This project is about combining watercolour painting with drawing. I hadn’t tried this out before and found the results quite interesting.

Exercise: Quick watercolour studies

Task:

• arrange a simple still life of fruit, vegetables, flowers or a selection of household objects with interesting forms and surfaces
• divide a large sheet of watercolour paper into areas of A5 size
• do at least 4 watercolour studies of the arrangement
• try to detect the broad tonal areas (light, dark and intermdiate tones)
• use brushes of your choice, work quickly
• variously focus on tone, line, surface texture
• don’t be disheartened if things appear to go wrong

Setting up the arrangement and first two studies

My arrangement
–    three onions and a dried corn cob in a braided basket, arranged on a natural white table cloth. Dark grey background from sofa. Perspective is looking from a somewhat elevated point to permit view inside the basket
–    light source from the right, using a lamp. The second light source is my table lamp which I need for painting. It is so close to the arrangement that it softens all the shadows.
–    colours are brown (the basket), dark red (a paper napkin), natural white with green shades (the corn cob), dark grey (sofa background and shades on the table cloth)

I did the first two studies today. I realized that my arrangement was too complicated to be drawn on such a small area (A5). The task is quite difficult and I felt indeed overwhelmed.
Most difficulties were related to getting the proportions of the objects at least approximately right. While it worked ok for the basket form, I did not get the corn cob and the onions right. I thought that a drawing to just sketch forms and positions of objects would greatly help for having some orientation on the paper. I did not dare drawing with paint because I thought the lines would disturb the painting, and I did not know which colour to choose that would be less disturbing.
Second difficulty was with the colours. I used artist quality watercolours from tubes and prepared them in a pallette, but I did not mix them in the tones I needed. I used the pure tones instead. I restricted the palette to four colours: yellow, red, brown and Paynes gray, excluding blue and green. I think the choice of colours works good, only my use of them lacks technical skill. I tried to obtain dark colours and shades by using layers of gray, but this did not work very well.
In the second painting, I did not use yellow and overall used less colours. I think the second study shows some progress because it is less overworked than the first and the colours are less muddy. The shapes are slightly improved too, although the onions are less well defined than in the first study.
For the next studies, I would like to improve the depiction of forms and proportions of objects in the basket. I thought that a pure tonal study would also be helpful, because it doesn’t lead to muddy colours when layers of colours are applied.
What would also help would be to do detail studies of just single objects enlarged. I think my arrangement is too complicated to be painted as small as A5, at least for a beginner. The solution will be to simplify, but that’s difficult to learn.

Four more studies

I made four more studies to complete the reserved spaces on the sheet. I think there are slight improvements from one to the next, in that I gained a bit of confidence with the medium. But I also felt that I kept repeating my errors, rather than improving. For example, I always tried to paint the texture of the basket, but it did not work. Or the darkest shades – they never looked like shades, but instead they were just dark spots that did not integrate into the whole.
But from the first to the last study, I think there is an improvement in coherence of some of the objects. For example, in the first study I think the red paper napkin falls apartwile in subsequent paintings, it becomes more recognizable.

Overall, the most important instruction seems to have been not to be disheartened if things don’t work out as expected. At least I’m ready for approaching the task with preparatory studies now, rather than wanting to just have a go!

 

Guided reflection

Were you focussing more on colour, tone or line? If you were attempting all at once, was this problematic, if so how?

I was consciously focusing on form, I tried to get the shapes of the objects correctly. I also tried to get the colours approximately right and to include some tonal values. So probably I was more trying everything at once, rather than focusing on anything particular. It was indeed problematic, I think the task was too complex.

In this exercise to what extent were you drawing or painting?

This is a difficult question because I’m not even sure about the difference between drawing and painting. I did begin with a more linear outline of some of the shapes, and maybe my attempts at creating some texture for the corn and the braided basket. The stripe shadows of the table cloth are also more linear elements, so that may have been the drawing elements. I think I painted where I tried to cover larger areas in a single go, like the red napkin or the shadow of the basket on the table.

In which ways did you find working with watercolour effective or problematic in producing these sketches?

I found my use of watercolour mostly problematic, because it didn’t seem to work very well in producing an accurate representation of my arrangement. I preferred using a large brush but this resulted in an inability to draw the fine detail from which I wasn’t able to abstract. Blending of colours didn’t work because I wasn’t able to use the colours wet in wet, so there are hard edges rather than blendings and objects are hardly recognizable.

Assess each picture – which has worked well and why?

The first picture didn’t work at all because neither form nor colour nor tones work together to create coherent objects. The second study works somewhat better because colour contrasts are less extreme so the objects are more recognizable. The third study improves a bit on colour blending and I also had discovered that the corn cob was dark where it went outside of the basket, and light before the darker background of the red napkin inside the basket. The fourth study was a bit hasty, but what I like about it is that it is more spontaneous, less controlled than the earlier attempts.

