‘How hard can it be’ – Watercolor Workshop, Saturday 11th April.
Catherine Cartwright brought a fantastic and lighthearted approach to Watercolour painting with her beginners class.
She began by explaining her background and joy in using watercolour in her work and promised to share tips and tricks that she’d learned over time and wished she knew sooner.
Catherine demonstrated the techniques and provided helpful handouts for the class to practice the different methods used in Watercolour including ‘wet-in-wet’ and ‘variegated wash’ – where the watercolour paint is moved down the wet paper without the reapplication of paint.
wet in wet / variegated wash
The group members took the time to work through the techniques and practice the various tips including creating cloud formations and using splatter for increased mark making.
Cloud formationsSplatter techniques
Another great tip was to use the edge of a credit card, length cut to suit the need and dip it into the paint to mark lines – useful for fence posts in a landscape.
Catherine encouraged the class to use a minimal colour palette and mix greens using lemon yellow, cadmium yellow, or raw sienna with ultramarine and cobalt blue combinations.
colour chart
After lunch, members put the new found knowledge into practice by creating a landscape painting.
i
The group had a wonderful time and learnt many new things. There was plenty of time to practice the techniques and Catherine was ready to answer questions and help when asked.
… but February is even more packed with all the things the group is doing!
We celebrate the end of January with a Life Drawing session at MR3 at Dovetail Centre (at the back). This is Sunday 1st February! The Life Drawing sessions are mostly oversubscribed with waiting lists, and that’s just these early spring ones. Watch for the next sign-up list if you want to get a place in the following quarter. Details
On Wednesday 11th is our Drop-In Session (second Wednesday of the month) at the Community Large Hall on Hursley Road. If you meant to get on with your new year’s resolution of painting more often, now’s your chance. – Details
The second Saturday in the month is the 14th. This was going to be our workshop with Elizabeth Baldin but unfortunately she has had to cancel, but Bev has already rearranged with her for next year.– Details
The third Sunday in the month is the next day, and sees our second Life Drawing session of the month. Details
If you really are an art addict, you can then go sketching somewhere interesting the next day, Monday 16th, with the Sketching Group. Of course, the Sketching group has been sketching on themes all through the year. They also have something planned for a daily challenge like they did last year. If you were on the email list last year, you’ll hear all about it. If you weren’t, contact Lisa Marshall (pictured).
And after a weekend off, you can settle down in your armchair with your favourite beverage on Wednesday 25th for a Zoom Demonstration with Paul Oakley, who will reveal all the secrets of the Colour wheel and tonal value – Details
Our November demonstration event was thrown into chaos at the last moment, when the scheduled speaker had to postpone. We are very grateful to Catherine Beale for stepping up from her end of January slot. This did mean a few technical difficulties at the start, as all that preparation time had been lost, but Catherine nevertheless gave us an intriguing glimpse into the methods of her magical watercolours. As well as painting in her studio, she’s taken to painting on her holidays as a souvenir!
Catherine has won numerous awards for her watercolours, despite starting in oils. She thinks it could be because she still uses basic techniques for oils that are more or less unheard of in watercolour. She demonstrated this by using runnels from her paints on the piece to create more features within the landscape, or to cast shadows where there were none before. She also scraped or wiped off paint like a sgraffito effect.
She starts by dropping small amounts of her tube paints into the sectioned palette, which already has water in it. This leads to very little cross-contamination of colours through brush rinsing. It is a restricted palette, as most of the colours will be made on the page, and a lot of the actual shades and depths become a matter of serendipity. Some might call it chance, but of course it is also luck!
Unusually, she focuses on the effects of sunlight by including the sun as white paper. She chooses where the sun will be and leaves it empty. Sometimes she creates lighter patches in a scene using masking fluid, but mostly she’ll go with where the paint wants to leave gaps and build them into her landscape. Two exceptions she showed us were the hayfield, where the strips of hay left behind were masked before the darker earth colours went in, and the bracken in the woodland scene, which were masked over a lighter green that was darkened.
This is wet in wet with a vengeance. Her aim is to float the colour on the page, not to brush it in. This allows colours to flow together and create their own magic. She showed us how she manipulated edges and took paint from one patch to another, and even rubbed things out!
A few technical hints: She uses Daler Rowney Artfine watercolour paper or paper board, which she finds easier to work with, although there are many other brands. The same applies to paints: she uses a mixture of brands, but aims to get the more transparent ones. Avoid lemon yellow if you want to see through it. She also advised that Hobbycraft is discontinuing their stock of A4 paper; the smallest will be A3 in future. But you can get A4 at other outlets and online. I probably need to nip down to Hobbycraft for some A4 frames, in that case.
And a final practical note: remember to dial up the strength of your colours as they will dry to a paler tone.
Thank you, Catherine, for a very interesting demonstration at short notice!
October’s watercolour workshop with George Popesco
by Bev Dunstan
The day began with George setting up his camera and projector so that everyone could watch him demonstrating his tips and techniques on how to create cloud structure using watercolour.
