Painting Expressive Watercolours

Painting Expressive Watercolours Mike Chaplin Diana Vowles Mike Chaplin is one of the most popular art experts on the very successful Channel 4 series Watercolour Challenge. In this book he reveals how he works and puts forward his ideas and teaching methods, offering plenty of tips and practical advice for the amateur artist.This book is intended for artists with some painting experience who wish to develop their technique, style and outlook. It is a book to make them think and to push the technical and personal boundaries of what they believe they can achieve in paint. Mike’s teaching focuses not only on techniques but also on expanding the readers’ approach to their painting as a whole.Starting with a fascinating look at the development of watercolour as an expressive art, the book then covers selective techniques, both traditional and the more unusual, and topics such as observation, drawing, colour and composition. All kinds of painting subjects are included, from the natural landscape to urban scenes, and throughout the book Mike provides plenty of practical advice and useful tips about techniques. There are also a number of special features, focusing on particular aspects of painting, as well as several full step-by-step demonstration paintings. CONTENTS Cover (#uad095ee8-c0fd-5d43-9ac2-e50ef5d88ead) Title Page (#u2b9b3ba5-2148-53f5-9227-05aa89d3048e) Introduction (#ulink_43800ef7-2005-5b2a-b562-782277ce9ee9) Materials and Equipment (#ulink_bd3366f2-b3af-51b4-bc24-2cfed5b23c24) Focus on: grinding paint (#litres_trial_promo) Techniques (#ulink_1180e6d9-54b0-5ef0-bf23-24394d03957d) Focus on: working with mixed media (#litres_trial_promo) Demonstration: The sunken pond Finding Your Inspiration (#litres_trial_promo) Focus on: using a camera for reference (#litres_trial_promo) Drawing (#litres_trial_promo) Focus on: bringing it all together (#litres_trial_promo) Tone and Colour (#litres_trial_promo) Focus on: using black and white (#litres_trial_promo) Demonstration: A quiet interior scene Composition (#litres_trial_promo) Focus on: the Golden Section (#litres_trial_promo) The Natural Landscape (#litres_trial_promo) Demonstration: The harbour The Urban Landscape (#litres_trial_promo) Demonstration: The street market Copyright (#litres_trial_promo) About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo) Introduction (#ulink_a9ca94b2-7426-5ec8-9226-a091d01f9b0f) Watercolour is a medium that is capable of expression ranging from the most finely detailed of botanical studies to the most loosely gestural of marks. As a pigment it is easy to take out into the countryside and as a painting it is comfortable in a domestic environment and very portable for travelling exhibits. Such accessibility has gained it a unique standing with both professional and amateur artists. ITALIAN ALPS 45.5 ? 66cm (18 ? 26in) This picture was painted in the studio from a small study I did on a coach on the way through Italy. I awoke at 6 am, with cold England several hours behind me, and drew a five-minute sketch to catch the memory of the warmth of the stones and the mountainous landscape. A brief history In its simplest form, watercolour was used in Europe more than 10,000 years ago when cave-dwellers of the Upper Palaeolithic era mixed red earth with water and used it to paint pictures of hunters and their prey on the cave walls. Yet in the Christian era in Britain, it was not appreciated as an art medium in its own right until the 19th century, when Queen Victoria gave the royal seal of approval that brought it firmly into the purview of the art establishment. It may have been watercolour’s simplicity that made it seem inferior to the business of sculpting and painting in oils. A provincial artist of the 15th century would have had to make do with what could be obtained in his village, and a simple starch glue combined with pigment was easier to achieve than the more complex binder and oils required for oil painting. Pigment itself was scarce, and the artist would often accept it as his fee. By the 18th century, watercolour was well established as a means of making a topographical view of the landscape. While families making the Grand Tour of Europe took along their art tutor, in effect to provide the holiday photographs, professional artists such as Alexander Cozens (1717–1786) and Francis Towne (1740–1816) travelled extensively in Italy. It became part of the English tradition that one went abroad to do watercolour paintings of exotic ruins – except that they were known as watercolour drawings, as the medium was not even dignified by the recognition that it was paint. CADER IDRIS, NORTH WALES John Varley (1778–1842) 24 ? 35cm (9 / ? 