Chris Campbell Watercolors: WHAT I LEARNED FROM YUKI HALL

Southeastern Indiana Art Guild hosted Yuki Hall this past weekend at a watercolor workshop. We all came away with a great experience and a chance to learn a different way of approaching our art.

Before I begin, a disclaimer. All of the paintings here were done from Yuki Hall's reference photos either in her workshop or at my home. They are not to be thought of as "original" paintings by me. Also, this is a summary, not a complete class. I just wanted to put down my thoughts for future reference so I don't forget them.

I can't say enough about Yuki as a teacher. It's inspiring to know that, like many of us, her background is not fine arts....that came later. So that is hopeful for me!

Before I forget, I am attaching an interview with Yuki Hall from January of this year. It includes some of her beautiful paintings. (this is not a video) I especially like what she has to say about painting the feeling of a place, not just unimportant details.

https://ccpvideos.com/blogs/news/interview-with-artist-yuki-hall

I took lots of notes, but I'd like to focus on just a few things she shared that I feel will help me in future paintings. Some may seem simple, but sometimes the simple changes make a big difference.

PAPER

This was my first experience with rough paper, and I was a bit wary of trying it. We used 140 lb Arches Rough. It did make a big difference in creating some sparkle with dry brush.

BRUSHES

I know there is no "magic brush" that will make me a better painter. However, here are her tools:

Yuki used 3 main types of brushes.

*MOP - OK, I thoughtI could get away with my huge quill brushes and an inexpensive "mop." Nope. By mop brush she meant one that comes to a lovely point, holds tons of water, and creates soft edges.
She used Silver Black Velvet Jumbo Round (mop type) for initial washes. My quill did OK.

ROUNDS: She uses Silver Black Velvet round brushes in 16, 12, and 10. For work that requires a harder edge, she uses synthetic rounds 16, 12, and 10. Those seem like large brushes to me, but their sharp points made surprisingly clear lines.

RIGGER: For calligraphic and line work, she uses a rigger and a dagger liner. (Those who know me, understand my brush envy) pictured below

COLORS

Yuki keeps her palette simple, using 6 to 7 colors per painting. This helps with color unity.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING (AS IN VALUE STUDIES)

When Yuki talked about the importance of a value/tonal study, inside I wash shouting "Yeah!" We've been talking about that in class for months.

Before doing a painting, a value study is important. You work out a lot of your issues. We used 1/8 sheet of paper and any paint color that can achieve a dark value. (I used neutral tint; she used sepia). Draw large shapes first. Keep the drawing down to simple shapes, no details.

CREATING A WASH & THE IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTING PARTS OF THE PAINTING

I have almost always used wet into wet washes for skies and large areas of the painting. It was interesting to see someone do a wet into dry paper wash. Paper is on a board, tilted to about a 25-45 degree angle. Using the large mop brush, she wets a line along the top of the paper. Then she adds color in horizontal strokes, adding more paint for a darker wash, more water for a lighter wash.

I liked that Yuki keeps a scrap of paper right next to the painting to check her color on before touching the painting.

Below is the color painting of one of the tonal value paintings that I didn't get to do in the workshop. I tried painting the sky in a wash, as suggested, right down to the horizon line, covering what will be the trees, and painting around the top of the barn. (sky using French ultramarine with a bit of burnt sienna to gray it down.)

As the painting was losing its shine, I added some green (made from French and raw sienna) to the horizon line and let it blend upward into the sky wash. This allows the trees to appear DISTANT because of the SOFT EDGES.
Then, leaving a thin line of dry paper, I painted clear water horizontally below the trees and barn. This acts as a barrier. Then I could paint a wash across the bottom of raw sienna.

At this point, it was suggested that background and midground be CONNECTED by making small marks to join the green of the trees to the raw sienna area. This was something of a new idea for me.
Yuki also "connects" parts of the painting with long brush strokes, some criss crossed, later in the painting.

While damp, you can spatter foreground, make brush marks, or otherwise texturize the foreground.

I dried the painting. With cobalt, I put in some direction lines, some shadow by the barn, and darkened the left corner in a diagonal direction. It created some dry brush also, whih is interesting. I painted in my barn and windmill, letting some of the colors run together a little. I mostly left the roof white, but put in a few lines and some shadows.

Below you can see a few final details. I put in the white horse to give a feeling of depth, and I loosely painted a few windmill blades. I also negative painted a few tree trunks.