I’m still hopeful that I’m going to overcome myself and go painting outdoors one day, but for now, painting from photographs seems to be the safer option – independent of weather conditions and giving me the privacy I need. Luckily I found some photos I liked, from earlier travels and excursions. I still have in mind to make a trip to the seaside this summer so maybe I’ll take up the topic again, later on.

Mallorca (photo source, 2007)

The photo depicts a rather foggy day with muted colours. The first watercolour was a bit faint, but I like the loose and fast style in which I painted. I was somewhat dissatisfied with the lack of recognizable detail and therefore proceeded with a pencil sketch of the scene.

 
Mallorca I, watercolour on paper, 33 x 43 cm
pencil sketch, 23 x 30 cm

Aiming for more intense colours and improved details, I made a second watercolour attempt. I think it is slightly overworked in the mountain area, and I had some accidental cauliflowers in the sky. I used white oil pastel as resist for the water foam, but found the waves not very recognizable.

Mallorca II, watercolour on paper, 33 x 43 cm

Baltic sea (photo source, 2004)

This photo was made in the evening, and the light cast a shimmer of rose on the scene. I tried to capture this and made a light rose background wash, before painting the sky, sea and sand. I think I need to improve on the waves, but I like how the sky came out as a wash of rose and blue. There’s progress in that I gave room to let the watercolour do some of the work.

Baltic Sea, watercolour on paper, 23 x 30 cm

Cuba (photo source, 2005)

What fascinated me about this photo were the blue and turquoise colours of the water. I made two watercolour paintings, the second slightly larger than the first. I tried to improve on the shape of the waves and continued to use white oil pastel as a resist for painting the white foam. Again I see some progress in the washes and how I painted the sky with clouds. Points to work on are “lack of efficiency” in my marks. For example, the white squirly marks I made for the foam in the foreground somehow don’t capture the essence of its pattern on the water.

    
Cuba I, watercolour on paper, 23 x 30 cm
Cuba II, watercolour on paper, 26 x 36.5 cm

Concluding remarks

I think there’s some progress in my work. I’m beginning to abandon the tight style, painting looser and learning to be patient, watching what the medium does, letting layers dry before applying the next. The washes are improving as I’m beginning to get a feeling for how much paint I need for the area I want to cover. I’m getting along better with smaller formats of around A4 or 20 x 30 cm, and think this is because the format better fits with the size of my brushes. Larger formats require really large brushes to achieve a generous style, and with my reluctance to mix much paint, this typically results in fiddling, running out of paint etc.

I think that my observational skills need improving, I’d like to paint “more effectively” – achieve more with less work, less fiddling. But overall, I’m already happy about the development towards a looser style.

For this exercise, I chose a photo of the Fullmer Falls in Pennsylvania, USA, that I had found on Wikimedia Commons (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fulmer_Falls_Downstream_View_1800px.jpg). I particularly liked how the composition included different kinds of moving water and different distances: A flat, fast stream in the foreground that curled around some stones and wood, in the middle ground a little pond with almost still water, and behind this the waterfall with fast, vertically moving water. I also liked the subdued tones of dark green and grey tones, which still had a lot of contrast.

I started with a pencil sketch to help me study the composition and some details, and then made a first watercolour sketch of the middle section only. I painted the water wet in wet, using a sponge to take off colour and create swirls. To improve contrasts, I added a purple tone to the stones, a green tone to the water, and browns for branches. I got a bit distracted from the water by the details of the branches to the right. I think what worked well in this painting was the coloured grey tones and the depiction of the moving water. I think I captured a bit of the energy.

   
pencil sketch, 30 x 23 cm
watercolour sketch, 24 x 34 cm

To study the wood a bit closer, I made detail pencil sketches of the thin branches to the right and the thicker wood in the middle of that section (sketchbook, 23 x 30 cm). I wanted to capture how the light fell on the branches and created those black and white patterns and deep contrasts. I found the second sketch was no improvement over the first and realized that I was at the limit of my ability, because I wasn’t able to visually disentangle the interwoven branches. I think this problem has to do with my deteriorating eyesight. I was quite frustrated and unsure how I could proceed. I took a break and on the next day, I decided to take a looser approach – not attempting to depict the details and shapes exactly, but looking at the general pattern and types of contrast.

So I deliberately changed my focus for the next painting, approaching it in a more generous way. I was quite satisfied with the result because I found it was not overworked, and I liked the looser style.

Fullmer Falls, PA, watercolour on paper, 54.5 x 36 cm, May 2014

Some distraction: The lily on my terrace

For a change, I studied the lily on my terrace that was beginning to bloom. One day, I made a pencil sketch of the buds, and a few days later a drawing with inktense pencils and wash (both in sketchbook, 23 x 30 cm). I think the coloured drawing is a bit too tight, but I liked working with the pencils. I used a refillable water brush for the wash and found the technique quite nice for outdoors excursions. The colours from inktense pencils become very intense when worked out with water, and the water brush is a small tool that I could take with me easily.