13 / in) In this classic landscape the tree acts as a framing device and points the eye towards the figures almost hidden below the bank. Their comparative insignificance was a new development in art. The impact of war In 1799 the Napoleonic Wars broke out and Europe was closed to the British traveller. Artists were forced to turn to their native landscape, and the land itself became a subject rather than being a backdrop for portraiture. John Varley (1778–1842), Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), John Sell Cotman (1782–1842) and David Cox (1783–1859) ushered in the golden age of British watercolour, while. Richard Parkes Bonington (1802–1828), William Callow (1812–1908) and, above all, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) drew inspiration from the maritime tradition of the nation. Girtin and Turner in particular explored the capacity of watercolour for creating atmospheric effects, experimenting with texture and colour. The art establishment continued to reject watercolour nevertheless, and in 1804 a group of watercolourists instigated an annual exhibition in London. No fewer than 11,000 people attended in the first year, and by 1809 visitor numbers had risen to 23,000. These paintings of landscapes that were still largely inaccessible to town-dwellers aroused enormous interest, and in 1881 the Society of Painters in Watercolour was granted a royal charter and subsequently became known as the Royal Watercolour Society. By this time Europe was available again to travellers such as Francis Oliver Finch (1802–1862) and Edward Lear (1812–1888), but the British had now taken watercolours of their own land to their hearts. CLASSICAL LANDSCAPE Francis Oliver Finch (1802–1862) 55.5 ? 75.5cm (21 / ? 29 / in) Within this typically British landscape painting with the calmness of a horizontal composition there is a theatrical approach to a romanticized view of classical history. Into the 20th century War has been a defining influence on British art, and artists such as Paul Nash (1889–1946) and Christopher Wynne Nevinson (1889–1946), who were sent to the trenches in the First World War as official war artists, demonstrated conclusively that watercolour was not limited to polite paintings of the landscape. The ease with which it could be transported made it ideal as a medium under such logistically difficult circumstances, and it proved that it was capable of expressing strong emotions. In the Second World War, Henry Moore (1898–1986) used watercolour in his sketches of the people of London wearily huddled in the underground stations while bombs rained down on the city. In the 1950s polymer-based paints such as acrylics became available and art shops sprang up in every town. In the 1930s a sheet of handmade paper would not have been easy to acquire, but now there was a rapidly growing leisure industry and the market was there to serve it. The rise of adult education also had a big influence, with art classes easily available and fully booked both daytime and evening. Turner had been the first watercolourist to express equal interest in the surface quality of the medium and the subject itself, and his influence was still felt – but now there were new pigments and the liberating force of two world wars and the Cold War that succeeded them, which allowed artists to be even more expressive in their comment upon the world. SEASCAPE WITH SHIPPING William Callow (1812–1908) 17.5 ? 25.5cm (6 / ? 10in) The diagonals of the masts give this otherwise simple composition a dynamism often encountered in seascapes. The adventurous use of scratching out in the foreground waves adds another layer of interest to the painting. The present day Watercolour is capable of saying something simply and beautifully because of its luminosity and the sensual quality that allows the viewer to enjoy the paint without even thinking about the subject. However, a greater range of materials allows us as artists to explore new ways of expressing ourselves on paper. While many of my favourite painters such as Richard Parkes Bonington, David Cox, Thomas Girtin and Turner are very much in the classical tradition, modern-day artists such as Jenny Wheatley (b.1959) and Leslie Worth (b.1923) are using admirably innovative ways of handling pigment. Although they still acknowledge watercolour as a means of portraying a subject, both of these artists are concerned with the handling of colour as an activity in its own right. It is becoming more accepted that other water-based media can be a part of a watercolour painting if they are applied with a watercolour technique that complements rather than destroys the qualities of the medium, but this does not mean that the barriers are coming down on the traditional landscape. As watercolourists we are living in exciting times where the boundaries are disappearing and we can draw from both the old and the new. We have shaken off the pilgrim’s burden of seeing ourselves purely as topographical landscape painters and recognized our medium as being capable of all sorts of emotional responses, and watercolour has finally taken its rightful place in the hierarchy of art. PASSAGE TO INDIA Jenny Wheatley (b.1959) 58.5 ? 