QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

ZOOM:We had our first Zoom sessions this week, and I was pretty happy with it. Definitely happy to see everyone who participated and helped me work out some of the bugs.

As a result, I got some questions, which I hope to answer on this blog.

1. Color blending: How can I get soft color blends?

Below is a link for an artist who does many birds and florals in a very realistic style.
She gives good tips for blending edges that you want to keep soft.

Blending colors with soft edges

Louise DeMasi (birds)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkHbzMZicvQ&t=790s

2. I want to paint with pinks.  How do I make a pink?

A: Pinks are either done with very watery applications of reds, or, if you want more intensity, the pigment itself. Beware of fugitive colors (meaning, they are not lightfast). Several pinks you might try are Quinacridone Pink or Quinacridone Rose, which is the most lightfast. Below is a link of several pinks you can put in your palette if you love those pink flowers.

A 7-min video on pinks. (My palette has Quin Pink and Quin Rose bc they are not fugitive. (fugitive meaning not lightfast)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQpeQ5Vn65s

She also has separate videos on her blues and purples and why she chooses them for her floral palettes

3. How do I know how wet to paint?

Below are two things you might find helpful. Most artists discuss 4 stages of wetness, but call them different things. The term "damp" to one artist means shiny wet/ to another it means beginnig to dry.

Louise DeMasi

4 stages of wetness of paper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KSUnii5op8

Below Eric discusses one tip: removing excess moisture from your brush after rinsing to clean off the color, to prevent your wash from becoming too weak.

Eric Yi Lin talks about how to keep from using too much water:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD2MaTT0s9c

4. 

I've scrubbed the sizing of my paper too much. How can I paint over that?

Once you have removed the sizing from the paper by over-scrubbing, it will not longer be controllable. One solution, especially if you need a controlled line, is to use a watercolor pencil in this space. 

If you are not familiar with watercolor pencils, I've included a beginners youtube by Michele Webber here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDBML3f5nNI&t=62s

5. How to make quick value sketches. 

Tom Lynch recommended making several copies of your line drawing on card stock.

(cheaper than using your watercolor paper, and you can make it as small or large as you are

comfortable with)

Then using a wettable graphite pencil (such as General's Sketch N Wash) you can quickly create a black and white value study. 

Here is Tom Lynch's review of it. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yimmC7lXzYQ&t=120s

My teeny tiny video: I'll get better, I promise.

https://youtu.be/6ItRvAEuvqI

They also make watercolor markers you could do this with.

If I've forgotten anything, let me know. Great to see you again!

METHODS OF SAVING WHITE PAPER

I've been reviewing my posts, and, even though we've discussed this in class, I decided I needed to blog about saving the white of your paper.

First, I have two videos you can watch that discuss using masking fluid. Even if you're more experienced, I'd suggest you watch them. You might get ideas about how to achieve better results and avoid mistakes with masking fluid.

Steve Mitchell Mind of Watercolor
Here is a 9 minute youtube from my favorite youtuber. He discusses different types of masking fluids
(frisket, pebeo, miskit, etc.) and ways to apply them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNhyXeKdIkY&t=73s



Michele Webber
This British youtuber discusses at length (about 23 minutes) ten common mistakes when applying miskit. One mistake I don't think she mentioned was that you need to put the lid back on your masking fluid after pouring a bit out into a small container. It is a liquid rubber, and will dry out if you neglect to put the lid on. Also, don't put excess miskit back into the container when you're finished. Only pour out what you need, a bit at a time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dJYGBpqRTE


Michele Webber
10 ways to preserve whites
Michele Webber discusses ways to preserve white, including masking tape, scotch tape, newspaper, candle wax, oil pastel, and others.
She does not discuss two other ways I have used, which are contac paper and packing tape.
To see an example of using contac paper (which can be used to preserve LARGE shapes and precise edges) in Oct of 2016, Sea Turtle on this blogspot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG0qzF2GKg8

Non of these videos discuss cleaning a brush after using miskit. Steve mentions SOAPING DOWN your brush before dipping it in miskit, which is great. NEVER USE A GOOD BRUSH on miskit. But if you have to clean a brush you can soak it in a bit of Goof-Off and wash with soap and water.

After watching some of these videos, try one or two of these fun ideas:

1. Spatter some miskit onto paper. Let it dry completely. Then wash over it wet into wet with several colors.

2. Drizzle drops of miskit onto paper. Blow with a straw to make it go all directions in fine lines.
The idea is to create a web of fine lines across the paper. Dry completely and make a wet into wet wash of several colors.

3. Make an abstract using masking tape. Tear masking tape into different shapes and paint lightly over it. Dry. Keep your first layer of tape on, then tape some more over the painted area, then glaze another color over that. Keep going until all of your paper is covered with tape, about 4-6 times.
Dry and remove all the tape. Think about what kind of pictures would use these textures. (like old wood, rusted metal, etc.)

