Part 3, Project 1 Where to look and how to select

Exercise:  Inside and outside

For this exercise I worked on an A4 scale.

View From Inside 

Firstly I looked carefully at the view out of the window, it was raining and everything in the garden seemed to emanate a warm orangey yellow, reflecting the orange brick of the house at the back and the garage of our neighbour. I decided to try to recreate that warmth by washing the whole page with a warm orange and yellow toned wash. the exercise asked me to look at and consider the palette  I could see tone of green, green grey, green yellow, warm brown through to very dark brown and some vibrant green, on the structure of the greenhouse.

After the initial warm yellow orange wash I added washes in the separate areas which I had blocked out lightly in pencil - to be a base for the colours to come later.

I then continued to work colour into the painting, adding darker and darker tones in layer, particularly for the fencing and the bare soil. I also added layers to try to achieve the hard edges of the stones, and to try to gain depth of colour. It was at this stage that I realised I should have omitted the wash from the "roof" of the greenhouse a I then struggled later to lighten this area, which in context with the rest of the garden which was softer and more muted stood out as a bright hard surface.

I decided that the best way to represent the tree and to complete the painting was to emphasise certain areas with brown ink. Now that the painting is finished I am not very happy with the finished effect - I really don't think the brown ink works, it seems too thick and heavy for the painting. I used paint splatter to represent the raindrops sitting on the branches of the tree I do quite like the way this turned out - and will bear it in mind for paintings incorporating blossom.

When I went outside to look at the painting with the original setting as its background I was fairly disappointed - the colours, particularly the green looked unnatural and and too vibrant. I enjoyed painting the painting but I think it has certainly shown me that I really need to refresh my skills in painting with watercolours "technically" and to remind myself of the various skills and methods available to me.

View From Outside

Well painting outside was certainly an interesting experience. I waited for a gap in the rain as I wanted to get both paintings in this exercise done on the same day to enable me to draw a direct comparison between indoor and outdoor painting. having stationed myself outside I realised that even sitting directly in front of the window I had been sat behind meant a completely different view! The light and tones were so different. It wasn't very warm either, so the motivation to work quickly was certainly there. I again began with a warm orange yellow wash and forgot to leave out the greenhouse roof again (very frustrating). I then worked fairly quickly blocking out areas with muted washes as bases to build tones in layers.

I found that I automatically adopted a very different painting style, out went the desire for accuracy and precision and in came a far more relaxed and organic approach. The washes were not wanting to dry in the damp air, so I decided to just accept this, and worked into the damp areas with more pigment to deepen the colours, while being careful to leave any gaps with white showing through in place. I think using this more hurried and "make do" approach I have ended up with a painting that has more energy and does not look overthought or overdone. the darker areas such as the soil are not as dark as they appeared when I was indoors, I think I may have been sat a couple of feet lower when I was outside meaning the light will have been settling differently in my eyeline.