In the fifth study, I had decided to use the colours in higher intensity, so this is a painting which has more contrast and deeper colours than the earlier ones. I think the basic shape of the corn cob works better here than in earlier studies. The dark tones inside the basket are less successful, but I like the texture on the front of the basket better than in earlier studies.

In the final study I tried to get the tones in the darker areas right, this concerned the left side of the basket before its dark shadow. The corn cob is less successful here and the onions aren’t very recognizable either, but I like the dry brush effect for the background behind the table.

What kind of preparation might have helped you to develop these studies more?

I think drawing would have been a good preparation, especially because I found the forms in the arrangement quite complex and I could have used the drawing to learn and explore how I might simplify shapes and textures. It might also have helped to explore the tonal values before attempting to represent them in colour.

Colour studies using only a single colour might also have helped, firstly to get practice in creating tonal values withut distraction from colour, but also to practice creating shapes and varying between linear elements and broader tonal areas.

Exercise: Pencil and Watercolour

The task was to make two simple drawings of the same arrangement, then paint one image very closely to the lines and exact, and the second paint quickly and loosely.

I enjoyed this exercise, because it felt like an approach to address the earlier problems rather than repeating something which did not work. The first drawing was very satisfying to do because I had really felt a need to sort out the forms of my arrangement and drawing helped to do this. The first drawing was very similar in perspective to the six studies of the previous exercise, maybe the way of looking had become a habit. In the second drawing, I took a different approach, beginning with a broader outline of shapes before getting to the more detailes elements. The effect was that the basket became larger on the space that was available, I think that was an improvement for the composition.

The first painting took quite a bit of time to complete because I painted several layers to obtain a more even colouring. The darker areas work much better than in the first exercise, they are better placed and more accurate in colour. I think the shapes have also improved.

The second painting was done much faster. I chose a larger brush this time because I realized that the one I had used before could not hold enough paint for the areas I wanted to cover in one go, which resulted in visible brush marks. The larger brush worked much better. I also used lighter colours, and this time I started with the darkest colour (Payne’s gray) rather than with the lightest (yellow). This was more an intuitive than a deliberate choice, but it seemed to have worked quite well. I also took more freedom for the objects’ colours, for example using the gray as a first layer for the corn cob’s outer leaves, then later adding yellow to obtain the sort of pale green. I also took the freedom to work more intuitively and spontaneously with the other colours and I really like the result. It feels like a step into the right direction: More transparency, a faster working style, and a looser overall impression. I forgot to colorize one area of shade below the left handle of the basket, will correct this later on.

Guided reflections

Did the drawings inhibit your painting or did the outline structure give you greater confidence?

I definitely felt much more confident with the pencil outline structure. I think the confidence was twofold: the process of drawing was a learning experience how objects related to each other. This gave some acquaintance with the arrangement which added to the visual help from the lines.

The first more precise method of fitting wash into pencil outlines can be very useful for some subjects. What did it help to bring out in your drawing?

It was especially helpful for the shapes of the corn leaves. I had analysed that there were shades which defined the forms but had not been able to paint these. With the pencil lines to guide me on the sheet, it finally worked. But the pencil outlines also helped with the overall forms of all objects.

Is the pencil concealed by your paint, or does it act as an accent to your painting?

The pencil lines are more concealed in the first painting because I used more saturated colours. They do shine through in the lighter areas. The second painting was much lighter and used transparency to a greater extent, and the pencil lines are much more visible here. The effect may also be stronger because the colours follow the pencil less exact than in the first, so they are not covered by the drying demarcation lines of watercolour areas

In the second, looser approach, how would you describe the role of the pencil lines?

The pencil lines are like an additional element here, standing out and helping to make the forms recognizable. The effect would certainly be stronger with darker marks, especially with pen and ink.

What are the advantages of the more careful method? What are the advantages of the quick method?

The more careful method permits a more precise definition of forms and colours. Working slowly also permits to work out fine details. By contrast, the quicker method feels much more spontaneous and fresh and gives a lightness to the painting which I appreciate.

Did the pencil drawing require a different kind of looking to the painting? If so what were the differences?

Yes I think the pencil drawing changed the way I analysed the arrangement. While I did the drawing, I tried to get together the loose ends of some lines and to define shapes which would be of a distinct colour. Then while painting, I realized that I could give some adjacent shapes the same colour and was much more confident that I would not loose orientation about the objects’ boundaries. I just waited and added the separating layer of colour later on.

Which of all the studies you’ve made so far has been the most successful?

