Polished Wood

One of Many Lamps
Watercolour on Paper
24.5cm x 15.5cm (9.75" x 6")

Polished Wood is the second topic in the Wood Grain Patterns chapter of  Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice. 

Claudia observes that polished wood has similarities with shiny metal; it has strong value patterns and the possibility of reflected colours.

Our house came with a separate electric circuit for lamps, so we have a quite a few, most of them with lampshades made by Elaine.

The most difficult decision with the painting was what to do with the pattern in the lampshade. I decided it was best not to try too hard. 

Wood Grain

Wooden Easel
Watercolour on Paper
24.5cm x 15.5cm (9.75" x 6")

Wood Grain is the first topic in the Wood Grain Patterns chapter of  Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice. The topic includes some excellent swatches of different woods and their grain patterns.

Claudia recommends drawing the grain with a pen or a dry brush. Drawing the pattern in ink proved more difficult than I expected. My initial subject was a plate carved from a piece of Ash. This has a very delicate grain pattern that I couldn’t replicate. I couldn’t match the thinness of the lines or the lightness and variety of the colours. I am probably blaming my tools, but I think you need a collection of technical pens to draw accurate grain studies.

Lesson learnt - I chose the top of Dad's desk easel as my second subject. The grain pattern on this is less subtle and lent itself to be drawn with a brush rather than a pen. The main challenge was making the perspective believable - I had to draw it 5 or 6 times before it looked right.

Holiday Sketches

Too Hot for Doris
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
8.9cm x 14.0cm (3.5" x 5.5")

Elaine, Doris and I spent a lot of May and June on holiday. In May, Elaine and I went to Saundersfoot in Pembrokeshire (Doris went to stay with Pagan - her Old English Sheepdog friend). Last week, all 3 of us went to Talland Bay in Cornwall. 

Courtyard Corner
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 8.9cm (5.5" x 3.5")

While we were away, I focused on small sketches - rather than big complex scenes. There are my favourite sketches from the month.

Scots Pines
Ink
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 8.9cm (5.5" x 3.5")

The perspective of Elaine’s boots was difficult to get right. Making the two boots look the same shape and size was a particular challenge. I drew this after we walked to Looe along the coastal path. We took a taxi back (rather than walking) because Doris made it clear her fur coat was inappropriate attire for a long walk on a sunny day. We had done the usual check to make sure the ground wasn’t too hot, but when we got to Looe, Doris revealed she wanted to spend the rest of the day in the shade. 

Harder than it Looked
Graphite Pencil
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 8.9cm (5.5" x 3.5")

The Scots Pine was part of the view from our window in Cornwall. The courtyard was part of our view in Saundersfoot. The egg sketch was an exercise in using pencil shading to create a sense of volume – I need more practice.

Drawing and Painting the Landscape – Rule of Thirds

 

St Ives Harbour - Buildings - Rule of Thirds

Lesson 32 of  Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler is about the rule of thirds - a popular technique for composing visual images. The “rule” divides a scene into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) using two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines. Aligning important elements of a picture along these lines or at their intersections is supposed to create more visual interest than placing the subject at the centre.

Rule of Thirds Grid

Philip suggests exploring the rule of thirds in your compositions. As an exercise, I tried to improve the two images I picked in the Root Rectangle exercise. I used a rule of thirds and a phi grid to refine the selections - a phi grid is like a rule of thirds grid except it divides the image according to the Divine Proportion resulting in grid lines that are closer together; which in turn moves the more important elements of your picture closer to the centre.

Phi Grid

I looked at over 20 different options for each scene and ended up with selections almost identical to the ones I picked in the original exercise.

St Ives Harbour - Boats - Rule of Thirds

In both cases I favour images in which the lower third is a foreground of empty sand. As I work on the pictures some more, I may try to include some extra details and contrast at some of the points of intersection.

Sunrise

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

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

Claudia observes 

Traditionally the sunrise has been thought of as pastel and delicate. In truth the sunrise can rival the sunset in colouration.

