7/19/2020 5:49:50 PM
I use transparent watercolours for a purpose. They are transparent.
Look what happens when I apply YELLOW paint (Quinacridone Gold) over the left-hand side of four, dry strips of red. They turn orange. Look what happens when I apply BLUE paint (French Ultramarine Blue) over similar dry four strips of red. They turn purple.
Similar changes in colour would be seen by applying YELLOW over BLUE to make green.
Since grass and trees are green I wanted to see what would happen if I painted a scene in yellow (of different intensities), let it dry, then apply blue over the yellow. The result of this test is shown below. I mixed no green in this painting, not on my palette and not on the watercolour paper. Green appears because I glazed transparent blue over a dry yellow base. Neat.
7/9/2020 10:27:26 PM
Watercolour painting, whether done in the studio or en plein air, takes planning and part of that process for me is the creation of thumbnail sketches. Sometimes I take 30+ minutes or so at this stage -- the better the plan, the greater chance of success.
My first sketches are black and white thumbnails. Here, I try to decide on what to paint, what not to paint, my composition and focal point. Sometimes this is followed by a tonal study. In order to capture the colours I see or wish to interpret I create another thumbnail, this time in watercolours. I have found capturing colours can come in handy if I have to leave unexpectedly (an attack by blackflies for example) so that transferring those same colours onto my larger watercolour painting is made easier.
Here are thumbnails for my watercolour "Taking the 219 at Margaree Harbour". Of importance to me were the shadows across the road, the arrangement of buildings on the farm and the restricted palette of colours.
The final watercolour, as a result of this planning can be seen HERE.