I think the most successful one has been the last one, employing the loose approach. There are several elements which contribute: The pencil drawing which helped enormously to maintain orientation on the paper. It was also based on the second preparatory drawing which I found had improved the composition by getting a bit closer to the objects.

I had taken the freedom to draw the two studies of this exercise on slightly larger paper in A4 rather than approximately A5, which was much more pleasant to use for the arrangement I had chosen. I think this further improved the overall effect because the basket in the last study has about double the size of the first exercise where the elements look quite cluttered.

Another good element was the larger brush I chose for the final study which helped to fill larger areas much more evenly. It also led to overpainting in some areas but I really liked the effect of unexpected colour mixes which resulted from later layers on top. I think the quicker approach is more open to chance effects and this adds much interest to the painting, compared to the slower, more controlled approach.

Some free practice: Laying washes

My first attempts in part I of the course at laying washes weren’t very successful, so I had kept in mind that I need some more practice on this. I wouldn’t want to „waste“ expensive high quality watercolour paper for this, but would use colour left over from course exercises and some of the less expensive practice paper.
I had a go yesterday with colours left over from the two studies with pencil drawing, and did five washes: Two red, two Payne’s grey, and one yellow. The yellow was the last one and the most successful. I had discovered that it worked better when I added water into the colour on the pallette, rather than just taking up more water onto the brush to mix on the paper. And the yellow colour is more forgiving as well, because the pigment distribution creates less visible stripes on the paper.
I definitely need more practice, but these sheets may serve as simple backgrounds for other studies, so the paper is not wasted.

Exercise: Adding line to watercolour

First study: Interior view with vase of twigs

I made two preliminary studies of an interior view. It is in the living room, a white cabinet with a braided armchair and a vase of long twigs, a painting on the wall in the background. What I found interesting were the tonal values of the white cabinet before the white wall, which were not white at all but more or less shaded.

     

The first study includes more of the scene, it shows the entire cabinet and painting on the wall, while the second is a close up, cutting off the bottom and top of the cabinet and showing only a section of the painting. I prefer the colours of the second, but I think it’s more difficult to recognize. I also like the armchair’s shadow on the cabinet.

I thought this was a simple interior before I began but then realized that there’s quite a lot of detail. Especially difficult is the hole in the construction of the armchair through which a bit of background can be seen, in this scene it’s the rim of the vase and the black air cleaner box. But these details are not recognizable and I don’t know how to paint them without making them too important. I’d like to improve the depiction of the cushion on the armchair, make it more different from the background colour. I’d also like to have more three-dimensionality for the twigs. And probably less texture in the armchair.

Later I made another two studies of the subject. I wasn’t at all sure whether I should continue with this subject which I found too difficult, or choose a different one with which the task might work better. I decided to give it a try to get at least to the point of adding line, the central aspect of the task. I tried to work more loosely with the medium in these studies, faster and less controlled, and I think this did improve the overall painting. I like the third study best for the colours, but I think the composition of the fourth is better because it includes less detail. In the third study I added the two other armchairs in the background, in the fourth reduced to a single background chair and I think this works better.

    

In the third study, I tried out charcoal for the lines and was quite surprised by the improvement I saw. It felt like an immediate harmony between the painting and the lines, at the same time it added an interesting accent which let the forms come out much better.

For the fourth study, I chose pen and ink for the lines and played a bit with varying line thickness. The deep black of the ink represents a sharper contrast than the soft charcoal lines, and this creates a different overall effect. It changed the painting somewhat into a colorized drawing, where the third study remained more of a painting.

After adding the lines to study four, I reworked the painting a bit and added some shadows behind the twigs and the armchairs, and also added a layer to the floor area, which improved the overall impression. All in all, I think the four studies show a nice development in how I captured the subject. I would like to have another go for this exercise, but with a different subject. Maybe not an interior view but rather a simple still life. I also thought about the plant next to the living room window. Will decide next time that I can work on the topic.

A second topic to study: the plant

I made two more paintings and chose the plant at the window for my subject. I liked how the green watercolour almost naturally evolved into the leave shapes with lighter and darker tones. The first painting was on the white paper background and I just added some shadows behind the leaves.

For the second painting, I first laid a wash in light Payne’s gray and then painted the green leaves on top. The effect confirms what I felt earlier when experimenting with washes, the uniform background colour gives coherence to the picture. The wash itself was not very successful, rather stripey and irregular and I found this unvoluntary texturing disturbing, it did not support the picture of the plant. Maybe I’d better use a sponge to obtain a more even distribution of colour. The second study included the cabinet on which the plant stood, and I chose a portrait format instead of landscape as for the first. I think both aspects were improvements in the composition, although the overall painting is still quite empty.

