The exercise went very differently from what I had expected. I started with my cats as subjects because I had been enjoying painting animals and thought the cats were “convenient” because they’re always there and I don’t have to travel to a zoo, make up with the weather, or wait for the week-end because I can’t go to places during the week.
Deciding on a subject
I knew the subject was challenging and that so far I hadn’t been able to make more advanced drawings of my cats, because they’re moving constantly and I was drawing not fast enough. But I thought that doing a whole series on them would help to improve my skills. So I set out to make some drawings to see how far I’d get.
Although I liked these sketches, I found drawing the cats extremely difficult and I was very unsure whether they were appropriate for the task. For example, I couldn’t count on being able to draw the same cat in the same position twice or even several times, so the idea of comparing the effect of different media choices on a single composition would be compromised. The effectiveness of the painting would mostly depend on being lucky enough to depict enough before the moment was gone. I could draw the cats either very quick and sketchy because of their constant motion – or depict them sleeping which isn’t very interesting. Overall, I found the cats were too complex as subject for now and decided to switch to a different, unmoving subject: Sunflowers.
Sunflowers
I made studies of a single flower and a drawing of five flowers in their vase, plus a pastel sketch to try out a background arrangement. The pencil drawing of the bouquet was a novel approach. I stayed quite sketchy and tried to “feel the marks”: The softer flowerheads with softer marks and lighter tones against the more scratchy marks of the harder green leaves surrounding them.
What fascinated me were the irregular contours of the yellow flower leaves – as opposed to the “ideal” generic sunflower in my mind/memory which has perfectly even shapes.
Paintings using additional media
The main problem with mixing media was that I didn’t feel ready for it. The feeling of lacking basic watercolour skills which troubled me during the tinted paper project, continued to bother me. What I wanted was painting with watercolours and trying to get better with that medium – not messing around with additional media that would even exacerbate my difficulties with watercolours themselves.
At the same time, I was surprised by my inner resistance because in principle, I was very interested in experimenting with a variety of materials and techniques. I think the series reflects my reluctance to introduce additional media. I tried hard to integrate them into the painting so they would not dominate the result. I wanted the paintings to be watercolours, not oil pastel drawings or anything else. It felt like I couldn’t let go and was unwilling to do anything more experimental.
There was also a feeling of half-heartedness related to the course brief’s suggestions of using oil pastels, charcoal, and crayons with watercolours. For my chosen subject, I saw only very limited choices for employing these. Maybe charcoal for linear elements (could have used pen & ink to a similar effect), and oil pastels or crayons either for more intense colours or as resists, or both. I tried oil pastels for the background but scraped them off because they were overpowering the flowerheads. I even dissolved them further with mineral spirit on the paper to erase the spotty leftovers and make the background less busy.
Sunflowers v1 (5 flowers): Watercolours and coloured pencil, 33 x 43 cm. Just traces of coloured pencil in the yellow areas of the flowerheads.
Sunflowers v2 (3 flowers): Watercolours and partly dissolved oil pastel, 35.5 x 33 cm. Oil pastels for the yellows and the dark hearts. Dissolved oil pastel layer in the right background
Sunflowers v3 (wet on wet): Watercolours and charcoal, 33 x 43 cm. The charcoal was used as a linear element to give more structure where the different colours run into each other.
Sunflowers v4 (brown background): Watercolours and oil pastel, 28 x 35.5 cm. Oil pastels are used for the yellow in the flowerheads and for the texture of the dark brown hearts.
Colorized monotype
A step forward was the idea to combine watercolours with monotype. I liked the idea because it felt more like a true mixed media approach. I used a 30 x 40 cm perspex plate and Akua Intaglio inks. I employed a subtractive technique, wiping off ink using cloth (tarlatan), Q-tips, corrugated cardboard, foam pvc, and a spatula. The resulting print was in grey tones, made on firm, bright white printmaking paper. I then colourized the print using watercolours.
Sunflowers in a vase v5 (colorized), watercolours on b/w monoprint, 28 x 35.5 cm
Using a background wash
Another attempt at using additional media with watercolours was by preparing a coloured wash. The guiding idea was to work with a strong colour contrast and bring out the characteristic silhouette of the flowerheads. I chose a medium tone indigo background wash. The flowerhead contours were then drawn with felt pen, the yellow areas received an underpainting with white acrylics, then a layer of yellow watercolours with traces of cadmium red. Finally they were worked over with yellow oil pastels to intensify the colours.
To add more interest, I structured the background into an interior view, and included the entire glass vase. I added tone using white gouache for lights and Payne’s Grey for darker tones, with some yellow and red for the stuff on the drawers.
The painting incorporates what I reflected upon in the “lightbulb moments” post: I used the pale, dark background to bring out the orange-yellow of the flowers, and emphasized the silhouettes to capture the characteristics of my flowers. It’s not what I’d consider a true mixed media approach, because the additional media (felt pen, white acrylics, oil pastels) are deeply integrated and support the painting, but the overall effect remained that of a watercolour painting.
