Advancing with Watercolor: "The Artists Studio" Creating and Interior with Watercolor

last week

In last weeks lesson we practiced the graded washes - transitions that create luminosity - and we used this technique to create the atmosphere in the painting of Waves on Rocks. We will extend the idea in todays painting of an interior and add to that with another useful technique of pattern making.

the project

In the artists studio the light filters in through big windows and skylights skimming over the tables and  tools. The papers and canvases are piled and paint and palettes strewn across the floor. How can we paint this scene without getting bogged down in the minutiae?

We will look to a combination of hard and soft edges to give us the atmosphere of light bouncing in the interior - we will also look at some ways to use dry-brush to give us the effect of the light reflecting on surfaces and also use dry-brush to create patterns.

Patterns will help us in painting the chaos of the Studio

the drill

Our drill this week is focused on using the brush - especially dry brush to create patterns. A key to the creation of any patter is to find the repeated shape and to place these similar shapes in a random way. Drybrush can help us through suggestion.

Then we will extend this practice into the painting of the artists studio

the drawing /design

In spite of the complexity of this scene there is relatively little drawing. It may seem that we should draw the piles of notebooks, or jars of brushes  but we will rely on a focus on the artist and his hand that is having over the paper. Some time is take to establish the posture - the angle of the table is considered - the rest, the shelves the brushes the sheets of paper can be improvised and expressed with bravado and fun.

the technique

In this painting we build and underpainting first - colors that will come through the second layer and add meaning to the darker shadows that are placed. Here we look at graded washes done with wet into wet technique. This application will establish the glow of light behind our subject. After this painting has dried we return with some darks in the form of cool grays - some smaller precise marks for the hand and figure and then marks which make up many of the patterns writhing the studio

the challenge

Letting go of the impulse to account for everything with accuracy is a challenge to every artist. Children do it so naturally. If we keep our eyes on the larger picture and know in our minds eye which details embody the story or the essence of what we wish to say - that is enough and we can manage the other parts with more freedom and joy

the skill

1 - extending the graded wash

2 - develop an understanding of patterns and how they can be painted with joy and spontaneity

3  develop our sense of refinement and learn the value of those mysterious corners in our painting