Snow

Snow
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75" x 6.5")

Snow is the fifth topic in the Skies and Weather chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice.

I cross referenced Claudia’s advice with a section on Snow and Ice in the Atmospheric Effects chapter in James Gurney’s Color and Light (A Guide for the Realist Painter). 

The first painting is based on some photos I took on the outskirts of Swindon back in January 2013. I drew the snow-covered tree trunks with masking fluid before starting the painting. Claudia suggests adding salt crystals to a wash to create snowflakes – I mistimed the application because the snowflakes are not particularly prominent.

Snow 2
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75" x 6.5")

The second picture is based (loosely) on one of James’ studies. This time, I created the light tree trunks on the darker background by applying the paint and partially scraping it off before it dried.

Drawing and Painting the Landscape – What is the Proportion of the Rectangle?

Fibonacci Spiral

Lesson 29 is the first lesson in the chapter on Composition in Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler.

Philip starts the chapter by defining composition:

Composition is the art of arranging the various elements of the image into a whole, a balancing act with the shapes, colour, tonalities and mark making to create a visually interesting, exciting landscape.

Most of the lessons in the chapter are about mathematical concepts that can help with composition, but lesson 29 includes the important message:

Mathematics underpins many things but one shouldn’t be bogged down by it.

The lesson starts by describing the golden logarithmic spiral. Wikipedia has a good explanation with a nice animation (Wikipedia - Golden spiral).

Philip explains a technique for drawing a Fibonacci spiral - which is an approximation of the golden spiral. He suggests using a pencil and compass to draw the spiral - which I found impossible to do accurately - the diagrams in this post are drawn in PowerPoint. The technique results in an approximation of a spiral. We draw a sequence of circular arcs. As the resulting shape transitions from one arc to another, the distance of the curve from the centre jumps and the centre moves. In a true spiral the centre stays in the same place and the distance to the centre changes continuously and smoothly. 

Philip points out the ratios of a lot of off the shelf canvases: 1 x 1, 1 x 2, 2 x 3, 3 x 5 and 5 x 8 are based on adjacent numbers in the Fibonacci sequence (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 65, 89, 144, 233, …) and the rectangles appear when drawing a Fibonacci spiral (the 5 x 8 rectangle is highlighted in the second diagram).

Fibonacci Spiral - 5 x 8  Rectangle

This leads into an exercise to explore alternative compositions for a scene by drawing it multiple times altering the format, scale, colour and placement. (I think Philip missed tone from this list).

Mousehole - Thumbnails
Watercolour Pencil
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
30.5cm x 21.5cm (12" x 8.5")

I made some mistakes with this exercise. 

• The scene is too pretty and too detailed. It would be better to use an image that is simpler and less obviously attractive – something that needs some work to improve it
• The rectangles are too repetitive. I drew rectangles based on the ratios of watercolour paper blocks. It would be better to use fewer more varied rectangles
• Watercolour pencil is not the right medium
• The most fundamental mistake was not doing some monochrome tonal studies first

This was still a useful exercise. I’ve learnt a couple of things that will help if I paint the scene. 

My favourite of the thumbnails is top right. I prefer this to the one directly below it which is closer to the proportions of the original photo – this challenges my assumption that I don’t need to work on the size and placement of the scene - maybe I can improve things by zooming in.

Most importantly I realise the importance of creating a pleasing tonal pattern for this scene and my next step will be to draw some simpler monochrome thumbnails using 4 or 5 tones.

Thunderstorms

Lightning
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75"x 6.5")

Thunderstorms is the fourth topic in the Skies and Weather chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice.

I haven’t seen lightning in ages and I don’t have any photographs. This picture is based on Claudia’s example, memory and imagination.

Claudia suggests drawing the lightning with masking fluid (frisket), so you can paint clouds over it, rather than having to carefully paint around it. This worked reasonably well, but if I paint lightning again, I will make the lines thinner and more spidery (is spiderier a word?). I was glad for the prod to check my bottle of masking fluid because I am planning to use it soon on a bigger picture. I don’t use it very often and usually when I reach for the bottle, I find its all dried up, rubbery and unusable.

More Quick Paintings

Castle Cove
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75" x 6.5")

These were all painted more slowly (with more layers) than the pictures on the original post (see Quick Paintings), but they have the same focus on experimentation, spontaneity, interesting washes and exploiting opportunities to work wet in wet.

Beachgrass
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75" x 6.5")

The picture of Castle Cove is based on the same photos I used for Castle Cove, Dartmouth in 2014.

Atlantic Waves
Watercolour and Gouache on Paper
16.5cm x 12cm (6.5" x 4.75")

The seascape uses an approach described by John Lovett (see Painting The Sea). It is inspired by the same photos I used as  reference for the waves in Granite.

Adding Colour to Monochrome Studies

High Wood on a Sunny Day
Watercolour and Ink on Paper
28cm x 38cm (11" x 15")

I've been adding colour to the monochrome studies I drew in the lessons about Tonal Drawing and Mark Making from Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler. This is part of a plan to develop my watercolour skills by painting more regularly.

This is my favourite so far. It is the drawing of High Wood from the post Drawing and Painting the Landscape – Blind Touch Drawing.

Quick Paintings

 

Otter Estuary
Watercolour on Paper
16.5cm x 12cm (6.5" x 4.75")

Watercolour is a medium with personality. The inexperienced find it unpredictable. It appears to have a mind of its own - there is even a YouTube channel called The Mind of Watercolor.

While novices flounder, experts charm the paint to their will. The only way to develop and maintain this rapport is by painting a lot - something I haven't been doing for the last few years. My plan to rectify this is to paint at least a couple of quick watercolours each week. They should only take 10 minutes (ish), so I can’t use a lack of time as an excuse.

Trent Evening
Watercolour on Paper
16.5cm x 12cm (6.5" x 4.75")

My main goals are to experiment and to create interesting washes by painting everything as a single big shape - letting the colours mix on the paper. In the initial pictures, I painted everything in a single pass without waiting for things to dry. Now, I am painting the background (usually the sky) in one sitting and the major shape as a single wash in the next sitting.

East Bridgford Barns
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75" x 6.5")

I am pleased that I’ve painted 8 of these little pictures in the first 16 days of 2022. It is a huge increase on the amount of painting I did last year. The emphasis is on quantity, not quality, but these are my favourites.

Rainbows

Happy 2022
Watercolour on Paper
16.5cm x 12cm (6.5" x 4.75")

Rainbows is the third topic in the Skies and Weather chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice.

I cross referenced Claudia’s advice with the section on rainbows in James Gurney’s Color and Light (A Guide for the Realist Painter). James explains  “The colors of the rainbow should be lighter than the background”. I think this is the main challenge for painting rainbows in watercolour - how do you keep the colours vibrant, but lighter than the sky. I didn’t pull it off this time, so I will have another go.

The tree in the foreground was in a neighbour’s garden. Sadly, it was sick and had to be cut down last year. I had a grandstand view from my office window of the tree surgeon taking down a tall tree in a confined space. It distracted me for a whole afternoon when I should have been working.

Happy 2022.

May the New Year bring us all peace, health and happiness.