This matches my experiences – I’ve seen some spectacular sunrises – but not very many - I am usually asleep. I should make more effort to get up to draw and paint in the early morning. Sunrise is an easier time to draw and paint than sunset because at sunset you are racing to finish before it gets dark - at sunrise you can always finish off from memory as the sky gets lighter.

This is another sky based on a Javid Tabatabaei demonstration - How to paint sky in watercolor painting. This one was a learning experience, this picture is my twelfth attempt at the sky and there is still room for improvement. It is critical to have the right relative intensity of yellow and blue (and the right pigments), so you don’t end up with green. Then there is the timing of the different layers – waiting until the sky has just the right amount of wetness before adding the clouds. Javid’s clouds look much more natural than mine – which is something for me to work on.

Working from Life

 

Green Pepper
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
8.9cm x 14.0cm (3.5" x 5.5")

Katherine Tyrrell on the Making a Mark blog reminded me that  I am not drawing from life enough (see Making a Mark - How to describe art). 

Nibbles
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
8.9cm x 14.0cm (3.5" x 5.5")

Katherine points out the importance some artists put on drawing from life each day. Sadly, I couldn’t remember the last time I had drawn from life. 

Mmm Succulent
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 8.9cm (5.5" x 3.5")

To rectify this, I have been drawing at least a couple of line and wash sketches from life each week. 

Cheeky Gin
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 8.9cm (5.5" x 3.5")

To make this as easy as possible (both psychologically and physically), I am working in a small sketchbook (14.0cm x 8.9cm / 5.5” x 3.5”) using water brushes and a titchy half pan watercolour set. The kit is very portable and it means I can blame any deficiencies on my tools.

How Big?
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
8.9cm x 14.0cm (3.5" x 5.5")

I've never liked water brushes but I am getting on with them better since I’ve realised the importance of keeping them loaded with paint. 

Old Technology
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 8.9cm (5.5" x 3.5")

I plan to keep up the ink and wash and to include some pencil and charcoal sketches - which will allow for more thoughtful studies - and less room to blame my tools.

Drawing and Painting the Landscape – Root Rectangles

 

St Ives Harbour - Root-4 Rectangle

Lesson 31 of  Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler is another lesson about composition with a foundation in mathematics. 

Wikipedia defines a root rectangle as 

A rectangle in which the ratio of the longer side to the shorter is the square root of an integer, such as √2, √3, etc..

Phillip explains how to draw a root-2 rectangle (√2 rectangle) by starting with a square, measuring the diagonal and extending two opposite sides to be the length of the diagonal. 

Root-2 Rectangle

You can then draw a root-3 rectangle by measuring the diagonal of the root-2 rectangle and extending the long sides to be the length of this diagonal.

Root-3 Rectangle

You draw a root-4 rectangle by extending the longer sides to be the length of the root-3 rectangle’s diagonal, and so on.

One of the interesting properties of root rectangles is:

If you divide a root-N rectangle along its long side into N equal subdivisions, all the little rectangles are also root-N rectangles, for example, if you divide a root-5 rectangle into 5 equal slices, all the little rectangles are also root-5 rectangles

Root-5 Rectangle with Subdivisions

Some people believe this symmetry is a thing of beauty and provides a good underlying structure for the composition of a picture (if you are interested, check out the Wikipedia article - Dynamic rectangle). 

Philp points out the paper sizes in the A series (A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, etc) are all root-2 rectangles. If you divide a root-2 rectangle in half, both halves are also root-2 rectangles. Cut a piece of A0 in half and you have 2 pieces of A1, cut a piece of A1 in half and you have 2 pieces of A2, and so on.

A Paper

Phillip suggests a sketchbook exercise creating a series of compositions in squares and different root rectangles. I did a slightly different exercise. I took a holiday photograph which isn't an obvious candidate to paint.

St Ives Harbour - Source Photo

I searched this picture for squares and root rectangles that have the most promise as paintings. My favourites are the image at the top of the post and this one.

St Ives Harbour - Square

I will refine and improve them in the next lessons.