intense differences in light and paint the arrangement of light and shade, wet-on-dry, using one dark colour.

I made several studies for this exercise on A4 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

I really like how the last two studies came out. They look like abstract compositions of shapes.

The wet on dry is appropriate for sharp edges and tonal differences. Another great exercise for practicing tone.

Exercise: Imaginary rooms (page 66)

The exercise asks for one imaginary room with daylight, the same room at night and one imaginary room of a different kind.

The observed rooms were easier to make because the tones were their to see them. For the imaginary rooms you should think up to what point the light or dark area should be.

I needed to make several studies in sketchbook and look at pictures and illustrations, before I was able to get to a reasonable result.

A6 sketchbook

A4 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

A4 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

A4 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

A4 sketchbook

A4 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

With watercolour you can convey mood and atmosphere if you are not restrictedin the way you use dark tones and tonal range. Using monochrome was helping element for creating a dramativ effect and not a constrain. the transparency of the nedium adds to the atmosphere as it makes one realize the illusion that is created with paint on a paer which is still obvious.

Project 4: Colour

Exercise: Still life with colourful objects (page 67)

The exercise asks to set up a composition of complementary colours, place an object with a pure colour next to one of related colour, but with less saturation or a different tone.

A3 sketchbook

A3 sketchbook

A3 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

Work in progress

A3 size heavyweight watercolour paper, professional grade, cold pressed surface acid free 300g/m²

I think that the right hand area (orange & green pots) work best. I feel that the red pot stands oout too much. It should be lighter at some areas. I applied too many layers. to avoid that I should have delayed adding the dark areas. also to make the picture work better as a whole I should have put rflection of the red pot on the orange. the orange pot with the green work better because they make a group and sit well on the pink cloth and fit well in the background.

Generally, the colour relationships are good.

Exercise: Working with greys and browns (page 72)

The exercise asks to set up a composition with grey or mid-pale brown objects and one bright object.

A3 sketchbook

A3 watercolour paper 260 g/m2

I like the ambiguity of this painting. You can’t exactly say what each object is, but it works well as a ahole in terms of composition of colour, shapes and tones.

Comparing working with colourful objects and working with greys and browns:

I enjoyed both ways, but I enjoyed working with greys and browns more than I expected. Maybe, the composition I set up for the colourful objects wasn;t helping for showing depth. The composition with the grey objects allowed me to work tonally and show depth quite interestingly.the bright object fits well in the composition.

In the greys composition as in the monochrome compositions I find it easier to interpret tone because you didn;t have to think of the hue and also the relationship of the colours is already correct because of their similarity, but in the colourful objects you have to choose the relationships (correct hue, tone, saturation, contrast).

Exercise: Warm and cold colours (page 74)

The exercise requires to set up three subjects with juxtapose warm and cold colours and paint small pictures in no more than five minutes. Make three more pictures of the same kind from imagination and memory.

Set ups

A5 size watercolour paper 260g/m²

Imagined pictures

A5 size watercolour paper 260g/m2

At first my group of the set up subjects seemed to work better than the imagined ones. I decided to make two more sketches from memory and I lliked the resul.

Putting the picures together I realize that even the imagined ones that I didn’t like at first have some good elements.

I think that when you want to make pictures with large areas of colour without much details you could choose to paint imaginary subjects or subjects from memory.

It is easy to overstate details in subjects that are in front of you to observe even if you have only a limited time to paint the subject.

Comments on Project 4:

I think my best work of this project is the picture with grey and brown objects. The colours are ”related” by their similarity and they provoke harmony. The bright object completes the picrure and is enough to make it interesting.

The small picture with the red box in the blue backgeoynd works well. the colours seem to be in the correct tone.

The watermelon sits well on the pale blue background. Good relationships of colours: red & green =complementary, green & blue=cold colours with a warm red to complete the picture).

The brown ice-cream on the blue background works well because of their tone. The cold blue colour adds to the refreshing quality of the ice cream.

It was stressful for me to make quick pictures that might not be successful. On the other hand, this is a good way to learn through experiment. I could take the good elements and use them in a larger picture. Not every single sketch has to look great as long as it works as practice. I would use this way of working as preparation for finished pieces to gain confidence for when working straight on a large painting.

Assignment 2

Still Life with watercolour (page 81)

The assignment asks for a still life that demonstrates understanding of tone, colour and composition and showing the beginnings of personal watercolour style.

I arranged a composition with familiar objects . A rather simple but interesting group of objects that includes different textures and I can use the technique of masking fluid. I put objects of complementary as well as harmonious colours. In some areas the pencil is incorporated effectively in the picture. Simple background to work well with the objects and let the composition breath. I would like to have been more expressive in my painting, but I think at this point it is more important to practice observational skills so that might not act as an obstacle later on.

A3 sketchbook preliminary studies