Advancing with Watercolor: Italia "The Ruins" Mood

MOOD AND THE VISUAL LANGUAGE

There are times when we would like to express more than what the eyes sees - in fact the more we get into the craft and art of painting the more we feel compelled to express what the heart feels through the eyes. The poetic and what a visual experience leaves in us.

Some examples might be the quiet sense of a foggy morning, the crazy energy of Times Square, or in todays case the passing of time expressed in the ruins of an ancient temple.

When I was traveling through Sicily and visiting sites such Salinunte and Agrigento I was typically surrounded by thousands of others - pushing forward…but occasionally I found myself alone and sitting near the falling fragments of these temples. The breeze and light passed through the broken arches and I felt the timeless quality of this place and the spirit of the millions of souls that sat here. These were transcendental moments that were brief but moving in their own way and they are part of what I think about as I start to compose my painting of the ruins. This particular structure is in the Valley of the the temples in Agrigento Sicily.

WHAT WILL WE NEED THIS WEEK

In class we will create a couple of paintings together so you will need a couple of pieces of paper.I am using a scrap piece 11 x 15 for a drill and a larger 111 x 15 piece for the painting.I do recommend goof paper all of the painting we do together
I do prefer a rough surface for dry brush and rendering texture in the stone

BRUSHES
A large flat 2” and a 1 inch flat 1”, a 1/2” flat and  a 1/4 “ flat - these flats are used in creating the ruins… a couple of sabelette rounds large and small..

Masking Tape, spay bottle, paper towel, hair dryer, and mounting board

COLOR
Yellow ochre, Cad yellow light, burnt Sienna, cad orange red, vermillion. cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, Prussian green,  white

THIS WEEKS DEMO

In this weeks demo we look at an image of a partial of a once great temple. I choose this image for its simplicity qualites which I feel suit our class and after working with the image came to feel that simplicity was its main strength. In it are all of the qualities of the temple which has endured the passage of time the calamities of nature and remains a testament to the civilization who built it. Our job is to look at the form and its character, the minimal surroundings and paint the light and shadow. It is also an exercise in brush control and a practice of building the form from the inside out. Typically we don’t get this experience when we draw and then paint