94cm (23 ? 37in) In this large mixed-media painting the subject matter with all its exoticism is shown with the exuberant treatment and density of colour that has become associated with watercolor, now regarded as a strong and expressive painting technique. The scope of this book In this book I hope to take you on a journey, some of it technical, some of it emotional, and all of it concerned with the excitement of watercolour painting. Any work of art is a combination of three things – the subject matter, the materials and the temperament of the artist – but underlying that there must be some understanding of technique and how the pigment reacts when it is handled. The book contains chapters on materials, methods of laying down and lifting off paint, drawing, composition, tone and colour that will suggest exercises for you to do whether you are outdoors or painting at home. However, the emphasis throughout is on learning the practicalities of being expressive with watercolour by taking advantage of its unique qualities. I travel widely in my work and many of my paintings are concerned with the quality of light in urban landscapes. A number of the paintings in this book are of subjects found in Italy, Spain and Czechoslovakia as well as in Britain, but you will find in them problems and answers that are pertinent to a painter in any setting. Some of them are of mundane places, but they speak of my involvement in the activity of painting. A picture is not always painted to create a finished product: more important is the learning experience each one offers, even to a professional artist. BOATS IN THE DOCKYARD 40.5 ? 56cm (16 ? 22in) This painting is concerned with line, tone, colour and composition, but above all with an expressive feel not only for the technicalities but also for that sense of time and place. The freedom of painting Most tribal societies have painting as a part of their culture, with the ability to decorate their own house, paint directly on their walls and comment on their own personalities within their own spaces. Unfortunately, in the West we have largely sidelined painting into something academic or commercial and there are too many people who go to galleries and say, ‘I wish I could do this myself’, without realizing that they can. From an early age it is a naturally expressive action to pick up paints and describe your life – house, garden, mum and dad, the sky, the family pet. However, along come self-consciousness and the fear of failure, the need to find a job, raise a family and keep a roof over their heads, and art is put aside. When you begin to paint again as an adult, anxiety about technique can sometimes take precedence over your ability to respond emotionally to your subject. There is certainly a pain barrier of learning the rules to be worked through, but my hope is that this book will help you to the other side and give you the tools with which to rediscover your long-lost freedom to express yourself in paint. MYSTRAS, GREECE 35.5 ? 51cm (14 ? 20in) For me the joy of painting is apparent in a picture like this: the excitement of new places, the study of new things and the sense of magic when subject and medium work together. That sense of magic is a permanent reminder that with painting one is always a student. Materials and Equipment (#ulink_4c18c283-2cc3-5ad7-854e-1b08b66060e4) Materials and equipment can be as simple or as complex as you care to make them. While it is good to have the tools that are right for the job, spending a lot of money is no guarantee of success and sometimes the best paintings are done with only basic equipment. Gradually accumulating tools as you need them is the sensible approach. PULTENEY BRIDGE, BATH 45.5 ? 58.5cm (18 ? 23in) This elegant fa?ade presented me with the chance to employ classical techniques of loose, subtle washes backed up with minimal drawing. The size of this painting made it more easily done as a studio piece. Paints With paints, you really do get what you pay for. There are ways to save money on equipment (see here (#ucc0dc5da-9c90-4b37-9a14-d144f59f9df5)), but using student quality rather than artist’s quality paints is a false economy. The latter are much more luminous and as the colour is far stronger you get greater covering power, making the difference in price less than it appears to be. There is not much to choose between the cost of paint in pans or tubes. Pans are more useful for travelling and although half pans and full pans are the most commonly found, you can also buy quarter pans if weight is a problem and you do not expect to use large amounts. I use 15 ml tubes in the studio but when I am away from home I duplicate the favourite colours in my box with 5 ml tubes which can be left behind at the hotel. If the paint in the pans is running low I just squirt some more from the tube into the pans. Within an