I had considered going outside to find a nice motif for the assignment… but again reverted to photos, for practical reasons: Availability, the possibility to plan my painting and study times – and not being subjected to weather hazards. Summer in New York is typically hot and muggy and it’s not very pleasant to stay outside.

So I went through my photos and found one which I made this spring, using a mobile phone. It depicts the midtown mini-park associated to a synagoge. It’s close to my workplace and I sometimes go there for lunch. It features a high, terrassed waterfall, a magnolia tree, walls covered with ivy, and flower plants changing in the seasons. I found this photo to be a little gem because of the young couple sitting by the water, giving the scene something very lively.

The scene comprised several of the features we were supposed to include in the assignment: Human figures, trees, rocks, water, and linear perspective. So I decided to have a go.

The couple

The first element I studied was the couple, using pencil in my sketchbook. The first attempt was a little smallish, the second try below the first worked out better. I found it difficult to capture the essential marks in the face of the young man, but was surprised that I managed to convey the asian character of the girl by the form of her cheeks.

I used an enlarged view of the photo and drew right off the computer screen

 

The greenery

The second element I liked a lot were the yellow daffodils to the lower left. I saw them as contoured blue-green leaf shapes with curly yellow flower buds in between, before a darker background from the shady root area of other plants. I found this visual pattern quite typical and studied it using coloured pencils and wash.

I also studied the magnolia which was just beginning to flower, with thin green and large white flower buds. The challenge here was the light stem before the dark background, and keeping some white for the flowers when darkening the tones.

     

I realized that I had to practice in watercolour as well, to tackle the problems with that medium too. So I made a third close up, choosing the dark green conifer on the mid-ground roof top. I included the surrounding buildings as context. I liked this one because I felt that my use of the brush, laid flat to the side, began to work for the depiction of the plant. I liked how the lighter and darker green tones worked together within the branches. I also liked the quality of the washes I produced for the surrounding buildings and walls.

 

 

Sketching the waterfall

I found the waterfall the most difficult and challenging element of the scene. I had made a first drawing of this waterfall about 8 months ago, on location, while working on part 3 (painting outside, http://ocawatercolour1.patricia-karsten.de/?p=741). The waterfall is quite fascinating to watch, with the water falling down over the stones which form little terrasses. The water masses also make an incredible noise.

I had the idea of using wax or oil pastels as a resist to reserve white space for the foam on the water, and tried this out in the A4 watercolour sketchbook. The wax crayons were too thin to work as a resist, so I added a layer of oil pastels before applying more paint. The effect was not as clear as I intended and I wasn’t sure whether I’d want to use this technique for the final painting.

I decided to make some more pencil drawings to study the tonal values of the rocks and the falling water, and went on location several times over the next days. The two portrait format drawings were made on location, the landscape format was worked out from a section of my selected photo.

These drawings are more refined than the earlier one in black ball pen, including more tonal variation but lacking a bit of contrast. I was focusing on depicting the moving water and think the drawings made on location better capture the water’s energy and flow.

It may have to do with the different size dimensions – working in front of the real, large-sized object versus working from a small computer screen. But it may also be due to the richer sensual impact on location – looking at a real, three-dimensional moving object is different from looking at a two-dimensional photo snapshot.

     

On a third occasion, I made a watercolour sketch of the waterfall on location. The format is roughly A3 (34 x 24 cm). It was a novel experience – having my watercolour box and a glass of water with me, and painting in public. But the little park is quite protected and it was early evening so less people around, and I managed to concentrate and not feel overly self-conscious. I quite like the result, as it’s light and fresh.

 

 

 

Tackling the entire scene

After having studied the main elements by themselves, I wanted to see how the entire composition would work together. I knew I’d have to work quite large to have the space for details. The first attempt was roughly A3 size (38 x 28 cm). I used watersoluble wax crayons, a box of 12, which is actually a nice medium because it permits to start with a drawing and then work over with water to achieve denser colours, as in a watercolour painting.

A difficulty is the restricted palette and that using black to darken the values smudges all colours, even if applied only in traces. So I used purple and brown for the darker tones and was very reluctant to work towards the muted colours of my photo source. As a result this piece has a slightly psychedelic colouring.

But I liked how the elements came together on the page and decided to begin with the final piece. I chose the largest format I have – 60 x 45 cm (18 x 24 inches watercolour pad), and made a fairly detailed pencil drawing, trying to get the linear perspective right and the shapes and lines of various elements. I made a break before proceeding to painting with watercolours due to other commitments.

To loosen up a bit, I wanted to make a quick watercolour sketch in large format before tackling the final painting. Inspired from a technique used in the Summer Painting Workshop at the Brooklyn Museum, I chose a charcoal pencil to draw some outlines, then applied generous washes for the main elements of the painting. I tried to work out the greenery and the water without getting too much into detail work.

I wasn’t really satisfied with how I depicted the plants in the foreground. I felt that I had made too many brush strokes, rather than setting those significant ones for the shapes that defined the contours of the daffodil leaves. But overall I fairly liked the approach and the resulting painting.

     

The final piece: Townscape with waterfall

Then finally I got to the large painting. I worked approximately 8 hours on this one. I tried hard to get the tonal values right without painting too many layers. Already by its size, I find the painting quite impressive (60 x 45 cm). I have somewhat mixed feelings with this painting. On the one hand, I realize that I made quite some technical progress, for example in the depiction of plants. On the other hand, I think there is not enough room for the fluency and chance effects of watercolour as a medium. But I managed to retain some transparency and I won’t work over it any further. May future pieces bring more progress!