George shared his inspiration for cloud painting including some of his favourite books, namely “Constable’s Skies: Paintings & Sketches by John Constable” by Mark Evans, “Turner” by Bockemuhl Michael and “A Cloud a Day” by Gavin Pretor-Pinney and The Cloud Appreciation Society and reminded us to learn from the A-listers!
George began by explaining the different types of watercolour paper and how to prepare it for painting by taping down to a board. He then continued to demonstrate the wet-in-wet technique of coating the watercolour paper in clean water before applying the paint and produced some examples of cloud formations. This was followed by a more controlled application of water to assist in forming the different cloud shapes.
The class took to practicing on small sheets of paper and the best two from each participant were then displayed for all to review.
After lunch, George provided plenty of inspirational photos from his own vast collection for people to use as a guide to create their own Cloudscapes.
Whoever suggested that Watercolour painting was easy was either a professional or a delusionist! Controlling the paint over the water and mastering the saturation of the colour took patience and focus and there was not much banter in the room as we all worked to complete our final pieces.
Time passed very quickly and all too soon 3.30pm arrived and everyone helped in packing away the room, which was gratefully received.
Ron Moody presented an excellent Pen and Watercolour Wash workshop on Saturday 8th February using a sketch depicting Lucca in Italy as the basis for the day.
He began by demonstrating techniques on transferring the image onto the paper; either by tracing or by copying the image by eye. Once this stage was complete each participant had their version of the image drawn in waterproof ink.
Deep in concentration
After protecting the roofline using masking fluid, the sky came next using the wet-in-wet technique and tilting the paper to allow the pigment to flow across the paper before allowing it to dry.
Ron Moody adds shadows
The painting continued to develop in simple stages, allowing plenty of time to learn and progress without undue pressure as Ron moved around the group to guide and mentor as needed; concluding with the final shadows and key ink strokes on the building facades.
Even though everyone began with the same image the final paintings showed a wonderful diversity of colour and interpretation.
To summarise a wonderful day “we all drew the pictures and coloured them in!”.
Saturday 11th January saw Jake Winkle return to Chandlers Ford Art Group with a workshop ‘Light and Movement in Watercolour’.
Jake provided a dynamic ‘seat of your pants’ experience of working wet-in-wet in watercolour.
Using a big mop brush the members were shown a step by step guide in how to use a simple palette of colours to produce a quayside scene in deep shade and bright sunshine. As the workshop was about using watercolour and less about drawing, the members were encouraged to trace the image onto the paper, thereby leaving more time to apply the paint. Once the sketch was complete then Jake demonstrated how to mix and apply layers of watercolour to build up the painting; beginning with simple washes and finishing with darker pigments to define the sun kissed areas on the roofs and water.
In the second half of the workshop, Jake illustrated the technique of ‘lost and found’ in a painting.
The drawing was again traced into the paper to maximise the time to apply the paint. The technique was to paint just the darker tones, working from top to bottom and wet-in-wet.
This produced an image showing how, by just painting the shadows on the people and donkeys and not completing the whole outline, the human eye can capture the full intensity of bright sunlight as it falls on subject in hand.
The November Zoom Demonstration by Les Darlow was billed as Winter Landscape in soft pastels over watercolour.
I confess to have got a bit confused, because it wasn’t what I was expecting. It was fascinating, and brilliant, and Les is obviously a very talented artist, but it seemed to me to be all about the new materials he was using. What about those of us who have a stock of pastel paper, watercolour paper, watercolours and soft pastels that we want to use up before adding more kit to our overflowing art …box?
The materials are clearly wonderful. A new fabric for painting on, developed by Les’s students. Use for pastels or watercolour – and spray the back to help with the colour fixing. Pan pastels you apply with a sponge (I missed whether this was a wet sponge, or dry). No need for pastel dust on your fingers, clothes or the end of your nose… or anywhere else.
Les’s pictures were brilliant. Very brilliant, and I think this was part of the glory of applying the pastels with the sponge on the fabric. His work was based some pictures which were originally quite dark, and as he reminded us: It’s our picture, we can do what we like with our prompt. Any colours, crop it how you like, add or subtract. In Les’s case they were much more vibrant.
It was a fascinating demonstration, and I think most of us enjoyed it, even if we were left wondering if we could really use the same techniques with our soft pastels over dry watercolours.
Brenda kindly circulated details of the fabric and Pan Pastels from Les afterwards. If you’ve lost the email here they are again:
Those interested in the fabric should contact Chris Brookes at chris_brookes@sky.com
Les has also sent information of an offer he is promoting on his website for Christmas.
Les says: Should anyone be interested I have an offer (Ultimate Pastel Package) on my website for Christmas with over 70% off. Six downloadable books with ten step by step projects, plus six pre recorded workshops via Zoom with over 12 hours of tuition plus much more, just click the link…
Wendy Jelbert presented a ‘Watercolour Plus! Wild Flower Meadow’ Workshop for the Chandlers Ford Art Group on 8th June which took place at the Dovetail Centre.
