Tonal sketches: Searching for a subject

       

In 23 x 30 cm mixed media sketchbook:
– my two work lamps (black fineliner)
– plants at the kitchen window (gray pastels)
– the blue shoes (coloured pastels)

The blue shoes on coloured grounds

I decided on the shoes because they seemed to work as a subject for this exercise.

  

23 x 30 mixed media sketchbook
– line drawing of the shoes (pencil)
– watercolour sketch on white ground to study tonal relationships

   

A4 watercolour sketchbook
– on purple ground, light source to the right
– on blue ground, light source to the left

Large study on A3 watercolour paper, on orange (burnt sienna) ground

Reflections on my learning

I had been quite skeptical about the idea of using watercolours on coloured grounds. I thought that watercolours need the white paper shining through which gives brightness to all colours. I thought that starting from a medium toned ground, paintings would become quite dark and dull.

But using opaque white paint helped to exploit the full tonal range. The coloured ground changes the colours quite unexpectedly and I found the overall effect quite dramatic. I got along well with the instructions of adding the very obvious dark areas before working on the in-between tones. Compared to the standard rule of working from light to dark, using dark tones early on was more intuitive for me.

The white was not opaque in the two sketchbook paintings, so their purple and blue backgrounds are quite visible. I applied the gouache more thickly in the larger painting, but still there’s an undertone which gives an interesting texture to the whitish background. The background tone holds the painting together, similar to the coloured washes we experimented with in earlier parts of the course.

I was a bit unsure how much to leave of the background colour as medium tone in the painting. I saw the options of adding only lighter and darker tones, versus locating it lighter or darker than the medium tone and adding other tones accordingly. The purple study appears almost monochrome, with the greens resulting in gray to black colours, and no other colour except white for lightening up some areas. The second study became more colourful overall, as I applied a warm brown tone over the blue ground. The blue still shines through in the wardrobe. The third study on burnt sienna ground is quite monochrome again, but in a much warmer tone overall. These effects are all quite unexpected and I guess it takes some practice to make the best use of them.

I’m still a bit skeptical about the technique of using opaque paint with watercolours, because painting like this feels closer to traditional painting with opaque media. It felt more natural, compared to the difficulties I have with using watercolours and working with transparency, but it also felt like avoiding the essence of watercolour painting.

So yes, it definitely expands my possible range of techniques, but I think I still need more skills in “traditional” application of watercolours. Strangely enough, I consider the shoes paintings among the best I’ve made for this course so far. Maybe that was because I was “allowed” to paint the dark elements relatively early, instead of having to work “from light to dark” which is very counter-intuitive for me. Maybe I should depart from that guideline for watercolours on white grounds as well.

As for the subject, yes I think the shoes were appropriate for the exercise, but I had some trouble keeping up interest. Finding a subject was hard. I would have preferred a still life arrangement with fruits or vegetables, but found that too difficult. I also considered an interior view but didn’t find one I liked for this exercise. The shoes worked well because I could arrange the light source in a consistent manner over several days where I worked on the exercise. The shapes were well defined and there were strong shadows. The problem was my feeling of “this is an irrelevant subject which I’m doing only to fulfil the task requirements”. It’s a recurring problem and I hope to gradually get better at finding more interesting subjects. So yes, it was technically appropriate, but  personally not sufficiently engaging.

The onions

While working on the shoes, I considered these two red onions as an alternative subject for studies on coloured grounds. I made an initial watercolour sketch, then a drawing to study the details more closely, and another watercolour sketch.

Although there were interesting tonal fields in the arrangements, I found the onions too complicated for now. I liked the monochrome red-brown tones of the arrangement but thought something more colourful would work better.

On the one hand, I think the watercolour sketches are weak because they are not very accurate in the details, but on the other, I like how they are painted and there’s some charm in the looseness of application. The second one is slightly overworked in the shadows, but works better in the onions’ details.

I also like the pencil drawing and that I used smudging to create soft tones, which is a new technique for me.

It’s all very imperfect but I appreciate the tiny steps of progress I make in handling watercolours and also in drawing skills. Maybe I get back to the onions with a later exercise on coloured grounds.

Fallen tree and other sketches

I recently started a new sketchbook to take with me every day. It’s a small square format of 21 x 22 cm in brown rough paper. I chose this book because the brown paper helps me to tackle one of my weaknesses, which is making marks that are too faint, resulting in drawings that have only a very limited tonal range. The dark paper makes that problem even more visible and  pushes me to make darker marks with more contrasts. I observed the effect in the sketchbook I use for printmaking, so I thought it would be a good idea to keep at it with the watercolour course as well.

 

Brown square 21 x 22 cm sketchbook
– At the bus stop (black biro): I started looking from the outside, with the bus front and the bus stop signpost, then continued inside the bus with the view out of the window and the man sitting opposite me. The contrasts are still too faint, but I like the combination of different views in a single drawing. I realised from the tonal grounds exercise that I can add lighter colours here as well to broaden the tonal range.
– Large tree, bushes and a rock in central park (black fineliner and coloured pencils): I used the opaque white pencil to lighten up the rock. The black fineliner did not work well for making larger areas of deep black tone. I still have difficulties drawing greenery.

  

Sketches made during an excursion to Crestwood, NY
– A4 watercolour sketchbook: A view on a water basin of the Bronx river, sitting on a fallen tree. The tree’s branches stretch out and divide the view.
– Square brown sketchbook: The fallen tree only, using Jet Black pencil. Some improvements in mark making, still needs more contrast.

I took several photos of the location and might get back to that subject later on.

A4 pencil sketch: View from the end of the Railroad Trail in Tarrytown, NY. I’m finding landscapes very difficult to draw. This is another subject I might take up again later and use the photos I made on location as additional sources.