Exercise : Painting rocks

Painting rocks

I was a bit worried about this particular exercise, I wondered if I would struggle with the angles and many many greys, greens and blues! It wasn't convenient for me to approach this exercise but some photographs I had taken in Grizedale forest in the Lake District earlier this month immediately came to mind. I had carried out some landscape paintings while we were there. This sculpture of oversized rock cairns stands high in the forest and has no sign or directions to it, it appears to be part of a sculpture trail. These cairns are remarkable in their stillness and silence, and I think the fact they are "unmarked" adds to their appeal and let's the observer draw their own conclusions. 

I started by using a light wash in tones brown, green, crimson and blue (I used my travel watercolours for this exercise so there is no black or grey available). I carefully painted the individual stones, and quite like the negative white spaces seen here :-

I also noticed the warm tones of the stones, and am actually quite happy that I have deliberately chosen to restrict my palette. 

I continued to work across the stones adding layers of tone and some definition. I think this is one example where using a smaller sketch into sketchbook has enabled me to make decisions about the way forward with the painting. It was here that I need my decision between painting between the rocks with a fine brush or using pen and ink to darken the spaces. 

After finishing the experiment in my sketchbook I decided to work on a larger version to explore of characteristics of rocks further.

I think the main challenges of painting a larger version and multiple cairns was getting the feeling of perspective and creating uniformity in the size of rocks although I had to take care not to let the shapes of the rocks become too uniform.

Although it was laborious I decided to use the pen again to create the dark areas, and the benefit I found here is it allowed a significant amount if variation in depth, I was able to use less for the lighter areas and create more density for the darker areas. 

I feel this particular exercised has been useful to increase my confidence in tackling rocks as part of a landscape scene, it has certainly dispelled the fears I had, in fact I am finding many of these exercises where I need to break down and work on particular landscape elements is serving to build my confidence in considering a landscape which may have features other than simply fields and sky!

Project 5 pictorial interest, Exercise: Painting trees

Preparatory sketches of trees, Lyme Hall, Cheshire using soluble graphite, dry

Watercolour sketches - Lyme Park, Cheshire 

Tree sketches using aqua markers both dry and wet, all three are the same tree at Lyme park viewed from different angles.

Painting a twisted tree using aquamarkers, these markers are convenient but don't give the subtlety or depth of colour of the watercolour palette, even the travel one. 

For the tree below I painted the foliage first then drew the detail of the trunk and branches afterwards with a Pitt artist pen, I think this gave memory focus in the image and tone of the foliage:-

Well I really am enjoying the painting trees exercise but am conscious I cannot paint them forever! I have finally worked on the exercise asking for two contrasting tree paintings, and I am reasonably happy with the outcomes, and hopefully I have understood the request for contrasting tree paintings. 

So for the first painting I decided to follow again the layers of tone and pen approach, as I really liked the way this combination if media came together. 

Exercise: Painting moving water

Fountain inside the orangery, Lyme Hall

Painting the sea, just a section of it and trying to capture what I see

I think the important thing when painting water is not to start with a wash as a background tone, the white of the paper is too important in providing the bright highlighted areas which are even evident on a dull day. 

After working on the water above I moved on to trying to paint moving water, possibly not too successfully! Wow it's hard. I really enjoyed painting the scenery around the waterfall but not quite so much painting the waterfall itself. Here are my attempts:- a small waterfall in Peasholm Park, Scarborough, a place close to my heart which we visit often. As I was out an about with children in tow these are completed in my A5 sketchbook, so I wondered if I was limited with scale a little here, or perhaps I am just making excuses! I think the first painting captures movement a little better than the second, I wonder if with the second painting I overworked it, I tried to paint wet in wet to achieve the wet look of the water. I am however quite pleased with the still water above the waterfall, as the layered paint seems to have given the transparency of the water. 

 

Looking more closely at painting water

I have been giving thought to different approaches to painting water, and came across this article in the artist magazine. Although the article is not specifically about painting water the finished paintings caught my attention. 

The image at the top of this page caught my attention, the use of stippling and pointillism in various depths of the same shade are really effective in portraying the  sunlight on moving water. 

The painting at the bottom of the above page is really interesting in its monochrome approach and the changing angle if the individual strokes giving the watery effect. The use of shadows is also clever as that adds movement by breaking up the image further as the reflection is shattered. 

This final page of the article is one that jumps out at me, it's a clever combination of wet on wet, hard lines, blending and negative space, the area of water to the right of the gondola is amazing and the wavy black line symbolic of the shadow cast by the gondolas on the rippling water is really clever in its simplicity. 

Exercise: Painting still and disturbed water

This was another one of those painting outdoors exercises where I seemed to gather momentum as I went along! I wonder if I should just accept that on the whole my first painting will be my "test" or rough, and that the paintings that follow will perhaps be more considered. It's almost as though I need to find my bearings with a location then relax into the painting. 

Painting one 

This first painting does not really reflect accurately enough the scene, the water in the foreground seems to simply look like a brown field with a path rather than the brown water of the pond. It was also quite difficult to achieve the dappled light through the dark green trees. I am fairly happy however with the layout and perspective and definitely think this painting has scope for progress. 