There seems to be a process of gradually letting go, exerting less control and trying to be more spontaneous (a contradiction as such…). I don’t know whether it is visible in the paintings but I’m beginning to get a feel for what the medium does by itself when I am able to let go. I haven’t yet included line, I think I will do two more studies as with the first set, then add lines. It’s as if I need some time to warm up with the subject first before I dare adding lines.

Two more plant studies

For the third study, I changed perspective and included more of the background: The cabinet, the white window frame with dark glasses (because it was night), the sofa cushions in the foreground and the loose contours of the heating element. I think this is quite a successful painting because I began working with colour intensity. I was very cautious with adding line because the painting was already with many linear details and I did not want to overdo it.

So overall I was quite satisfied with the painting, but was aware that it did not quite meet what the task was about: doing a quick study and using line to integrate more structure. This is why I decided to have another go, trying to let go of detail and leave out all the background, focus on the plant. I had the idea of doing the greenery in a more bold approach and then use line to recreate the shapes of the leaves.

For the fourth study, I placed the plant on a flat table before the white wall and found that I might well try a light green wash as a basis. Following the actual lighting, I made the colour fade towards the upper left corner. I think the wash is a bit too pale to be visible, but I worked in the evening with lamp light and the impression may be different in daylight.

I had realized that the third study was not at all a fast sketchy study, so this time I wanted to try a more fluent approach and later use line to add structure. I began with a very yellow green tone and changed the colour to increasingly more intense and dark green. I had great difficulties with the leave shapes. Somehow I cannot focus on single stems or leaves and am very quickly confused and overwhelmed by the details. I made a quick pencil outline sketch on the wash ground which helped a bit, but overall I felt quite lost.

After the leaves, I added the blue and dark gray colouring of the pot. As a last step I added line using pen and ink. I had the intention of making the forms clearer but I think this wasn’t very successful. Considered as a task of accurate representation, there are many many errors and loose ends – a problem that keeps reappearing when I try to draw what I see.

I like the painting for the variety of greens and think that I made some progress in mixing colours. I also like that the subject is focused on what I found most relevant of the chosen topic. Areas to improve are that of visual analysis – either getting the object objectively correct, or be truely expressive and abandon trying to depict actual details in favour of a more generous approach.

Some reflections

I think it is a bit problematic that I paint in the evenings, because the lamp light changes the quality of colours. Maybe this is why I tend to have very broken and pale colours in my paintings – simply a reflection of the bad lightning conditions I have for working. One idea is to improve the lighting. Actually I have enough lamps, but maybe I have to assemble even more in the room where I paint. Another idea is to deliberately exaggerate colour intensity. Not sure whether I like this. I think I’d prefer to change habits and work more with daylight. Unfortunately this will only be possible on week-ends when I am free during daytime.

I also realized that I have taken up a suggestion by my tutor: She recommended doing several studies of a single subject and when the painting becomes overworked, then start a new one. This would give me the necessary practice to learn what is essential and what is superfluous. I have done this without being aware of it since the beginning of the project. When I look at the progression that is visible from one study to the next, I’m quite impressed. It’s not that I made huge progress, it is more a mental thing of becoming more attentive to what I’m doing and how the medium behaves.

My tutor also recommended that I’d have another go when I wasn’t satisfied with the result of an exercise. The latter is something I consciously took on board, although I’m aware of a problem with the time I can allocate to each exercise. It’s a bit unfortunate that the course contains so many worthwhile exercises which definitely merit several tries to become better at the task, but then the aim of completing one project per week on average becomes quite utopical. Officially I’m on a break anyway, so I thought I might use a more relaxed approach.

It’s really a relief not having any deadline for completion of a course part, instead just taking the time it needs to work through the tasks in a satisfying manner. Maybe I can negotiate this when I resume coursework officially in April – that I’d prefer to agree on a submission date when I reach the end of the last project in the course part. I have enough self-discipline to work without a fixed deadline and I think I will benefit from feeling less pressurized by some arbitrary finalization date. I’ll think about this and review the idea after some time of free working. After all, it is possible that I decide that I cannot afford the time to do this while working on the dissertation. But for the moment, this helps to keep me sane, so I will continue.

Guided reflection: Assessment of what I have found out about drawing into painting

I think I discovered that I employed two different approaches to watercolour painting: one was to paint everything quite detailed and use colour to separate areas from another. The other was to paint more loosely and use line to make the structure come out better. The latter approach supports a more spontaneous mode of working with watercolour, which I think is quite appropriate for the medium.

I was surprised how well adding lines supported the paintings. Adding line is really an interesting technique and I’m looking forward to exploring it further in part 3 of the course. Nevertheless I think that even the bold approach might benefit from preliminary pencil studies. I have the recurring problem of producing loose ends and undefined shapes and I think drawing would help me to sort out what I see. I did not make preparatory drawings because I wanted to follow instructions but I would like to integrate this into regular practice.