hour or two a skin forms on top and I can safely fold up the box and put it in my pocket for the next foray. On tubes you will find information as to whether the colours are permanent or fugitive, but to discover whether paints are granulating, staining, opaque or transparent you will need to consult a manufacturer’s chart. A printed one has limitations, and to see the true quality of the colours it is worth paying for a handpainted one. Most manufacturers supply these at a cost of about ?5, a price you will probably save by purchasing exactly the right pigments. A versatile palette Red, blue and yellow are the basics, but ideally you should have cool and warm versions of each. Mixing a green from a cool blue and a hot yellow will make a muddy colour, as will mixing a greeny blue with a red to make a mauve, so provide yourself with sufficient pigments to mix subtle, fresh colours. Including a dark red and a dark blue will allow you to increase the tonal range. My own basic palette, following these principles, consists of Cadmium Red, Magenta and Permanent Mauve; Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Deep and Raw Sienna; and Coeruleum, French Ultramarine and Indigo. Because I use a lot of dark colour I also add Burnt Umber, Ivory Black and Hooker’s Green Dark. I am a hoarder of paints, but you do not need this many and a superabundance can be a disadvantage. Build your collection slowly, adding to it only when you need to. Brushes There is no specific set of brushes that will suit every artist; brushes are designed to do a particular job, so you will collect a range that are able to make the marks you want. The best-quality brushes are made of kolinsky sable. Each hair from this animal is thin at the base, broadens out and then comes to a fine point, so a kolinsky sable brush naturally makes a bellied shape that can come almost to a single-hair point. It makes an excellent drawing tool because it will hold a lot of water, allowing you to work without frequently dipping into the palette with all the potential changes of tone and colour that could cause. For dry brushwork skimmed across the surface of the paper, a stiff brush is useful. These tend to be made of synthetic fibres and they have the disadvantage that, because each hair is very smooth, when you touch the paper the paint tends to flood out of the brush much more quickly than from a hair brush, which has a slightly roughened surface. However, if you like to scrub paint on to give texture, a synthetic brush is cheap and more expendable than a kolinsky sable. The alternative is a brush that is a mixture of synthetic and hair, which has some of the flexibility and water-holding capacity of a sable but will stand much more vigorous use. Brushes made of other animal hair do not have the springiness of a sable, but used vertically for laying large washes they are ideal; even shaving brushes and housepainter’s brushes have their place, depending on the marks you wish to make. Caring for your brushes A good kolinsky sable is about ?80, so you will want to look after your brushes properly. When you finish working, wash each brush out very thoroughly; if you leave pigment deep in the belly of the brush it will build up and the brush will lose all its resilience. Washing removes the natural oils, so squeeze a small amount of hair conditioner into the palm of your hand and gently roll the brush around in it. Leave it for a few minutes then rinse well. Reshape the brush by hand, dry off excess moisture with a tissue and allow to dry upright in a well-ventilated area, preferably not in direct sunlight. If you are storing brushes long-term, put some mothballs with them. Most artists accumulate a large number of brushes. Although these are among my collection, in practice I use the same three brushes nearly all the time. Making your own paint is a lot of work but it gives you complete control over how coarsely or finely it is ground, so if you are interested in granulated or textured paint it is ideal. The other big advantage is that you can have large amounts of paint in pots broad enough to get the widest hake into, which encourages you to think larger. Pigments can sometimes be bought from an art supplies shop, but if your local shop does not stock them, ask for the address of an artist’s colourman. Although most pigments are non-toxic there are a few that are dangerous; avoid inhaling any of them. Some can be irritant to the skin so, if you are susceptible, wear rubber gloves. The main constituent of the binder is gum arabic, which exudes from the bark of the acacia tree. It is hygroscopic, which means that it absorbs water, so as a medium for making watercolour it performs two functions: it sticks the pigment to the paper but it will also reconstitute very readily as paint because it will attract water. Gum arabic tends to dry out in the paint and is quite brittle, so the other main ingredient is