Painting "Green" Workshop, Last Day

In our final "Painting Greens" class, we glazed in the shadow areas on the leaves, using the dark glazes to unify the variety of greens created earlier. I painted in another background layer to add a little more depth to the painting.

Painting "Green" Workshop, Day 2

This is a small painting I am demonstrating for my class this week on "Painting Greens". I am using the "greens" color chart from last week to guide my color choices for particular leaves, considering the "warmness and coolness" of each leaf, intensity, and value in relation to each other. My goal at this step is to begin to develop the perspective with color and paint a variety of warm and cool greens for interest. Next week, I will work to unify the greens, glaze to continue to "push and pull" leaves for overlapping, and strengthen the values.

Painting "Green" Workshop, Day 1

Study of Greens in watercolor
For the first class we began exploring all the beautiful greens we could make mixing different yellows, greens, and blues and accenting or neutralizing the green with Quin Gold or Perm Rose. For the above color reference, we created greens that can be used to make leaves appear to be "forward", "middle", or "background" by varying the pigments used. For example, leaves that appear "forward" were mixed using the most intense yellows (New Gamboge and Hansa Yellow Light) and most intense green, Winsor Green (or Phthalo G). For "middle area" greens, we mixed pigments that are both intense (the yellows) and the less intense glazing pigments or granulating pigments (Viridian and Ultramarine Blue, respectively). The middle ground greens developed with much more texture. "Background" greens were a mix of glazing pigments, Aureolin Yellow, Viridian, and Cobalt Blue. When developing a repertoire of greens, I considered a few principles of color perspective; properties of pigments that will give a painting perspective with color. (i.e. intensity pulls forward, neutrals recede; light values expand, dark values contract; warmness pulls forward, coolness recedes, etc.) We will incorporate these beginning techniques into our leaves painting next week.

Painting "Green" in Watercolor, Upcoming Workshop

Study in Green
3X5
Watercolor
Above is the small study done for my upcoming workshop, Grappling Green: Painting Leaves in Watercolor. Greens can be beautiful; can look natural; and can even be transparent. However, greens are probably the most challenging of all the colors to work with (at least for me anyway). So, I am facing the challenge. Painting "green" will be the subject of my next workshop. In the workshop, we will develop a repertoire of "green" for our painting palette and apply them to a watercolor painting of leaves (or similar subject). We will practice mixing greens, "naturalizing" the color, varying the intensity and "warmness and coolness" of our greens as we apply them to our painting. For more information about the workshop, please visit my website.

Encore!! No1 and No2

Encore!! No1, No2
Watercolor
11X14
I have painted in metallic pigments for embellishment on the two paintings. I use a powdered pigment diluted with water and gum arabic. Now I will varnish the paintings using an aerosol acrylic varnish, altering layers of gloss and matte. I apply about 6 layers, letting each dry overnight.

Fall Leaves, In Progress 3

I mounted the two paintings to Ampersand Clayboard. I first covered the sides of the wood cradle to protect it from the medium. Then I dampen the back of watercolor paper and apply a generous layer of soft gel medium to the clayboard. I lay the paper over the clayboard and press out any air bubbles. Because the paper and clay are absorbent, they soak up the medium and form a firm bond. I let the painting dry overnight, face down, keeping something heavy (in this case a brick) on the back.

Once the painting is dry, I remove the the tape around the edges and trim the excess paper using a razor blade. The edges are then sanded until smooth.

Now that the paintings are mounted on the clayboard, I will paint metallic embellishments and then varnish the two paintings.

Fall Leaves, In Progress 2

I have added another few layers of leaves by darkening the leaf shapes behind the printed leaves. I have also added small washes to the forward leaves for detail and to further define them and pull them forward visually. For this painting, I really like how the variety of values creates the illusion of depth. Next I will mount both paintings on clayboard.

Fall Leaves, In Progress

Ok, I am back at the leaves. This is where I left off in the last class of the workshop 2 weeks ago. I find that if I wait too long to work on a painting, I loose creative momentum. So much of a painting is enthusiasm; if I stop too long or think about it too hard, the excitement fades. Depending on the complexity of a painting and drawing, I will usually finish a painting in a week. However, I had another reason for my delay; supplies. I have decided to mount the 2 leaves paintings on clayboard and then add metallic pigment embellishments before varnishing. Now that my supplies are in, time to get back to painting.

Fall Leaves Workshop Demonstration 3

I have added some key darks to create the illusion of layering. I used a deep maroon dark to unify the painting. I also added a few details by lifting out leaf veins, painting some in, and negative space painting. I love the motion and energy in this painting.

Fall Leaves Workshop Demonstration 2

This is second of the leaf demonstrations. I started with an underpainting of Aureolin Yellow and Permanent Rose and then layered the leaves after I applied paint to the vein side. Once dried, the leaves left a more vague imprint than with the first painting. I will need to paint in the leaf shapes more directly.

Using a combination of techniques including negative space painting and direct painting, I have begun to add layers to the leaves; pushing some behind, pulling some foreward. Some leaves are painted in directly, while others are painted around (painting the negative space).

Fall Leaves Workshop Demonstration 1

For this demonstration, I started with an underpainting on damp paper and glazed in Aureolin Yellow, Permanent rose, and Quin. gold. With the underpainting, I am beginning to create direction and movement within the painting. I then paint the leaves individually and place them on the damp paper. I layer and place the leaves according to my design plan, considering which leaves will later be forward and which will be behind. Then I leave the painting until the paper is completely dry. When the leaves are removed, I am left with visual texture and varied hard and soft edges. Later, I will use these to develop the painting.