Watercolor Painting: A Comprehensive Approach to Mastering the Medium Read Online Free PDF Page B
Author: Tom Hoffmann
me.
How can we get “permission” to paint the pictures we really intend to paint? Since so many of us spend more time on the way-too-much side of the information scale, it makes sense to explore the rest of the territory, but this can be intimidating. If we believe we’re not supposed to go there, it feels like trespassing.
I find it effective to set up an exercise that is clearly not a painting. When there is no expectation that this piece of paper might become a “keeper,” the usual self-imposed restrictions do not apply. It is liberating to make an intentionally oversimplified version of the scene, as a temporary license to enter forbidden territory. In the process, you will also discover a great deal about which features of the subject are the essential ones.
Some information is essential, but most of it is optional. Discovering which is which is largely a matter of getting out of your own way.
How much of what you can see in this photo of the Juarez Market in Oaxaca would you need to include in a painting? The information that registers at first glance is usually enough to tell you what ought to be communicated about a scene. If you find yourself leaning closer to see exactly what all that stuff is, you probably don’t really need to know.
BILL TEITSWORTH, STUDY FOR FROM THE BRIDGE, 2010
PERMANENT MARKER ON SKETCH PAPER
5 × 8 INCHES (13 × 20 CM)
----
This preliminary sketch, which has no more than five values, reveals how little specific information will be needed to tell the story.
I DENTIFYING THE M AJOR S HAPES
You’ve no doubt heard that it is wise to begin a new subject with a quick sketch or a small study, to help distill the scene down to a manageable number of strokes and washes. Every good teacher I’ve come across recommends some form or other of finding the “bones” of the image first.
Many different kinds of preliminary studies can help reduce the image to a very simple form. In this chapter we will look at three examples: a five-value monochrome study, a two-layer geometric sketch, and a three-layer thumbnail sketch. The first step in all three exercises is to identify themajor shapes.
I define the major shapes as those that need to be separated from each other for the illusion of space to be effective. To decide whether a particular shape plays an important role in describing the space in a scene, try asking yourself if it would matter if it were merged with the adjacent shapes. Would you still be able to tell where everything is in the pictorial space?
In the photograph at right, for instance, it would be fine, perhaps even best, to think of the stones as a single shape. As a whole, the pile needs to be separated from the workers and the wall, but the individual blocks can be subjugated to the overall shape of the pile.
Do the preliminary studies discussed in this chapter on small paper, no bigger than 8 × 10 inches (20 × 25 cm), so you won’t become attached to them as paintings. Their purpose is to help you see what you can leave out of the proper painting. If you discover that something is missing, or you believe something should have been done differently, leave the study as it is. Rather than add to it or correct it, write your ideas directly on the study. Articulating your thoughts will make them easier to remember. In each case, you can use the finished study to decide where you need more specificity or subtlety. You may also discover places where what seemed like too little information turns out to be enough.
The jumble of stone blocks in this picture looks like a complicated painting subject at first, but remembering to ask if the individual stones need to be separated from each other greatly simplifies the job.
C REATING A F IVE -V ALUE M ONOCHROME S TUDY
As a first treatment of a new subject, it would be hard to find a better exercise than a value study. Understanding the dark/light relationships between the big shapes in your composition is an essential first
How can we get “permission” to paint the pictures we really intend to paint? Since so many of us spend more time on the way-too-much side of the information scale, it makes sense to explore the rest of the territory, but this can be intimidating. If we believe we’re not supposed to go there, it feels like trespassing.
I find it effective to set up an exercise that is clearly not a painting. When there is no expectation that this piece of paper might become a “keeper,” the usual self-imposed restrictions do not apply. It is liberating to make an intentionally oversimplified version of the scene, as a temporary license to enter forbidden territory. In the process, you will also discover a great deal about which features of the subject are the essential ones.
Some information is essential, but most of it is optional. Discovering which is which is largely a matter of getting out of your own way.
How much of what you can see in this photo of the Juarez Market in Oaxaca would you need to include in a painting? The information that registers at first glance is usually enough to tell you what ought to be communicated about a scene. If you find yourself leaning closer to see exactly what all that stuff is, you probably don’t really need to know.
BILL TEITSWORTH, STUDY FOR FROM THE BRIDGE, 2010
PERMANENT MARKER ON SKETCH PAPER
5 × 8 INCHES (13 × 20 CM)
----
This preliminary sketch, which has no more than five values, reveals how little specific information will be needed to tell the story.
I DENTIFYING THE M AJOR S HAPES
You’ve no doubt heard that it is wise to begin a new subject with a quick sketch or a small study, to help distill the scene down to a manageable number of strokes and washes. Every good teacher I’ve come across recommends some form or other of finding the “bones” of the image first.
Many different kinds of preliminary studies can help reduce the image to a very simple form. In this chapter we will look at three examples: a five-value monochrome study, a two-layer geometric sketch, and a three-layer thumbnail sketch. The first step in all three exercises is to identify themajor shapes.
I define the major shapes as those that need to be separated from each other for the illusion of space to be effective. To decide whether a particular shape plays an important role in describing the space in a scene, try asking yourself if it would matter if it were merged with the adjacent shapes. Would you still be able to tell where everything is in the pictorial space?
In the photograph at right, for instance, it would be fine, perhaps even best, to think of the stones as a single shape. As a whole, the pile needs to be separated from the workers and the wall, but the individual blocks can be subjugated to the overall shape of the pile.
Do the preliminary studies discussed in this chapter on small paper, no bigger than 8 × 10 inches (20 × 25 cm), so you won’t become attached to them as paintings. Their purpose is to help you see what you can leave out of the proper painting. If you discover that something is missing, or you believe something should have been done differently, leave the study as it is. Rather than add to it or correct it, write your ideas directly on the study. Articulating your thoughts will make them easier to remember. In each case, you can use the finished study to decide where you need more specificity or subtlety. You may also discover places where what seemed like too little information turns out to be enough.
The jumble of stone blocks in this picture looks like a complicated painting subject at first, but remembering to ask if the individual stones need to be separated from each other greatly simplifies the job.
C REATING A F IVE -V ALUE M ONOCHROME S TUDY
As a first treatment of a new subject, it would be hard to find a better exercise than a value study. Understanding the dark/light relationships between the big shapes in your composition is an essential first
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