glycerine, which keeps the paint soluble. You can also use honey, which gives smoothness to the paint, in a 50:50 mix with the glycerine. This viscous mixture would be difficult to spread, so ox gall is added as a wetting agent. Finally, to prevent mould, you need some vinegar or oil of cloves. Pigments Pigments are supplied as dry powder in a bag, minimum amount 50g (2 oz). The cost ranges from about ?4 to ?30 per 450g (1 lb). The powder is very fine, so do not tip it out of the bag – lift it out carefully with a spoon or palette knife. Grinding the paint It is difficult to find a recipe for grinding paint and you will learn mainly by experience, but my method is to use four parts of gum arabic to one part of glycerine or glycerine mixed with honey, with a few drops of ox gall and vinegar. You can either make a stock solution of all those ingredients and store it in a bottle, or make a pile of pigment and add the ingredients separately to it. The binder will keep indefinitely but it will thicken if there is air in the bottle, so as you progressively empty the bottle it is a good idea to add some marbles to replace the binder or to buy a ‘concertina’ storage container from a photographic shop that can be squeezed smaller. To grind the paint, add just enough binder to the pigment to make a workable mix and incorporate it with a palette knife until you have a wet, creamy mixture. This will be very coarse, so the next step is to grind it with a muller on a slab or with a pestle in a mortar, adding enough water to make it workable. Although most tap water is pure enough to use, it is best to buy distilled water to make sure the colour is not affected. In the case of colours such as Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber which are natural earth pigments, albeit already sifted and pounded, you will be able to hear their grittiness and you will learn to judge by ear how coarsely or finely you have ground them. Grinding the paint generates quite a lot of heat and dries the mixture, so you will need to add more water as you go. When the paint is the consistency you want, you can use it immediately or store it for later. Grinding equipment A heavy glass muller, available from the supplier of the pigment, is used on a ground-glass slab. A cheaper alternative is a glass, earthenware or porcelain pestle and mortar, available from hardware shops. Do not use a wooden pestle as you will not obtain sufficient grinding power. Storing Pigments can be stored in pots obtained from a pharmacist, in emptied pans from a paintbox or in shells – the traditional way to transport paint before tubes and pans were invented. The Cobalt Blue shown here is much more heavily granulated than you would find in a commercially bought form. Paper The prime concern when buying paper is that it will not change colour and darken as it ages, as this would drastically affect all the colour and tonal relationships of the painting. Cheaper papers made of wood pulp are suitable for drawing, but for your paintings you should always use acid-free papers. The best quality are handmade from cotton, but there are cheaper alternatives made of a mix of cotton and what is known as a woodfree ingredient – in fact, wood with the lignum that affects colour taken out. Handmade paper is made one sheet at a time. The wet fibre is scooped on to a mesh in a mould and shaken to the extremities of the mould, which gives it a deckle edge. It is then interleaved between felt blankets and pressed several times to expel most of the water, in the process gaining its surface texture. Finally, it is laid on nylon netting and left for 4–5 days to dry. Less expensive mouldmade papers are made as a continuous strip and then trimmed into individual sheets. On a handmade paper you can use either side, while a mouldmade paper has a ‘felt’ side to paint on with a ‘mould’ side on the reverse that has a slightly mechanical texture. If in doubt, look at the watermark; the side on which you can read it the right way round is the one to use. The most popular weight of paper is 300 gsm (140 lb), and this will need to be stretched if you are planning to lay very wet washes; heavier paper will not require stretching. The correct way to stretch paper is to damp it with a sponge or run it lightly under a tap on one side until the water really soaks through. Lay it flat on your drawing board and allow it to expand to its largest dimensions, which will take 1–3 minutes, depending on the weight of the paper and how heavily sized it is. The paper will form ridges as it expands and you will need to lift it at one edge and drop it back down on the board, passing a sponge over it to flatten it again. When it is fully expanded, lightly dry off a strip round the edge with a rag. Dampen four lengths of gumstrip so that they are tacky and place along each edge of the paper, burnishing them down with a fingernail. If necessary, put in staples every 10cm (4in) to reinforce the grip of the gumstrip while the paper dries drum-tight. Care and storage All watercolour paper contains size to give it strength. If you leave paper in a damp area the size will dissolve over the years and the paper will become as absorbent as blotting paper. Size is also damaged by washing-up liquid, even residual amounts in brushes. Store paper with silica crystals that will absorb any damp and do not allow the presence of mould in the same room, as the spores will find their way to your paper. Keep any strong chemicals such as acid elsewhere in the house. A selection of paper lying on a beautiful wood and bronze handmade paper mould. If you see paper being sold at a bargain price, buy it – because it is a very labour-intensive product it will become more and more expensive. Drawing tools Your first approach to a subject is normally made with a linear tool, and more often than not that tool is a pencil. Although they are simple and basic, pencils are important because they are a very familiar item with which you will feel comfortable and you will consequently go straight to the heart of the subject when you are making notes rather than worrying about handling the tool that you are using. Pencils range from very hard to very soft. A hard one will record absolutely precise detail but will be no good for blocking in tone, while a soft one is wonderful for making energetic notes but will not give you accurate detail, so carry one of each with you when you are travelling. A 2B will hold a fine point for quite a long time, while a 6B will give you all the tonal range and expression you need. A charcoal pencil is a step beyond a very soft pencil but your sketch will then need fixing and if you are travelling this adds to your burden. Many of the sketches in this book were done with a pen and watersoluble ink, which gives the opportunity to make a line drawing and then indicate tone by adding a little water. This is an ideal way of making notes in a sketchbook, but if it is exposed to light the ink fades quickly. When you want a lasting image, use Indian ink or permanent markers. Ink can be applied with a variety of tools, ranging from traditional metal nibs to felt-tip pens. The former are quite difficult to work with because you can pull them but not push them. Try cutting a point on a bamboo cane from the garden or on a quill – you will need to keep resharpening the point but you will get some pleasing splattery marks. With the quill, you also have the option of using the other end as a brush. For colour notes, available drawing tools include watercolour pencils, oil pastels, chalk pastels and watercolour inks. The first are also useful if you want to put a drawing down that will not survive the washes in a finished painting. Be aware, though, that if you are using them for more permanent marks they will easily mix to a mud if you disturb them with a wet brush. Instead, give them a fine spray with a diffuser to wet the colour and make them spread without stirring them in together. Rather than buying every type of drawing tool that is on sale in your local art materials shop, gradually accumulate tools that suit your temperament, style of work and subject matter. This box, which I have had since I was a teenager, has filled up over the years with tools that are particularly suitable for me. Outdoors and indoors The materials and equipment that you use, and the circumstances in which you use them, do affect the look of an artwork. Consequently, you should always aim to make specific decisions about your media and accessories rather than just employing whatever is to hand. Out on location, you will have concerns about weight and ease of carrying, while at home there are issues of lighting and space to be resolved. An outdoor kit I have several small travelling bags hanging on a hook inside the studio door. The smallest is a pocket-sized bag which has a pencil, a fountain pen, a ballpoint pen and a little pad of white paper. It is purely about making very quick linear notes to use as an aide-m?moire later on. Another bag has a box of paints with a folding brush, a pot of water and a small camera, giving me the facility to make more complex notes about colour and tone while still being very light to carry. These two bags are for drawing on the hoof, looking at lots of subjects in anticipation that one or two might be worth returning to. It is a mistake to set out every time with the expectation of doing a very formal painting as this imposes pressure upon you. Much of my working time is spent taking sparse notes to get a feel for the place and I might make several visits before I arrive with a kit that is the full works, with easel, stool and umbrella. By this time I will have formed a strong idea about composition, colour range and tonal range and I will be ready to go. With this amount of equipment a car is more or less essential, but weight is