Iris - February Challenge

Regular readers will know that Peter Ward (watercolourfanatic.blogspot.com) and I set each other a little challenge and this is the latest of the series. I took some time getting into this one as winter lethargy and family commitments limited painting time. However, once the brushes became wet and the pigment began to flow the usual pleasure kicked in. The only drawback was the fact that without regular practice some of the techniques get rusty. 

The source photograph, as you can see, is a fairly complicated image and so my first decision was to crop the image and simplify things. I think there's a little bit of adjustment I can make to the background to improve the picture but I'll live with it for a day or two before messing with it.

For better or worse here it is.

Irises - Photograph

Irises - Watercolour on rough paper 16" x 12"

Brush Practice

A little lay off and the need to get working again had me dig out the watercolours this afternoon. A warm up was required before turning to more serious pursuits. 

In watercolour painting some of the more difficult techniques are involved in the manipulation of the brush and controlling the flow of the paint. Adjusting edges requires a feel for what your selected pigments will stand in terms of lifting out. In the last few days I'd been browsing the latest book by Jean Haines, Atmospheric Watercolours and enjoyed much of the thinking that she puts into her vibrant wash work. This book, I understand, is a best seller and it is easy to see why. Her admirable work is garnering much interest and praise and she is becoming the equivalent of a painting pop star. The ideas that Jean advocates are well worthy of exploration, particularly for those who have difficulty loosening up their work, a category that includes me.

So with a head full of ideas garnered from the book and some pigments that are relatively new to me I set about making a little image that would let me revisit some of the techniques mentioned above. The first job was to lay down an underlying wash of some of the colours I intended using then allowing them to mix on the paper. Colours were Cad Yellow, Quinacridone Gold, Apatite Green, Genuine Amethyst and Sleeping Beauty Turquoise. The addition of some salt was made to create a little texture that could hint at unspecified foliage. I also decided that this would be a one brush approach and reached for my trusty Da Vinci Artissimo that I've mentioned in a previous post, I love it.

After they had dried I began to place the trumpet shapes of the blooms in Translucent Orange with touches of Perylene Maroon. When they dried it was a case of making negative shapes with washes of the colours used in the first pass. To finish off the exercise some fairly extensive softening of edges took place, having left edges to dry to be worked on later. An interesting warm up.

  

Spring Selection - Watercolour on Not paper 12" x 10"

Latest Challenge

Back to the regular series of monthly challenge pieces that I share with my painting friend, Peter Ward. This last couple of months had me setting the subject and I selected a photograph from a recent trip to the States.

Red Rock Country - Photograph

The picture presents a couple of problems, the representation of vegetation and the strong shadows. I feel that I've dealt reasonably well with the shadows on the rock but less well with the vegetation with insufficient variation to make interesting shapes. I'll be able to do something about that in a later session. The final image needs some compositional intervention to break up the middle ground a little. There you go, doing the thinking after the event rather than during the process. Another little prompt to oneself.

Red Rock Country - Watercolour on rough paper 16" x 12"

I Really Don't Know Clouds At All

At last the frantic comings and goings of the Christmas period have come to a belated conclusion and the opportunity to dig out the paints has arrived. As a warm up before turning to some more serious projects I decided to attempt some cloud studies. I dug out a couple of canvas boards and my sketch books, selected a couple of drawings and squeezed out some paint. A little mixing on the palette and I was ready to go.

Most of my work is based in the landscape and one of the most important elements in making images in the outdoors is the depiction of clouds. As a warm up exercise the inclusion of clouds was important to me. Two different types of cloud condition made the exercises a little more challenging.

This made for an enjoyable session and whilst not totally satisfied with the results I have managed to get myself back focussed on making pictures.

Clouds 1 - Oil on canvas board 12" x 10"

Clouds 2 - Oil on canvas board 12" x 10"

A Little Bit of Paint

At last, an opportunity to wet the brushes. The weather might be inclement but there's always the kitchen table and it doesn't take much searching to find a few suitable elements to make up a still life set up.

A really enjoyable session with my old mate Jed finishing off with the consumption of the bottle contents.

Still Life - Watercolour on rough paper 16" x 12"

Back to Basics

There's been a lull in my production over the last few weeks with the previous post being my last effort and it was that post that got me thinking about the notions in this piece.

First of all, I was embarrassed about that last post, I thought it a sub standard picture, poorly executed and demonstrating my underlying lack of commitment to it. One aspect that I found particularly disturbing was the poor draughtsmanship. The obvious reason to me is my laxity in keeping my drawing skills up to their best. Like all skills, if not practised then they deteriorate and not being naturally gifted in these matters I need to work at them on a regular basis.

So back to the sketch books to review past exercises and begin some new ones. This post then is a necessary reminder to myself that I must take up the pencil on a daily basis and find something to sketch.

My hand holding the sketch book - graphite on paper

Self portrait - graphite on paper

North Creake Abbey plein air sketch- graphite on paper

November Challenge

Well this month my friend Peter, (watercolourfanatic.blogspot.com), set a stinker or so it turned out to be for me. Being unable to paint much in the last couple of weeks I found myself reluctant to start on this piece. It all goes to show that there is so much of this activity taking place in the head rather than in hands. Everything about it became more difficult than I'm used to, the drawing had to be redone a few times, choosing an appropriate technique was a pain. I guess by now you will have discerned a little less commitment than usual. However, that's what this exercise is all about, getting into an uncomfortable area and giving it a go thereby learning a little along the way. 

Owl - Photograph

My apologies for not being able to identify the species of owl, the reference books are not at hand.

I decided to make a significant crop of the original image and treat it more like a head and shoulders portrait in an attempt to avoid tightening up and trying to get too photorealistic. I've ended up with a flawed image but one from which I've drawn a few lessons about adequate preparation and decision making.

Owl - Watercolour on Not paper 12" x 9"