Wendy began with explaining some amazing techniques using watercolour including the effects of using permanent and non-permanent inks with the paint and using cling film to enhance the texture of petals and leaves.
Wendy provided plenty of examples from her intensive archive on best techniques to produce images of wild flowers. This included using oil pastels and masking fluid to enhance the flower stalks and daisies within the meadow.
References
She also introduced Brusho powders and the best methods of applying them, namely puncture the lid and use it as a pepper pot to sprinkle the powder into the wetted paper. [oooh, thanks for the advice!]
Discussions
The group then set about creating their own interpretations from the flower meadow images provided by Wendy and she was attentive to everyone throughout the day providing help and advice.
Photos copyright Bev Dunstan, images copyright variously Wendy Jelbert and members
Kerry Bennett paints abstracts of landscapes using blobs of paint and a straight edge, like a credit card. She showed us how this works, taking the paint from a dish onto the card, then scraping along lifting at times. Then she took a large brush, slightly damp to move it around a bit.
For those who work in watercolour, I think this was mainly a chance to try a different technique. I don’t, so it was fascinating to see not only the way Kerry approaches the abstract element, but also the tips and tricks she gave to solve problems watercolorists tackle routinely.
She showed lots of examples, most of which I thought were gorgeous. Especially the more monochrome and the one that looked like a highland loch
Not just watercolour paints
Use anything you like, including salt, clingfilm, ink, pen. It will depend what you see on how you want to develop and what tools to use.
You need a dark colour in the middle, so start with cobalt and burnt sienna. Also a cerulean and magenta. Take some of all together on your card and make the first marks.
Fill the bottom with some water and tilt to help the paint spread. This takes time. Use a normal brush to bring some of the other colours in, and move the paper around (tilt) till it’s dry enough to stay there. Don’t let it puddle when flat or you get cauliflowers.(hard edges)
Paper has three stages of wetness:
Very wet smooth and glossy
Sheen, you can do wet into wet
Matt… too late. Dry completely and reset to add new wet in wet.
Putting salt on, grain by grain, gets a little bloom.
Alcohol gives a dandelion or lichen effect!
When dry enough, turn and wet the other half, and repeat tilting and playing with the paint effect. Decided she wanted a waterfall effect, so held board vertical and spray with water to make a gap in the colours that runs down the paper.
Use the edge of the card to create marks from any blobs of paint. If the paper is still wet you can do white marks, but judging the wetness is tricky.
I found it fascinating to watch how the colour spreads itself on wet paper. Kerry showed one example of ink on watercolour where the ink on water had made very realistic(if dense) foliage. A small spray bottle is essential equipment! Quink ink, or the one she uses has a white an purple vertical label and Japanese characters (or Chinese)
Quite often she ends up choosing the other way up for the sky from what she first thought!
The Paintalong
Joy Hatherell’s example
There were lots of people who showed their efforts on the screen, but I only managed to ‘collect’ one. I imagine those painting along had a lot of fun!
Kerry asked if we had a lot of water colourists. I’m not one, but seeing her paint like this, instead of the mostly neat and controlled watercolours that I’ve always thought ‘proper’, this approach I’d like to try.
Some more tips
Size 10 zero black velvet has a lovely tip. Use older brushes to wet your palette box, and the nice ones to take the paint from there.
Getting rid of cauliflowers: dampen, scrub and dab!
Use a hake brush to throughly wet the whole paper. Use long brush strokes.
Note that some colours e.g. Paynes Grey dry a lot lighter than you expect.
Ink on dry paper you can’t lift off. On wet paper you can get rid of most, but it leaves a patch.
the initial abstract after tiltingpainted highlights as a cliff seemed to appear
all images taken as screenshots, copyright remains with Kerry Bennett
Members looking forward to next week’s zoom demonstration have something extra to excite them!
Kerry Bennett will be demonstrating how to paint abstract landscapes – but with you painting along at home.
Hopefully many of you will take part – this is a lot of fun to create and quite unpredictable.
Time permitting Kerry will also demonstrate creating landscapes using watercolour and black Chinese ink.
Joining details for the zoom meeting will be emailed to members this week.
REQUIREMENTS for the paint along
A3 or A4 watercolour paper, NOT cold pressed
A credit card or a piece of stiff plastic.
A water spray bottle
Watercolour in tubes between 3 or 4 colours. Pans will not really work well for this as what is needed is a thick blob of paint to scrape on the paper, but if you can create a thick paste from the pans it will be okay.
A large brush for wetting the paper.
A board a little bigger than the paper and masking tape to tape all 4 sides down.
A hairdryer, or hot air gun. If you want you can also use other mediums, like white gouache, fine salt, a fine tip ink pen.
Kitchen towel and/or cloths.
2 containers of water and plenty of creative imagination.
Juggling all this and our screens might prove challenging for some of us!