Painting two 

I decided to try to make use of the masking fluid for highlighted areas and also used a combination of wet on wet and more defined dry lines to try to differentiate between the different areas and textures in the scene. Working wet into wet does seem to lend itself well to painting outdoors however I did find it fairly difficult to control the colours and shapes. I think I am happiest with the divide between the water and the bank in the dad side of the pond, the shadow there had created a feeling of distance.

Once the painting was dry I removed the masking fluid and painted over with a brighter green to highlight the irises to the right foreground. 

Painting two

I am fairly happy with the suggestion of water in this painting as I have been able to show the reflection of the sky and clouds in the water, while maintaining a much lighter touch in terms of paint layering, and I think this lighter touch has kept the paper clean and light therefore better representing water. 

Painting three

Following up on my feedback I decided to use a large wash brush to diversify my painting methods and move outside my comfort zone. Although I was not as easy to create definition of harder edges I do like the softer appearance and the suggestion of the scene. I have then tried to give it a more complete appearance by using brighter green and a smaller brush on the irises in the foreground. I am hopeful that painting wet into wet had allowed the water to look realistic given the smudged yet light approach. 

And finally

Painting four

Using vibrant ink tablets I have taken a much more relaxed approach and allowed the colours to blend and merge, I like the energy the seeping of colours is creating both with regards to the irises and the water. 

Artist research - Terry Watts

I came across this artist in "the artist" March 2011. His work although predominantly worked in acrylic ties in nicely with the recent exercises on sky and clouds. The interview is interesting in that he seems to be quite candid about this approach as an artist, realism being a key factor for him. I am also intrigued by his reference to returning repeatedly to the same locations to experience different weather conditions. His meticulous and precise approach to setting up the paintings is evident in the images below. 

A potential solution?

I have been turning over in my head a way to tackle the course material v my own style v expressionist approach situation. I think a compromise may be to work on the exercises, fully, and follow the instructions, then do additional work with my own take on the exercise. Hopefully this will ensure I fulfil the course requirements, while also fulfilling what I see as my own need to explore further creatively.  It may work, it may not. Lets see! 

Project 4 : Painting water. Exercise: Still life with water

This exercise felt like an enjoyable break from the landscape painting, although like the ourse material stated it was not as easy as it sounded.

I noticed that the shapes became slightly distorted under the water and that the colours altered considerably and became much less saturated

First light waterolour sketch in my skethbook

A seond sketh using slightly more detail on the vase and banana

Working on the final painting using "standard" waterolours

Final painting using standard watercolours and a different perspective

I found that painting the partially submerged items was virtually impossible to do without the use of chinese white as a highlighter due to the way the light was falling onto the water it literally looked as though it was sparkling.

Vase and banana using annilinky inks

I wanted to push the boundaries of this exercise a little further by using a different media to try to create the impression of water, I have then highlighted some areas using bleach while the ink was still wet, which has given this soft, smudged appearance.

Vase and banana using annilinky and bleach

I completed my pieces on this exercise with another fairly abstract study using an alternative pallette of colours. I painted into the inks with a wet brush to give the shadows under the objects then I waited for the painting to dry. One the painting was dry I worked on the areas that the water touched the objects using bleach, and an particularly happy with the area around the banana, I think this area demonstrates how well this experiment has worked

Exercise - Sky dominated landscape

Preliminary sketch for sky dominated landscape, I am finding that sketching prior to embarking in a painting really does give me a head start and another way of looking at the scene and landscape and positioning it as a composition for the final painting. 

Further preliminary sketch and colour study. It's challenging to try to use fading tones to imply distance while also showing shadow, particularly on the buildings to the right. It looks as though some blending of colour wet on wet will be needed particularly for the wall in the foreground. 

Pencil sketch and first wash with cloud areas lifted off, now it's dry I am not happy that the wash is deep enough so a second layer is needed. 

It felt quite scary to wash over my beautiful fluffy clouds with another layer of blue wash (ultramarine and cerulean), but I think the risk paid off, I am happy that the painted sky is far more reflective if the depth of blue. 

The above painting shows the initial layers of paint on the buildings in the foreground, still a few more layers of colour to go here. 

Final painting "clouds and chimneys" this has been an interesting exercise, o enjoyed spending the time on the sky, and seeing my cloud formations contributing to a finished piece. I still feel as though I am floundering a little with my feedback, I worry if I put to much detail in that I loose some of the atmosphere and spontinaety and that perhaps the piece looks a bit too contrived or "illustrative" rather than being able to demonstrate a mood. I suppose as I continue to paint my own style will show itself and I guess I need to strike a balance between taking on board the learning and teaching in the course and developing my own style. 

Sketchbook work - Mount Grace - Northallerton

Painted outdoors at Mount Grace, Northallerton

Exercise: Different kinds of clouds

Stratocumulus

Stratocumulus

Cumulus

Cumulus

Spotting clouds guide http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/clouds/cloud-spotting-guide