4. Practice masking off shapes on simple drawings. See what methods work best for you.

COCOA SET: FINAL THOUGHTS

ARCHES VERSION

Here is where we left off:

I wasn't happy with the handle, and I wanted to make the gold line clearer.

Here is a way to "erase" mistakes by lifting a fine line. This is also good for cleaning up edges. Cut a piece of masking tape the shape of your line. Tape the left side of the tape to the left of the line and the right side to the right side of the line. Then gently "lift" with a brush or Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. 

(to lift paint, wet a clean stiff brush and gently wipe it over the area to be erased, blotting with a kleenex as you go, until as much has been erased as you want.)

The bottom of the saucer in front looked odd, so I added some dark blue to straighten out the saucer. 

I used a white pen to go over some of the details on the gold rims. You do not have to do that. Because this is my great-grandmother's set, and because the painting is a gift for my mom, I wanted those details to be as accurate as possible, and they are white. But you do not need to do that. 

I also outlined the grapes with white pen, then put a white dot in the center of each one, another detail you do not have to do.

I wanted a little more background color, so I wet the paper around the tea cups and painted in a very light red. I extended that around the bottom of the cocoa pot also. 

I lifted a little white on the inside of the tea cup rims. I also lifted some white hilites on the cup handles. (Also used a bit of gouache where lifting didn't work)

THE MASA PAPER VERSION

This is where I left off:

To finish, I outlined some of the details in white, as in the Arches version above. This is only because that's what the original cocoa set has.

I couldn't "lift" my whites out, (masa paper is too delicate for lifting) so I used a little white gouache on the inside rims of the cups (they were too dark) and a few details on them. I darkened the shadow underneath with a little purple. 

For some reason the masa paper version doesn't photograph as clearly as the other one, but I am pretty happy with the way they both turned out. 

Continuing the Cocoa Set

 COCOA POT ON ARCHES

After shading the right side of the pot and cups, I began painting details. I used quinacridone gold on the rims. (you can make a similar shade with a warm yellow and a little orange or red). 

For the leaves, paint a light green over the leaf. Then drop in a darker green on the tops of the leaves, leaving the bottoms pale green. Let the greens blend wet-into-wet. Below you see where I've painted the leaf pale; then the next photo shows where I've dropped in a darker green.

Paint in the grapes using a violet color. You can make this with French ultramarine blue and magenta.

Then use quin gold and greens to paint the squiggly lines. Where you paint details over the darker shaded blues, your greens and golds will appear darker, which is fine. This is because of glazing.

Outline the gold rims with some green fine lines.

Below I've painted in the markings around the rims of gold. Then I strengthened the shadows on the cup handles and the pot handle. (used cobalt blue, sometimes with neutral tint to darken. But you can add purple or paynes gray to darken the blue a bit. )

I added some dark shadow inside the cups. Wet the inside of the cups. Apply dark color (French ultramarine with a bit of neutral tint) where the inside of the cup touches the rim. Lighten as you go toward the upper part, where it gets light and becomes white. If you get too much paint on it, dab it with a tissue to remove or lighten paint while it is wet.

TO CREATE A SHADOW underneath the pot and saucers: Wet the area beneath them with clean water. (remember, not puddly, just shiny) Start applying blue at the base of the saucer or pot. Where an object touches the surface (table, etc) is where the shadow is darkest and most distinct. Then let the paint flow out toward the outer part of the shadow. The outer shadow should be lighter and not as hard edged. While damp, I added some darker color (neutral tint or darker blue) to the darkest part of the shadow. 

This is as far as I've gotten with the picture. Next time, I'll talk about the finishing touches and how I fixed some of my mistakes.

FINISHING THE MASA PAPER POT

Using quinacridone gold, paint the rims of the cups, saucers, and pot.

Begin painting the details on the cups, saucers, and pot. See above for how to do the leaves.

Paint the swirls with quin gold. Grapes are a mix of ultramarine and magenta, but if you have a purple you like, use that. Darken the underneath part of the saucers. Outline with green around the edges of the gold rims.

 

For some reason the photo for the following won't load for me. But I'll figure it out and edit later.

Strenghten the shadows on the handles of the cups and the pot. Finish the design on the gold rims either with fine brush or pen.

To create the shadow beneath the objects, wet the area with clean water. Be sure to leave the hard edges of the objects dry. Then, starting where the object (cup, saucer, pot) touches the surface, apply dark blue paint with a bit of purple. The shadows should be darkest and sharpest where the objects meet the surface, more faded as you move away from that edge.

I also darkened the insides of the cups a little.

MASA PAPER CHANGE

I just want to amend some of the files on masa paper. The main instructions are on JUNE 2016 blog, in case you can't find it.

