PEN AND WASH: PETUNIAS

PHOTO REFERENCE: MY MOTHER'S DAY GIFT

 I got a little petunia plant for Mother's Day, and it's been growing! I wanted to paint it,

and decided to use pen and ink. I sent this to my Mom for her birthday.

PAPER: Arches rough, 90 lb. 8 x 10

PAINTS: Quin pink; magenta; green gold; lunar blue; French ultramarine; burnt sienna; raw sienna;

INK PEN: Brown Sharpie

Starting with a basic drawing. 

I decided the flowers needed a softer treatment, so I did my inking in browns..

I used a small scribbling on the planter. Countour lines on the table wood.

Cross hatching for the shadow on the table. Countours on the flower petals.

Some hatching and tiny scribbles on leaves. 

After looking at the final picture, I wish I had angled the shadow on the table more like a 25 degree

angle...it looks more like a 40 degree angle.

 

I

First wash: loosely covering the leaf areas with green gold. It helps

me distinguish between what is flower and what is leaf.

Second wash: darkening the greens in the shadows by mixing green gold and french ultramarine.

For the table, I put a wash of raw sienna (or ochre). While it was still damp, I added burnt sienna.

To the shadow area, I added some French ultramarine to create a dark brown. You could also

use a dark brown like burnt umber or van dyke brown.

I finally get to add color to the flowers. I wet them first and dropped in quinacridone pink. I used a darker magenta on the centers and shadows.

I just used lunar blue on the pot. You can use whatever colors you like...

my original pot is a bit of a gray.

FINAL TOUCHES: I lifted some highlights in the flowers and a few leaves.

I blushed in a little pink in the leaves. I also darkened the shadow

Pretty happy with the result overall.

BASICS OF PEN AND WASH--THE SHED

PEN & WASH TOOLS:

There are lots of options for a pen and wash. So what I'm recommending isn't always what others use.

PAPER

Here is your chance to use that crummy paper you accidentally bought. It doesn't have to be cotton because you are not going to be doing a lot of glazing or lifting. Many people prefer a smoother paper for pen and wash because it is easier on the pen. I still like regular watercolor paper because I like the added texture. You can use pretty much whatever works for you, as long as it will hold up with watercolor paint after inking. Hot press is often chosen for it's smoothness. You can also use a lighter weight - 90 or 80 pound - if you don't intend to use very wet washes. This is a good chance to use Strathmore Aquarius II, which is part synthetic and only 80 pounds.

PENS

I use Micron that go from very fine (.005) to a 1 and a brush like pen. I also use an ultra fine Sharpie, which equates to a 05 or 08 on a micron. There are other brands out there, LOTS of them. You just want a PERMANENT INK pen. Some people love using the old fashined dip pens because of the variety of marks you can make with just one nib.

If by chance you don't know if it's permanent ink, test it on a small corner. Make some marks, then wash over them with water. It shouldn't fuzz out, but should remain sharp.

Some people like using browns, grays, and other colors. 

WATERCOLOR

Anything, any colors, you choose. Some people also use watered down inks for their washes.

MAKING MARKS

I made this little practice chart. Pen and wash isn't just outlining in ink. It's using the ink to help tell the story of shadow and light, texture, and form.

You do this by varying your pen strokes. You vary the thickness of your line. You also vary the type of line. The chart lets you practice some of these types. The first on the left is stipling, which is just dots. The closer the dots, the darker the shading. HATCHING is basically parallel lines, which can be short or longer. The closer together the hatching, the darker the shading. CONTOUR simply follows the contours of the object. It is often used in wood grain. On here you can see how, instead of making the round object look spherical, the countours make it looked pinched in. Below that is SCRIBBLING, which is exactly what it says. Often used for curly hair, leafy areas, etc.CROSS HATCHING is next, but I've curved the lines to give it more shape. The last is CRISS CROSSING which looks a lot like hairs or feathers that cross each other randomly, instead of the more geometric looking cross hatching. 

Below is my photo reference. This is an old shed in the back of my house. And I do mean old.

Rusty nails left trails of rust on the boards long before we moved here in 1983.

Below is the pattern I drew. I left out the background trees because trees are intimidating for beginners. Those with more confidence can add them in. I also didn't draw in every board on the side either. If this had been a new structure, I probably would have used more care in drawing in the boards to make the lines straighter. But seriously, these boards are not perfect in any way.