Maybe it’s as far as I can get with “mixed media” for now. It felt strange that by shifting the focus to other media, I develop more skills at conventional watercolour painting, and also the handling of tinted paper with watercolours seems to improve with a time lag – in this exercise rather than in the actual earlier project. Maybe some more experimental ideas will come along over the course of this project, or even later.
Sunflowers in a vase v6 (interior view), watercolour with felt pen, acrylics and oil pastels, 43 x 33 cm
Guided reflections
Which of your studies works best and why?
I’m hesitating between the colourized monoprint and the interior view with blue background. The monoprint works nicely because the grey textured background adds interest, and because it’s “painted” in an energetic and loose style. The yellows also look nice and warm.
By contrast, the interior view is a much more controlled and “exact” painting. I think it is technically quite good, for example how I depicted the glass vase with water, reflections and transparency. The sunflowers’ heads are defined, but irregular. Their yellow stands out really strong.
Adding the background was informed by a still life I recently saw somewhere on the internet and made me realize that my backgrounds were flat. So I wanted to give more depth to the entire painting. The painting I saw used only lighter and darker tones to create a sense of space around the arrangement. I took a different route and painted the actual view, but due to the muted colours it recedes sufficiently.
On what basis did you choose your various combinations of media?
My central idea was to use additional media to complement and support the watercolour painting. I did not want them to turn the picture into something different or to stand out as separate elements. I think I succeeded with this, but I’m aware that there’s much more to the concept of mixed media than just using a few charcoal lines to “save” a wet on wet watercolour painting. I’d be particularly interested in using materials with a haptic effect, like acrylics with various stuff added, or using different materials for collage.
I did not venture into this because I thought about the difficulties it would pose at assessment time, if I’d have to submit works not made on paper but on sturdier supports like thick cardboard or wood. So overall, I think I made interesting paintings but I’m a bit disappointed about my rather restricted use of other media.
Are there any effects that have especially pleased or surprised you?
I liked the effect of using coloured oil pastels together with watercolours in the yellow flowers. I chose slightly different yellow tones, which created an interesting texture effect. Similarly, the dark brown oil pastel layer in the flower’s hearts worked well to depict the somewhat grainy texture of that surface.
Which combinations of media will you want to use again?
I might get back to oil pastels. But overall I’m not very fond of adding other media to watercolours. Nevertheless, I think that I could use watercolours together with other media in a more liberal fashion. I’m only a little blank-headed right now how that might be.
In what way did this exercises succeed or otherwise?
The exercise was difficult because I did not feel like using additional media in my paintings. It was basically a struggle to overcome my resistance and then trying to control the effect. I guess this situation is responsible for the somewhat uncreative use of additional media. So from the aspect of “inventive use of a combination of media”, the exercise was only moderately successful. I’m still quite happy with the actual paintings I made, because I feel my use of watercolours is improving.
How have you found exploring this subject in different ways?
It was a challenge to remain motivated enough to draw and paint the same flowers many times. I introduced some variation like a slightly different viewpoint or adding the interior view in the final one. I was also alternating between a more loose and sketchy approach and my fascination with the irregular shapes which I wanted to study closely and depict accurately as they actually were. My interest was on the ways how I approached the subject and created an interesting painting. The mixed media aspect was rather distracting from what I considered the main task.
I think I’d have preferred the exercise without the mixed media requirement. Maybe I need much more watercolour practice to arrive at a point where additional media represent a welcome addition and expansion of possibilities. Or maybe it’s a matter of taste – I simply prefer ‘pure watercolours’ and have objections even against using white gouache for highlights.
Can you see further directions in exploring this subject?
Definitely yes. At times I thought “God invented sunflowers so that they can be painted”. I fell in love with the yellow-orange colours and how they look like flames. Further directions would be to find the right context for a bouquet of sunflowers. I’d prefer something more timeless than my interior view.
On the other hand, looking at my cat sketches from the beginning of the exercise, I realize that the cats would present me with much more variety by themselves. Compared to that, sunflowers are sunflowers and basically look always the same. I might change their colours, then they become surrealistic. I might change the background, this would create different colour contrasts and also different context interpretations. The interesting stuff might come when I “push the limits” to introduce all kinds of unexpected things. Maybe a different perspective, sizing up or down, colour effects, media effects.
From a practical point of view, they work well with the course requirements because I can paint at home and from life. I just have to regularly replace them when they’re wilted. Or maybe, continue with wilted sunflowers.
If I’d have stayed with the cats, there would have been certainly more variety in compositions and even using the same media combinations, the paintings would vary greatly.
Again I found no pure watercolours, instead quite energetic watercolour paintings with linear elements that are probably underdrawings executed with charcoal or graphite. I imagine how the paintings would lack structure without the linear elements. The lines have a double effect – they tame the flowing colours, but they are also energetic in themselves. I think lines and washes work very well together here.
