Dogwoods, Karlyn Holman style

 

DOGWOODS are flowering everywhere! Walking down to Sandy Maudlin's studio last week, I saw a sea of dogwood blossoms, just begging to be painted.

I wanted to try something different for the background, and decided to use a composition method explained by Karlyn Holman in her book Watercolor Fun and Free. This one is called 3 white corners. Here are some examples of her work. (Taken from Watercolor: the Spirit of Spontaneity.)

In the cherries above, she used 3 corners dark, and left the inside white.

The main idea is to leave three corners of the painting white, being sure to make the composition flow into these white areas, just not painting the background. 

FIRST PAINT THE MAIN FOREGROUND

Use a large enough piece of paper. You want to be able to have a free hand with textures and paint. Give yourself space to make changes later. 

For the branches, I used moonglow, burnt sienna, and a touch of magenta and leaf color.

Working 2 or 3 inches at a time, I painted on the moonglow on the bottom, added some burnt sienna in the top areas, then dropped in green where it connects to the leaves. If it was close to a flower, I dropped in some magenta. If it dried too light, I darkened the bottoms of the stems.  (If you don't have moonglow, use a gray made from ultramarine and burnt sienna)

Do do the flowers, dampen the petal first. Apply magenta where it will be darkest, at the tips of the flower. Add a warmer pink (I used coral) in some darker areas. Let the paint flow from tip to center. As the petal gets closer to the center, leave it white. If the paint flows into the white, pull it up with a thirsty brush. When it is nearly dry, you can add some of the fine lines that curve around the petal with a very fine brush. 

 

For the centers, make small yellow dots, then while wet, dot with ochre. When dry, add some greens.

For some shadows, use cobalt blue, very lightly, in shadowed areas. 

Your painting may be something like this. 

So next week we'll begin designing the three corners. 

1. You want each corner to be different in length and width, and the entire inside should connect.

2. In each white space, some of the design should peak through.

3. Try to design it so that it will emphasize your center of interest.

Then you will tape off the areas to remain white. After taping, you will either mask off the design that you've painted, or you will use contact paper to preserve the design. 

You will choose the texture you want for your background.Then you can use other methods to enhance it: stamping, lifting, collage, etc.

Here are two examples of small cards I painted using this method.I taped off the areas I wanted to stay white, and I used masking fluid over the flowers and stems. The texture is made using cheese cloth, since gauze isn't as easily available in the type I want.

TRANSFERING A DRAWING ONTO YUPO POUR

 HOW TO TRANSFER AN IMAGE

One idea is to use a lightbox. This will work if your yupo is not too thick and the paint is not too dark. Sometimes, actualy often, the paint is too confusing to really tranfer the image that way.

Idea two is to use colored SARAL, which is a transfer paper. The gray graphite paper is often used on white paper, However, gray sometimes does not show up well on your paint. So you can choose a colored transfer paper instead. You lay your paper down first. Tape your image at the top where you want it to go on your paper. Slide the SARAL in between, dark side touching your painting. Use a ballpoint pen, (i like to use red) to trace over your drawing. Check now and then to be sure it is transferring to your painting.

(Can't tell you how many times I've put it upside down)

Idea three is to draw it with WATERCOLOR PENCILS. Even if you are using a lightbox, you can use watercolor pencil. There are several advantages to this. The first is that you can "erase" it with water on your brush. NEVER USE AN ERASER ON YUPO. It will leave a spot that is "greasy" and doesn't accept paint. Another advantage is that watercolor pencils show up well and can make it easier later to darken small spots that just don't want to take paint. You can use whatever color can be seen easily or will blend with colors you want to put there.

You can use a pencil to sketch. Just remember not to erase, and pencil marks may show later.

POURING A BACKGROUND ON YUPO

HERE'S A PROCESS THAT WILL BRING OUT THE KINDERGARTENER IN YOU!

SUPPLIES

ABOVE: YOUR SUPPLIES are (clockwise starting with paint)

1. FLUID acrylics (don't use other types)

2. sponges

3. tape

4. absorbant towels or, as I show here, puppy training pads

(to absorb paint drips)

5. brush used for acrylics (don't use your good watercolor brushes)

6. toothbrush

7. spray bottle

8. disposable cups or jars for stirring, pouring paint

9. YUPO paper (white in background)

START: Pour a nickel sized amount of paint into a cup or jar. Use a separate cup for each color you want to use. Add a small amount of water to thin it to a pouring consistency. 

If you want to preserve large amounts of white (to keep from having to remove it with alcohol), you can tape it off, as I have at the top. If you want a speckled effect, use a toothbrush to create some fine specks, using the diluted paint.  Dab up any that look too thick or large. For the third effect, use a sponge dipped in diluted paint and dab lightly. 

You don't need to do any or all of these. These are options.

Caution: If your paint is too thick, it will not be transparent. If it is too thin, you will have a hard tme getting to the medium value you are looking for, and it will take longer to dry.

These effects should be dry enough in 15 minutes, or you can use a blow dryer on low at this point.

ABOVE: This pic shows just 4 ways of starting a pour. Top to bottom: tape off area you want white, spatter with a toothbrush, sponge lightly, and leave blank and let the paint do its job. Let this layer dry before pouring.

BELOW:

I began this pour with magenta, cobalt blue, and some yellow.

First: Use a stiff board beneath your work. On top of it lay an old towel, paper towels, or, as I like to use, a puppy training pad, to absorb drips of paint. There will be drips. There will be mess. You will love it.

Have a spray bottle of water handy. Tip the board slightly, and begin to pour one color. Move it around, spray it if necessary to get the paint to move. Then pour in another color. Move it around to get the paints to mingle in the direction you like. When you are ready add a third color in places. You can pull up and blot with sponge or paper towel; spatter in another color; wipe off places you don't like. As long as the paint remains wet you can work with it.

Your object is to get an OVERALL blend with few hard edges that is MEDIUM value. Not too light or too dark. If an area is not blending well, spray it with water a little or spatter in some other color to break it up and make it move.

BELOW: This is how my first pour turned out. You can see the tape on the left; spatter in the middle; sponging next to that; and on the far right, only the paint pour.

My second attempt: tape on left, then spatter, then sponging, then plain.

Close-ups of spatter after I've poured.

Close-ups of sponging after I poured.

NOTES ON PLANNING A PAINTING

1. Don't try to overplan. Begin your process using more paper than you think you will use.

This gives you options. If part of it turns out more interesting than another part, you can use that instead of where you might have otherwise chosen. You have to be flexible.

2. You can plan some. For example, if you know you want one area to be sky, you can pour that area first. You can either let it dry after you like it, and then pour the ground area, or, if you feel confident, pour the ground area at the same time and add textures to that area only.

3. You can start with color that you want in the background and center of interest.

4. This truly is "Watching paint dry." You want to watch that backruns don't get into your painting from paint puddling or collecting on the edges and running back into your painting. 

5. When you use tape, you will get runs of paint underneath it, which you will probably enjoy and keep, but can wipe off with alcohol later if you don't like it.

NEXT WEEK: transfering your drawing and wiping off white with alcohol.