Below you see what I decided to ink. I put in the background trees. I used cross hatching on some of the shadows underneath the eaves of the roof.  I used sketchy vertical lines on the boards and a few to indicate peeling paint. The window is shaded with cross hatching at the top. I used a little stippling for the pebbles in front of the shed doors. For the grass and foliage I used some criss crossing. The leaves on the little tree on the far left behind the shed are lightly scribbled.

For the tree, I used a form of scribbling, but it's shaped like the bark. I also showed some cross hatching on some of the branches. 

READY FOR THE WASH

The first thing I did was paint a little burnt sienna over some of the boards, especially at the bottom, where the rusty hinges and nails would have left rust stains, and some dirt might get kicked up. I ran some on the brick walk and put some rust on the roof.

Then I mixed French ultramarine blue with a bit of burnt sienna, just to gray it a bit, and painted over the side of the shed, including the window. I used the same mix on the pebbles in front of the door. Then I mixed a darker mix of burnt orange and blue and went over the roof again.

The tree is a great example of how good inking can make it seem like the picture paints itself. I wet the tree, put burnt umber on the left shadow side and some burnt sienna on the right lighted side, and let them bleed together. I took a paper towel and blotted up some light spots on the right while it was still wet. Tree done in less than 2 minutes. 

I used yellow and cerulean blue for the greens. I did a wet wash of a yellowish green over some of the grass, then added a green with more blue in it for the darks. Same for the background tree. 

NOTE: If your green is too unnaturally green, tone it down with a little bit of red. 

Totally debated whether to finish the background. I want to pay someone to paint my backgrounds, they can be so painful. But I started with a wash of blue, right over the trees and sky, leaving some whites.

While the blue was still damp, I dropped in some yellows and greens, careful to leave as much

white as possible.

Finally I painted in the background trees lightly with burnt umber mixed with a little purple. I wanted the trees cooler so they would recede into the background. I even washed some purple over the leaves so they wouldn't come forward and compete with the shed and tree in the foreground. Your result will be different, depending on what colors you use. This is really where you can set the mood with bright colors to indicate a sunny day or muted colors to show a cloudy or misty day.

 

RESULTS OF THE TEST

After coating with medium and painting over

Before coating with medium

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....THE WINNER IS....TRANSPARENT WATERCOLOR GROUND.

Both the YES paste and the matte medium left a bit of tackiness, which may be partly due to the humidity lately. The matte medium was a bit shiny and slick to repaint on. The YES paste could be painted over. So it wins 2nd. But the best results came from the transparent watercolor ground, on the right.

The texture was more like watercolor paper, and it wasn't shiny. I was able to paint over it and get crisp edges, and even lift in some places. 

One thing I did not try was Kamar VARNISH, matte. You could lightly spray a layer of varnish to set it. Then go back with a heavier coat of varnish. Watercolor varnish can be

repainted over. Some people use it to "set" their colors and glaze over them. Now I'm wondering how that will work. 

QUESTION: What if the contact paper/packing tape leaves a residue on your painting?

As noted in the last blog, You should test your paper first. Most 100% cotton cold press respond well to having tapes. Hot press and mixed papers either tear or sometimes leave a sticky residue.

I am experimenting with some fixes.

Here you see an old painting done on hot press that I gave up on because, unknown to me, hot press doesn't like contact paper.

On the far left tulip, I made a watery mix of YES paste and water. I carefully painted over the left flower. The water lifts the previous paint and can smear it if you are not careful. So don't use a large brush and try to wash over the entire painting at one time on any of these methods.

On the middle tulip, I used matte medium straight out of the container, no mixing. I started in the white/lighter areas and worked my way carefully to other areas, trying not to lift the paint underneath.

The third right tulip is using a straight application of TRANSPARENT WATERCOLOR GROUND by Daniel Smith. You have to let it "cure" for 24-48 hours before painting on it again, so I have to wait to see how this works out.

What I expect is that ALL of these mediums will SEAL the adhesive so it doesn't feel tacky to the touch and can be painted over. The YES paste and matte medium will result in a looser, almost "slip and slide" effect. Don't know what to expect of the ground. I've used white ground before, and it didn't have the same texture as the paper, but it worked for some spots. I'm anxious to see if this works. Fingers crossed. Check back with me for results in a few days.

