Drawing and Painting the Landscape – Monochrome Study

Moorings on the Dart
Monochrome Study - Drawing and Painting the Landscape
Watercolour on Paper
16.5cm x 24cm (6.5" x 9.5")

Chapter 7 of  Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler is about painting. Philip provides an introduction to a variety of media and techniques. The first is watercolour which he suggests is a big mistake for beginners because:

Watercolour is the most difficult painting medium to use well as it is unforgiving, allowing you little room for error.

He also points out:

It is a good idea to create a crisp linear drawing to establish the placement of the key elements of the landscape. 

This advice made me realise I’ve let my drawing practice slip and I need to do something about it.

Lesson 35 is a monochrome study in watercolour. Phillip recommends monochromes as a way to get started with watercolour while avoiding the additional complexity of having to think about colour.

The exercise is similar to Lesson 18 Wash Media, but in watercolour instead of ink. It provided an opportunity to experiment with the composition and approach for two pictures I am planning to paint. In both of them, I overdid the masking fluid and applied it too clumsily – lesson learnt.

The study of the boats on the Dart helped me to work out how to build up the layers of the landscape and how to paint the distant background..

Tree Tunnel - Westonbirt
Monochrome Study - Drawing and Painting the Landscape
Watercolour on Paper
16.5cm x 24cm (6.5" x 9.5")

I wasn’t sure the tree tunnel would work without a lot of painstaking detail. The monochrome has persuaded me it will