I continued working from photos for this exercise and selected two pictures: A view on the pond in the Brooklyn Cemetery (2013), and a scene from Spreewald near Berlin in Germany (2004). This is a beautiful water landscape where the river Spree originates, and I’m certain to return there to paint when I’ll be back in Germany.

Work on this exercise was dominated by my attempts to paint accurately, at the same time loosen the tighter approach… probably two things that don’t go together! I painted 4 versions of the cemetery pond in different formats and two versions of the Spreewald, alternating between the two subjects. I’ll present the paintings by subject to discuss the challenges.

The pond at Brooklyn Cemetery (photo source, 2013)

The main problem here was the fountain which I did not manage to integrate well into the painting. I tried oil pastels as a resist but found my shape too gross. Maybe I should have made a light wash underneath it to connect it to the rest of the painting.

Another problem was with the colours. I tried to be true to the photo, but found that in my painting, the blue sky did not work well with the autumn colours of the trees. Maybe this was because I did not mix my greens from blue and yellow but used pre-mixed hues instead. I might try to work from a more restricted palette and mix my own tones.

Overall, I think the studies are too tight and overworked and this comes from my aim to depict all the details as accurately as possible. I experimented with the dry brush technique and was surprised how intense and opaque the colours came across. Versions 2 and 3 are made with more water. I was experimenting what worked well for blending colours and creating the reflections on the water. These first three versions were guided by the attempt to improve on the details. Unfortunately, each time I got annoyed after a certain time and then lost concentration. So I guess this is not my most preferred way of painting with watercolours.

Then to try a really different approach, I followed a recommendation by my tutor and painted with the left hand. I painted entirely wet in wet, focusing only on colour and placement in the composition. This painting is the least recognizable, but the most pleasant to look at, I think.

Version 1 (33 x 43 cm): First try, dry brush technique
Version 2 (27.5 x 38 cm): Using a flat brush wet in wet and wet on dry, making different marks
Version 3 (24 x 34 cm): Round brush and mixture of dry brush and wet in wet, small format
Version 4 (24 x 34 cm): Left handed painting, wet in wet

Spreewald near Berlin (photo source, 2004)

The greates challenge in this scene were the branches in the middle hanging over the water, and their reflections on the water surface. I found it very difficult to visually separate the two from another. Another difficult aspect was the red wall to the left behind the large tree. I considered using resist for this, but then found the area to cover too extensive and decided to try a different approach: Painting the background as a wash after painting the foliage. I think this worked quite nicely in both versions. I did use resist for the banister and in version 2 for the highlight around the little duck in the center.

I mainly focused on the trees and their foliage, trying out my new brush technique of holding the brush sideways onto the paper to create irregular marks. I think I like version 2 better than version 1 because the greens of the trees are more like I wanted them, and I also like that the water reflections are softer in version 2. To note is that I’m beginning to experiment with the brushes and try to fit the brush to what I want to do, and also try to make more varied marks.

Version 1 (33 x 43 cm), Version 2 (33 x 43 cm): Trying to improve the foliage of the trees and the appearance of the water.

Concluding reflections

I see some skills developing but am not very satisfied with my paintings. This is mostly because I still find the style too tight. I don’t think I captured the beauty of the scene that I saw when I took the photographs. I think I’d benefit from painting more in the looser style. On the other hand I’m kind of stuck to the idea of accurate representation and have great difficulties of just letting go – I perceive strongly the obligation to follow course instructions. Maybe it would help to alternate between approaches to loosen up.

It is also interesting to see how the painting develops when I re-work to improve tonality. The price is that the painting becomes overworked but it is also helpful to observe what happens when contrast is increased and really dark tones are added. Maybe this helps to become more confident in applying intense and dark tones right away so that the overall tonality needs less corrections.

The task was to set up a still life, using a large shallow bowl partly filled with water,  and place one or two objects into the water, then draw and/or paint the arrangement.

I chose a blue ceramics bowl and placed a coffee mug inside. At the beginning, this felt like a very weird idea and I struggled with the perceived ridiculousness of the arrangement. But once I began drawing, I got really captured and actually enjoyed working on it.

I made a tonal pencil study first, then a watercolour painting of the same view in artificial light, and on the next day in watercolour a different view of the bowl in (diminishing) afternoon daylight.

The drawing was made with watercolours in mind – I tried to identify main shapes and capture the overall tonal distribution. While I was quite satisfied with the drawing, I felt like a beginner with the watercolour painting – again those irregular and stripy washes and I didn’t manage to get tonal values right, all the fiddly details and the result was overworked. For the composition, I found the bowl too small on the paper.

I tried to improve on these aspects in the second watercolour. The washes are still stripy but I think I applied a better technique so hopefully with time the washes will improve.

The main challenge of this exercise was that with every tiny movement, the appearance of the reflections on the water surface changed and I found it extremely hard to maintain the exact position while painting. I also had some trouble getting the proportions right. The drawing is quite correct I think, but the watercolours not so.

All in all, I really liked this exercise. It is not the way I really like to paint in watercolours, because I prefer a looser approach. But I think the detail studies and even overworking helps to get the practice necessary to loosen up later. At least that’s what I hope.