HOT AIR BALLOONS

A friend gave me permission to use some of her hot air balloon photos for a lesson on creating light and volume in watercolor class. Here are two of the photos and the sketch I made from them.

I am trying to show how to create a feeling of sunlit highlights and shadows and volume, using these balloon sections. For each section (except the white) I used two colors, a warm and a cool. For the blue sections I used pthalo and ultramarine; for the reds I used magenta and rose dore. The white shadows are done in ultramarine.

Yellow sections: hansa yellow and quin gold or nickel azo yellow. Orange sections are quin gold, coral, and quin burnt orange. The important thing is to use analogous colors in each section. (colors close to each other in the color wheel)

Visualize and mark lightly where you want the hilight to be on each section. For me, the highlight is on an arc about 2/3 up from the bottom. 

This is a wet into wet process. Carefully wet one section at a time. Apply the light yellow first. While it is still wet , apply the darker color at the ends, letting it move toward the center, or where you want the hilight to be. Where you drop the paint in first will be darker. While the paint is still damp, paint the darker color in the creases. This should make the individual sections seem to pop out. The vertical center going from top to bottom should be lighter than the creases; the highlight should be lighter than the top or bottom. 

Work in every other section to prevent painting into a wet area. Continue this method with each color. You can go over areas after they dry if it's not as dark as you'd like.

HERE IS A SECOND METHOD OF GETTING VOLUME AND SHADOW

On this smaller balloon, I first wet the balloon, then painted a base of blue and purple wet into wet. 

I kept the darks on either side of the balloon, allowing the center to be lighter, catching the sun. DRY COMPLETELY. 

On the pic below, you can see how I've separated the center section already, using a dry method. (meaning, the paper is dry when I add paint)

To separate a section, I painted a thin line of blue.

Before that can dry, I use a damp brush and run it along the edge of one side of the section.

I am trying to loosen the paint and soften one side. To do this, I have to give that paint a place to go. So my brush needs to be wet, but not drippy wet. 

Doing it this way, you create one hard edge (against the dry paper) and one soft edge, which blends.

Below you see all but one of the sections separated by this dry method. 

MAKING CORRECTIONS WITH LIFTING:

If I am going to put another color, especially if it is a darker color, next to an area that I've gone out of lines, I don't worry about it...I just paint over it with the next color. But if you need to remove some paint try this lifting method. (there are other methods)

The area must be completely dry. Using a small stiff brush, brush some water onto the paint. Let it sink in and loosen the paint for a few seconds. Then gently move the brush back and forth over the area and blot. You can also do this to lift some color off an object where you want a highlight.

FOR NEXT WEEK:

After I painted the balloons, I wanted to paint the sky. There are different ways to protect the color of the balloons, but here I used contact paper and packing tape. 

EDIT NOTE: Only use clear packing tape or contact paper on 100% cotton cold press paper. If using something else, test it before using adhesives. It will tear some papers and leave residue on others, such as some hot press, Strathmore Aquarius II, etc.)

I put some contact paper or packing tape over the balloon areas. I sealed it and removed air bubbles by rubbing over it with a credit card. Using a craft knife, I gently cut the tape around the balloons, and peeled the tape off the sky area, leaving balloons covered with tape. I could have protected it more by sealing the edges with masking fluid. (The shine you see below is the tape/contact paper)

I also put a tiny square of tape where the baskets are going to be. 

Taping things off allows me to do a smooth wash for the background. I just put the paper on a tilted board (about a 15 degree angle), and wet the area of the sky. I washed cerulean blue over the sky.

When it dried, I peeled off the tape, as you can see below.  

FINAL DETAILS

I painted in some grass and trees and some shadow underneath the deflated balloons that are on the ground. I put the stripes on the middle balloon with a flat brush, being careful to curve the stripes to keep the feeling of roundness in the balloon sections. 

That baskets beneath each balloon is done with burnt sienna with some blue painted over the bottoms for shadow. 

I chose this project because it gives so much practice in showing how to create a luminous hilight. But if it didn't come out, no fear. In watercolor, I may show you a way to accomplish something, but it is never THE only way. You can achieve this rounded effect by lifting at the end, if you want to. You can also "round" a flat-looking area by glazing over parts of it. But this is my favorite, most clean looking method.