still something to be considered. Lightweight foamboard covered with plastic on both sides is ideal for travelling. I take two sheets with the paper sandwiched in between to keep it flat, then use the two sheets together to make a rigid drawing board. I have a strip of Velcro on the back and a corresponding piece of Velcro on my lightweight easel, and this gives a solid structure. In the absence of an easel, the foamboard can simply be rested on the knee. A bin liner is excellent emergency cover for both painting and materials if it rains. Equally mundane but useful are plastic trays such as party dip containers and airline plates, which make good palettes. In art shops you can buy a lightweight stool with a bag attached that is carried as a rucksack on your back – but you can find them much cheaper in a market, so shop around. This is my typical painting bag. It is waterproof and contains a paintbox with 14 half pans, a water-carrier and minimal palettes. Also included are tissues, loose sheets of paper, a camera for recording detail and a selection of drawing tools. Working at home Having the luxury of a studio is not given to everyone, but if you do have spare space in your home it is your good fortune that no one but you will want a north-facing room. North light is consistent and quite cool, and the colour balance will not change while you are painting. The disadvantage of a south-facing window is that you may get strong shadows moving over your painting, which is very disturbing. Try to put some sort of diffuser over the window, even if this is just a sheet of tracing paper, to avoid the sun causing very dark and very bright areas which make it difficult when you come to paint with colour and tone. The light changes colour towards the end of the day, so as soon as you are aware it is getting dark turn the lights on. Do not rely on normal bulbs, which have a red bias to them that will affect the colours you are mixing. Invest in some daylight bulbs, which have quite cold blue light that emulates the north light – you should be able to find these in a craft shop. They are more expensive than ordinary bulbs but, given that you may paint in artificial light for half the year if you work during office hours, well worth the money. Paint, paper and brushes will repay every penny you spend on them, but there is no need to pay art shop prices for other items such as drawing boards and sponges. MDF (medium density fibreboard), available from a DIY shop, is perfectly adequate for a drawing board if you roughen the surface with sandpaper, as is Formica – but beware of using wood that may stain your wet paper. With a supply of cheap boards you will be able to spend time stretching numerous sheets of paper which can be stacked up ready for days when you are itching to paint. In this photograph you can see part of the etching press in my studio. Ranged around are a variety of found objects such as the peacock feathers on the windowsill that I like to have in view simply for their interesting line, tone or colour. Techniques (#ulink_6832bb70-8123-54d9-8397-9af4212aab6b) However excited you are at the prospect of making a painting that says important things about your subject, you have to begin by considering how you are going to approach it technically. This chapter offers advice about handling watercolour and other associated media that will give you plenty of choice as to how you express your feelings through paint. SHEPPEY MARSHES 66 ? 96.5cm (26 ? 38in) Contrary to popular belief, watercolour is a medium you can manipulate in a number of ways and this large painting gave me plenty of scope. The paint has been put down, lifted back and reworked using a variety of techniques. Putting down paint Once you have chosen your subject and made decisions about size, format and colour range it is time for those first attempts at putting down paint. Nothing is more daunting to the artist than an immaculate sheet of clean paper, and your first washes will ease you into the painting process and give you confidence as well as laying the basis of your picture. Whether you are working from a pencil drawing or going in fresh, your first colours will probably be concerned with covering quite large, loose-edged areas. The most obvious way of achieving these first washes is to use large brushes, for which you will need to mix up plenty of paint. Experience will tell you how much, but if you are not yet sure of quantity the best rule is to prepare a good deal more than you think you will require. For these big washes it is a good idea to add a few drops of ox gall to the mixing water to improve flow and increase drying time, allowing you a longer period in which to work with the wet paint. Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию (https://www.litres.ru/diana-vowles/painting-expressive-watercolours/?lfrom=688855901) на ЛитРес. Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.