Assessment of my learning (Guided reflections)

Looking at my work for Part 3 (Painting outside) and Part 4 (Landscape painting), I feel I’ve come quite a long way. I feel more confident with the medium and made technical progress in many ways. Deliberate study of landscape elements in part 4 permitted to focus on particular difficulties and I think the effect is visible.

I think my biggest step forward occurred while painting skies and clouds. I had a real lightbulb moment in the final sky dominated landscape – an entirely different approach, loose, with much water and liberally mixing in pigment and letting the medium do the work. I wasn’t able to repeat this for the assignment piece. I tried to in the large preparatory watercolour painting, but I guess in the final piece, the composition I chose seduced me to work more tightly and focused on detail.

Working on the assignment was also satisfying because I felt that I developed a systematic approach with the preparatory studies, without exhausting my energy and motivation for the topic. I found this mildly surprising and it may have to do with the availability of the real thing, beyond the selected photo source. I think the excursions to the waterfall and making sketches and a watercolour on location greatly helped with keeping up the flow.

I think the waterfall was the most difficult element and it did not turn out quite as I had imagined, but nevertheless I think it is recognizable and somehow corresponds well in style with the rest of the painting. The greatest achievement for me personally is how I painted the daffodils and the other greenery. There are different green tones, the shapes of the flowers are nicely “accidental”, and there is a silhouette of daffodil leaves behind a darker background, just as I wanted it. The plant to the right in the foreground also turned out nicely, with some characteristic leaves and dark negative space in between.

Linear perspective is quite prominent in the composition due to the buildings in the background and the ‘built environment’ nature of the scene, and I think I got this mostly correct. I considered using a ruler to obtain real straight lines, but decided against it with the rationale of training my eye and hand on this. There are many painterly details which I wouldn’t have seen or wouldn’t have been able to depict before part 4 – like the trunks and branches of the magnolia which alternate from light before dark and dark before light background. So overall, I’m aware I made quite a step forward technically.

Creatively, it’s a different story. I feel quite restricted from an overly prescriptive course concept. Working full time, I have extremely few time available for painting, and this is filled up with guided exercises. To develop creatively, I’d need more freedom to explore my own topics and paint what I’m interested in or deem necessary for technical reasons. So in this creative aspect I only see minimal progress. I do take my freedom in choice of medium for the preparatory studies. But I don’t feel that the course concept helps me much in finding my own voice. I rather feel distracted and hindered from developing my own interests because of the sheer amount of exercises, research points and tutor suggestions. I do appreciate creative input, but in my case, less would be more.

Ideas and plans for future development

I’m not sure about my future development with watercolours. I see the danger that with the course ending, I won’t get back to the medium because it still isn’t anchored in my creative aspirations. I do like other people’s and artist’s watercolours, but I struggle seeing my own as valuable and important for me personally. It may have to do with the enforcement of certain topics to make student work comparable and easier to assess.

Despite this, I feel that abandoning watercolours would be a real pity so maybe this aspect of developing my own interests should be the most important thing to focus on in the final part of the course: Finding my own, personal approach and beginning to use the medium creatively to express something personally meaningful, rather than focusing on the technical aspects of project exercises.

During parts 3 and 4, again and again I came across the watercolours by Winslow Homer which has become a favourite painter. I admire the freshness, clarity and simplicity of his watercolours, and achieving this has become a practical goal in my own paintings. I know I’m still far away from this but it’s good to see paintings that work for me – this helps a bit to sustain while struggling with the difficulties of the medium.

During part 3, I brought up the topic of abstraction on several occasions in the reflections on my paintings, in particular when I struggled with detail and over-attachment to realistic depiction. Tutor feedback on assignment 3 included some pointers to abstract artists and the suggestion to do multiple versions of the exercises, trying out different approaches. Somehow I had lost track of the topic until re-reading the feedback while working on assignment 4. So I took the time for some research on the suggested artist. What struck me most was the feeling that I had a completely different concept of abstraction compared to those artists.

Common understanding seems to focus on artwork with geometrical shapes and colouring without recognizable reference to actual objects of the real world. By contrast, I had in mind the process of abstracting from knowledge about the objects towards ‘painting what I see, not what I know’. To me, this means an improved visual analysis. For example, when I paint a chair, trying to capture the shapes distorted by perspective and the colours changing according to light and adjacent colours, rather than depicting an idealized version of the chair with plain angles and singular colour everywhere. I’ve followed up the suggested artists and wrote a blog article (http://ocawatercolour1.patricia-karsten.de/?p=1548) about abstraction and what it means to me.

Another topic that came up in tutor feedback on assignment 3 was the question about the influence of the societal and political context on my paintings. I must admit that I am a very unpolitical person and tend not to engage in political topics. Likewise, I wouldn’t want to make art to exert political influence or put the finger on societal problems. But I’m quite conscious that there is a great luxury in having the kind of secure and quiet life that there’s room for making art just out of pleasure, compared to many people living in different circumstances. A motivation beyond this relates to my background in psychology and the idea of using art as self-expression in psychological therapy. I’m actually more interested in the psychological than the technical or political aspects of art, and am often fascinated about an artist’s personality when it shines through his or her style.

One example that comes to mind is Egon Schiele, whose style runs through all his motifs, people as well as objects. I don’t think this influences me to attempt drawing or painting in a similar style, but it makes me think about what might become my own personal style some day, something recognizable like the human handwriting or the voice of a person. And so this is a full circle, I’m about to search for my own voice, in art.