I currently use YeS paste to glue things down now. I use a cut up credit card to spread it, as it is pretty thick. You can also use Aleene's glue full strength, matte medium, or Elmers FULL STRENGTH instead of watering it down, as I had previously done. I like using something more archival like the YES paste or matte medium. You can glue it onto any surface including a canvas board if the glue completely covers all cracks and crevices.

Hot Cocoa Set--Masa and Normal

THE HOT COCOA SET: ON ARCHES

Supplies: Arches 140 lb cotton paper; cobalt or French ultramarine; yellow or gold paint; magenta paint.

Sketch the pattern on Arches 140 cold press. USING A LARGE BRUSH, Wet the entire paper and work color into the background wet-into-wet. Be sure the paper looks shiny wet as you drop in color and let it blend it together. Try not to let red/yellow/and blues blend in the same place or you will get browns and grays. I tend to put more blues on the right side because that will be my shadow side.

Dry completely. Use cobalt blue or ultramarine to lightly shade the right side of the cups and pitcher.

Put a second glaze of blue on the far right and shadow areas of the handles. It should start to take form, and you should begin to see the shape of the cups and pot turn. 

HOT COCOA SET : ON MASA PAPER

Start your masa paper as usual with a wet into wet background. Dry completely and sketch your picture in heavy pencil or permanent ultrafine marker. 

If you have done it in pencil, darken some of the background so that you can see the outline of the main objects. If you did it in pen, you don't need to do that yet. You are going to use cobalt or ultramarine to create shadow on the right side of the china pieces, lightly at first, just as in the Arches version. Again, like the Arches version, add another glaze of blue to the sections on the right that have the most shadow. 

Here is an earlier version done in pencil, and it will give you an idea of how it might look when close to finished. I did the dark background first to define the shapes; blued the shadowed areas; then painted in the details. This is still not finished, but it shows how the original color you put down creates interest in the picture.

Yellow Plumeria

Reference photo. I took this about three years ago at my mother-in-law's house in Bradenton, FL.

Here is the drawing I'm going to use. I've eliminated a lot of the background foliage and some of the flowers. 

I scanned and copied the sketch on a smaller scale. (about 50-70%) I used the copy to create a value study. I only concentrated on getting my lightest lights, mid tones, and darks. This helps me understand the picture better, decide whether I need to make corrections, and helps me find

my way when I'm painting. 

After drawing the sketch onto watercolor paper, I erased as many pencil lines as I could, especially on the white and yellow petals. I could still see them, but I didn't want a lot of pencil lines showing through the pale yellow and white areas. So when you draw, don't press hard and try to use a hard pencil instead of soft.

One way to erase without harming the sizing in your paper is to roll a kneaded eraser over the top....think of it as using play-doh to make wormy shapes, rolling it over the pencil areas instead of "erasing." This picks up extra graphite that might dissolve in your paint and make areas seem dirty. 

PAINTING THE FLOWERS

I started with wetting three colors: azo yellow, new gamboge, and raw sienna. With clean water, I wet each petal (the ENTIRE petal, not just what I wanted yellow) and painted azo into the centers and pulled it out gently into areas of yellow, avoiding white areas. While wet, I dropped in some new gamboge at the centers, and gradually darkened those areas. Working one or two petals at a time, I did an initial wash of each flower. Be sure to leave those whites.

While the flowers were drying, I used Quin burnt scarlet (or alizarin) to lightly paint in some reddish undertones in the stems and parts of the leaves. I also painted a light yellow and alizarin into the two orang-ish buds.

You'll notice that in the above picture one flower has a pink petal. I was showing what colors to use if you choose to do a pink plumeria with yellow center. 

I began "shading" the flowers gradually, first with raw sienna, (or quin gold), then with quin burnt scarlet (or quin burnt orange) for the very deep centers and warm shadows. I concentrated on the little curl or "lip" of each petal that runs from center to tip. I only wet that area so I would have a dry edge to create a hard edge on one side and a wet area to soften on the other side (the inside of the petal). I built this up gradually so as not to get too dark too soon. 

To shadow and form the white areas, I mixed a gray with ultramarine, yellow, and alizarin in a very wet solution. I worked gradually to add the blue-grays to the white petal, occasionally making the gray more bluish in some areas. 

THE LEAVES

I made  a green from ultramarine and azo yellow first, and put a wash of that color over all the green leaves. When it dried, I darkened the green with a little purple and carefully went over the leaves again, painting around the veins of the leaves instead of masking them out. (you can do this as many times as you need to get the leaf color depth you want) I glazed over the leaves, veins also, with a wash of yellow green, and when it dried, I added some reds where I wanted some interest. 

On the stems, I mostly kept them reddish, but glazed over them with a little green and shaded one side to give them a more cylinder look.