EASY FALL PUMPKINS

 IT IS FALL AGAIN!

My favorite time of the year. I love the colors, the smells, the crispness in the air. It's so fun to paint when nature is calling you to paint her.

I have a few new students today, so I am using these simple forms to show some of the basics of watercolor....things you need to master to move on to other things. Like the ten commandments, they form the basis for any painting attempt.

Colors used: new gamboge (warm yellow); Quin coral (or other warm red...one that leans toward orange); burnt sienna; pthalo blue or a green.

First, just draw 3 pumpkins, any shape or size. I want 3 to show 3 different ways to approach watercolor painting. 

Method #1: Wet into wet, allowing paint to mix on the paper.

First "wake up" your paints by spraying them with water. Decide on the colors you want and make puddles of them so they are readily available to you. 

Wet the entire pumpkin. Think about where you would like to leave some whites. Drop or brush in yellow first (not necessarily painting the entire thing yellow). Then add your coral or red into places it will be darker, and allow the two colors to mingle on the paper. You can "encourage" the paint to go in the direction you want it to. Spatter a little color if you want to while it is wet.

Things to observe/remember about wet in wet:

1. The paint will dry lighter

2. You want it shiny wet, but not puddly.

3. Give your paints the freedom to go where they want. 

Method #2: wet on dry paper

With this method, you mix your color on the palette and apply it to dry paper. 

Work every other section so you aren't painting into any wet spots.

I am left handed, so I work right to left to avoid dragging my arm through wet paint.

(Or sometimes I'll work upside down to avoid that problem)

Start at the part of a section that is darkest (the "seams"), and bring the color down along that line. These are a bit crescent shaped, so try not to make it a thin line, but a crescent shape, following the shape of the section. Quickly rinse your brush, and wet the edge where you stopped, and drag the wet brush along the edge of the shape to soften and lighten. Your are trying to create a HARD edge along the seam, but a SOFT edge as you move the paint away from the edge. 

Paint every other section. 

When it is dry, paint the other sections. You can deepen the color of the orange by adding burnt sienna (or quin burnt orange or quin burnt scarlet)

Then, after the wet-in-wet one is dry, go  back to the pumpkin where you did wet on wet, and create the sections in a similar manner. This time you only need to paint the seam area dark, wet the line before it becomes a hard edge, and soften it into your shape.

The third method is to create some fun texture using salt or dropping color into damp paint.

I did this twice, both which you see below. 

I did two things at once: I created the shadow of the top pumpkin while getting some texture on this one. 

Carefully wet the entire pumpkin, taking special care around the bottom shape of the pumpkin above it. 

Drop yellow into the shape, then drop blues (I used pthalo, but turquoise or other blues will work)

I want yellow to show, but, since I know I'm using salt on it, I know that yellow doesn't show salt effects as well as some other colors, so I drop a lot of green. I carefully go around the bottom of that top pumpkin with blue to create a shadow and to define the shape.

When my yellow/green mix is still shiny, but NOT puddly, I drop in pretzel salt. Pretzel salt will create those large soft blooms; table salt will create smaller blooms; and popcorn salt, will create very fine, more subtle, soft edges. 

Always dry completely before the next step. Allow the salt to react until it is what you want, and then you can blow dry. Blow drying will stop the reaction.

Same thing, only using table salt.

Here is what it looks like almost finished. I've used greens to define the sections instead of oranges. 

Go back under each pumpkin and strengthen the shadows and give the bottoms more definition. It's amazing what a little shadow will do for the realism!

Here, just for fun, I created a few warts for my pumpkin.

This is done with negative painting. Define a few warts with soft pencil lines.

Darken underneath the wart so that is has a hard line next to the wart, then soften it away on the pumpkin surface. Dark and hard edged near the wart; softened away into the pumpkin.

Finish your picture with a stem, leaves, spatters, or however you want it to be. 

Have fun with it. No one is going to come from the pumpkin police and tell you that it's wrong!!!

So here's a review of the 10 Commandments of Watercolor:

1. DO leave white. That is the sparkle of your paper.

2. DO only paint if the paper is shiny wet or bone dry.

3. DO plan your colors and get them wet and prepared before you paint.

4. Use good quality supplies ESPECIALLY 100% cotton paper

5. Use the right brush for the right job. (you wouldn't scrub your tub with a toothbrush or a baby bottle with a toilet brush)

6. DON'T use too much or too little water

7. DON'T outline objects or use long lines of the same color

8. DO NOT focus on details first

9. DON'T depend only on color to produce a good painting.

10. DO NOT COMPARE yourself to anyone else. "Don't let a comparing spirit rob you of your creative spirit.

HAVE FUN!!