San Jose Mission Part 3

This first photo shows a few steps, especially adding shadows. For the bushes, I wet the bottom half of the bushes and applied blues and purples at the very bottom, and let them "bleed" upward. The shaddows underneath the bushes are also French ultramarine and violet. The important thing about these shadows is that the edge that goes over the sidewalk is horizontal, not slanted. Otherwise the sidewalk would look tilted. If you look closely, you'll see the shadow takes a "step" over the edge of the sidewalk. I then shadowed the pot beneath the tree on the right and the pots in the foreground. 

In this picture, I have painted the low stone wall next to the sidewalk. Leaving much of the edge between wall and sidewalk dry, I wet the top of the wall and applied burnt sienna and coral.  After that was dry, I indicated some cracks and separations between stones with mostly horizontal lines. When dry, I painted the vertical side of th wall with burnt sienna and French ultramarine. 

I began making the trunks of th palm trees and shadowed the pots. To make the dirt in the pots,

just apply French, burnt sienna, and a bit of purple or burnt umber. I also put some red and yellow blossoms in the trees and bushes. Then I darkened the posts in the background. 

In the finished product I emphasized some of the arches and finished the foliage on the plants. Be sure to leave whites in the palm leaves, or they will fade into the bakground. 

For extra texture on the sidewalk or walls, you can wet the area with clean water and use sandpaper and watercolor pencil ... see the blog on watercolor pencils. 

STUDENT SHOW AND TELL

I just wanted to post some student work. I didn't get as many pics as I'd like, so hopefully next week I'll remember.

SAN JOSE MISSION PART 2

After the first coat is on the arches, I wet the bushes and added yellows throughout, still using a FLAT BRUSH.  While the yellow was still wet, I added in some blues and greens where it will be darker. 

While that was drying, I mixed burnt sienna and French  ultramarine and painted the outer part of the arches on the top. I kept it on the warm side, adding a little quin burnt orange in places. Then I did the lower outside arches with the same mix, but a little more French ultramarine.I also darkened the second row of arches. 

 For the little tree on the right I wet the tree, then painted in some yellow, adding French on the underside, and a little sap green as it went toward the top of the tree. When the tree dried, I added some purple shadow to the right and underneath. 

I removed all the masking fluid. For the sidewalk, I put a light coat of quin coral with some burnt sienna to tone it down, and painted right into the flower pots. I added some French into the flower pots while wet. I rewet a few areas and sanded some brown colored pencil into the pots and sidewalk.  

I began darkening the bushes on their shadowed side. Working upside down, I wet the dark side, added French ultramarine, and then added sap green as it came closer to the top of the bushes. I let that dry, and then painted the side of the bushes that face the sidewalk with a green and some French. Even though my reference shows the side areas of the bushes to be about the same value, I wanted to emphasize the square shapes of the bushes by making the values of the top and sides different. 

As the paint was drying, I spritzed soe water into the green to get a bit of texture and shaved some pale green colored pencil into the top. At this point, I still haven't used anything except a FLAT brush. 

Just a little bit more to go!

JUDI BETTS STYLE

This is from a lesson we did this summer, but my computer was on the fritz, so I didn't get to blog about it. Thanks for the reminder to post it.

In the August 2014 issue of Watercolor Artist magazine, page 61-65, Judi Betts discusses "toning" watercolor paper to get some beautiful effects. She starts out by dividing the paper into four rectangular shapes, each a different size. She then tones each section with a different color, each painted a light value. (Don't use purple or browns or greys) The yellow should have the same value as the green, blue, and red.

Draw your picture right over the toned areas. When painting, use the complementary (opposite) color of that area. If you have toned with yellow, use purples in that area. (see top left boats). Over orange, use shades of blue. (top right boats) Over green paint reds (bottom left), and over blue, paint oranges.(bottom right). 

It's a challenge, and a bit freeing, not to be constantly asking myself, "What color should I use here?" 

The object is to notice that you don't have to leave white whites for something to look sunlit, as long as you are using darker values. And the use of complimentary colors enhances the look. 

My reference was a picture I found on Pixabay, a free photo site. So this painting was done for my own use, to experiment, not for sale.

When you are painting near the border of two colors, do a little overlapping to obscure the border. For example, have some of the purple painted a bit into the area you would otherwise paint red. 

Judi Betts has examples of this on the internet and in this article. She also suggests using five organic shapes instead of four rectangular shapes as a background. 

PAINTING WITH A FLAT BRUSH/SAN JOSE MISSION PART 1

THE FLAT BRUSH

If you are cooking, you likely have several tools at your disposal: different spoons for different jobs, different knives for different cutting needs. You COULD cook your oatmeal or fry your bacon with a teaspoon, but that's not the most efficient way to do it. Likewise, our cell phones can do some amazing things, but if I don't take the time to learn, I miss out on knowing how to edit a picture, take a video, keep a calendar, or use the GPS. 

Any job has specific tools for specific occasions. For artists, one of our most valuable tools is our brushes. We can have an arsenal of wonderful brushes, but if we don't know how to use them correctly, we miss out on making our painting experience more enjoyable.

Sometimes I see a student struggling with an area in a painting that could be resolved more easily using a different brush. So I'd like to take a little time to talk about the uses of a FLAT brush. Flat brushes can be considered "wash" brushes or "brights." "Flat" has longer bristles, and brights are shorter. "Angle" brushes will have hairs that are cut at an angle, often used by watercolorists as "blending" brushes. 

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

I usually work with a 3/4 inch or 1 inch flat, depending on the size of the painting. If I am doing detail brick or something smaller, I'll use a smaller flat. I like the brush to have some spring to it when it is dry or wet. When it is wet, you should be able to press the fibers through your fingers to make it come to a sharp chiseled edge. You don't want the hairs to separate or have loose hairs. 

USING THE FLAT BRUSH

A lot of people keep their flat brushes handy for making large washes in skies and other parts of the painting. They make short work of a smooth or graded wash. But there are other great ways to use it.

#1 PAINTING THE SIDES OF STRAIGHT OBJECTS, SUCH AS BUILDINGS

Just hold the loaded brush against the side of the object and pull the paint out. This is also great for those smaller areas that are square. 

#2 PAINTING LONG STRAIGHT LINES, SUCH AS FENCE OR SIDING

Work from the tip with brush almost perpendicular to the paper. Just tapping it down makes a great line. For a fence post, hold the brush on one side of the post and drag it across the width. 

#3 TRIANGULAR/CONE SHAPED OBJECTS OR FLOWERS

Hold the brush nearly perpendicular and pivot 

#4 TINY DOTS OR OBJECTS

Using just the corner of the brush, you can fill in small shapes or create dots.

#5 DOUBLE LOADING

Load the left side of the brush with one color and the right side with another. 

#6 BLENDING/CREATING SOFT EDGES

Using clean water, run the brush alongside a shape you want to soften

while the paint is still wet. The width of the brush provides a larger wet area for

the paint to soften and run into, creating a very gradual move of paint. Notice how the left edge of the brush catches the wet edge of the paint, while the rest of the clean water in the brush creates a wet area for the paint to run into. 

#7 PALM LEAVES

Hold the brush nearly perpendicular. Pull the brush straight in a short line, then lift

in the direction of the palm leaf. 

#8 GRASSES

Splay the bristles a bit by separating them with your fingers. This will make it behave

much like a fan brush. (dry brush technique)

#9 BRICK (not shown)

Use a smaller flat, depending on the width of your brick. Starting at the top of the brick, paint down

to the bottom of the brick. A "bright" brush is sometimes good for this because it has shorter bristles and retains the shape a bit more. 

NOW TO PUT IT INTO PRACTICE: SAN JOSE MISSION

My youngest daughter's father in law took us to see the San Jose mission in San Antonio in 2008. I used one of my photos from that for this reference. 

Below is the pattern for the San Jose Mission painting. There are some changes in the final painting: I took out the fence in front; added another pot in front; simplified some of the arches. 

#1 Miskit. I only miskited the foreground trees and spattered some where I want to have some red or yellow flowers. Always use a brush designated only for applying masking fluid. Wet it, put soap on it, then dip it in the masking fluid. 

Here are the ways we have used the flat brush so far.

#2: The sky

The sky is done wet into wet. I used cerulean, but you can use your favorite blue. The flat brush was used to wet the entire sky, starting with the hard edges of the building and working into the body of the sky. Then with the flat, I applied the paint to the wet paper, starting where I wanted it to be darkest, against the building. You can encourage the paint to flow into the water either by brushing side to side or by tilting the paper on its side. 

While it was wet, I pulled out some clouds with a "thirsty" brush (one that has been dampened and then the water pressed out with fingers or on a cloth) and some tissue. Also, while damp, I added some raw sienna to the background trees. (around the arch on the right) I wanted them to be very soft edged and a more muted color so they would look more distant. 

I then went back and painted the sky inside the arches, also wet into wet. 

#3 Underpainting the mission building

I want a warm undertone for the stonework in the building. I also wanted to suggest texture early on. I used four colors: Lunar Earth, Raw Sienna, Lunar Red Earth, and French ultrmarine, because all of them granulate. Other combinations can include burnt sienna, Indian Red, Ochre, anything warm and granulating. 

I wet an area and just put down warm colors all over and let them blend together randomly. I did this to ALL of the building, not paying attention to the inner lines that I will later define. After the paint lost its shine, but was not completely dry, I spattered some clean water into the area. This created a more mottled texture in the walls. 

 (Because I had miskit on the palms in the front and the little one on the building, I could easily paint right over the walls without trying to work around small shapes.)

SO FAR, EVERY STEP HAS BEEN USING A FLAT BRUSH, FROM WETTING THE PAPER TO APPLYING THE PAINT.


Next week: Finishing the mission; underpainting the green bushes;