Art by Wendy: July 2024

Jul 19, 2024

Creating Loose, Lively Skies in Watercolour - Paint & Drawing Tips

Creating a loose lively sky in watercolour is not for the faint hearted.

You have to be brave.

You have to be prepared.
And you cannot dilly-dally.
But. . . .It's worth it!!
A Great Day to Ride - SOLD
Billowing Clouds add lots to this Mountainous View. wc on 300lb Opus Paper

Loose lively watercolour skies are one of the most magical things that only watercolour can do.

Sweet Peas & Driftwood - SOLD
Even a touch of colour can create clouds and set the mood. wc on 140lb Arches

***************
Special Note: I have a YouTube video with more discussion and examples for this topic - Capturing the Sky in your Sketchbook

***************

So what does it take to make one of those lovely skies. . . .

1. Decide on your colours: I like to use at least two different blues, a warm blue and a cold blue in my skies. You can also sneak a little bit of yellow or pink into the sky to warm things up and add more interest. But for starters try 2 colours.

2. Mix your paints: make sure you have a good puddle of each colour so that you’re not trying to mix in the middle of painting your sky.

Baker Hiding in the Sky Line - Matted 5 x 7 $130
Note the 2 different blues in the Sky - wc on 140lb Arches

3. Wet your paper: make sure your paper is damp not sopping wet where you want to paint the sky.

4. Test your colours: make sure your puddles of colour are not too creamy and dark. Remember, your paint will be diluted by the water on the paper and will dry lighter than it looks when wet. You may want to do a few practice pieces to see how dark you want it. You only get one chance. This is not something you can fiddle with.

5. Think dark at the top and light on the bottom of your sky area.

6. Lay your paper flat:

Tidal Pool - SOLD
It is important to let the colours move and settle on their own.
wc on 140lb Arches

7. Start at the bottom with your light blue: You want to use a nice soft wash brush and make your brush dance across the lower part of the sky. Try and leave White spaces and do cloud like movements with your brush. Let your paint swirl around on the wet paper as you move up to the top.

8. Grab your darker blue: As you move up in your sky, start grabbing some of your darker blue. It isn’t necessary to clean the other blue off your brush. Let the two colours mix as you continue the dance with your brush. Finish the top with your darker blue.

Sketchbook: Sky & Tree at Miracle Beach
That drop of Teal Blue added a real Spark to this changing Sky
mixed media sketchbook

9. Drop in a bit of dark: if your sky is light, it’s always interesting to drop in a little bit of a dark. To do this, make sure your brush is damp and collect a little bit of your darker blue. Gently drop in a bit of this dark colour onto your wet sky. Give it a swirl in your wet surface and then leave it. No blow dryer. Just let the sky dry on its own.

10. Add a few horizontal lines: When things are dry, I often drop in just a few thin horizontal clouds to give my sky more depth. The edges will be a harder than your other clouds so they really stand out. They should be just a touch darker than the other clouds.

Note how the Horizontal Lines add more depth to the Clouds

A note of caution before you start. The paper you use will have a great deal of affect on how your clouds work out. Some papers grab the colour which makes it hard to get those soft wispy edges. Others float the colour and they end up mixed together and you loose all your beautiful shapes. You need to practice a bit with your paper to see how it will respond.

***************
Special Note: I have a YouTube video with more discussion and examples for this topic - Capturing the Sky in your Sketchbook

***************

Not too late to try Outdoor Sketching!!!

Outdoor Sketching 2.5hr Classes this summer 2024 -
August 8 & 15, 10-12:30pm – 2.5 hr. $60 Max. 3 per group. Local parks in N Surrey & Langley Contact Wendy to register. I am available for private bookings as well.
I look forward to going 'out sketching' with you.

Online Classes coming in October

Enhance Your Drawing Skills using Ink & Watercolour
Thursday, October 10, 17 & 24, 6:00-8:00pm PST (Zoom)

Ink & Watercolour love to Play together. Using pen and watercolour, this series of lessons will focus on developing your drawing skills: Light and Shadows, Edges, Relationships and Composition. Wendy will pull from elements of nature and urban settings for her subject material.

Cost: Early Bird $75 Before Oct 8, $90 after

Always Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Private Drawing Lessons, Prints and Cards of her Work,

Be sure to like and share my posts. You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy

Jul 9, 2024

Using a Statue to Study Values - Painting and Drawing Tips

Europe has soooo many Statues!

I found I loved trying to paint them!!

Sketchbook: Of course I had to sketch Christoforo Colombo in his HOME territory!!

I just got back from a wonderful trip to Italy and Portugal. And there was so many awesome statues. On my trips to Europe I always seemed to be attracted to the statues and this trip was no different. I like to collect a few photos to work on later and sketch a few in my sketchbook while I am there.

Sketchbook: One of the Lions from Fonte dos Leoes, Porto, Portugal

Fonte does Leos had 3 huge Lions holding the fountain. They just glistened in the sun and needed to be painted!!

***************
Special Note: I have a YouTube video with more discussion and examples for this topic - Using a Statue to Study Values

Also, there is a YouTube flip-through of my Portugal Concertina Sketchbook HERE. A YouTube Flip-through of my Italy Concertina Sketchbook HERE.
***************

The best Sketchbooks always have the most BORING covers. My Concertina sketchbook's cover was black. How boring is that!! I like to paint my own picture for my covers.

I found this young lady in the Palace of Monserrate, Sintra, Portugal

For the cover of my book I chose this female bust by John Lawlor, created in 1812. I loved the fact that she looks like a young girl dressed in her daywear rather than a formal lady with all the regalia.

The flowers decorating her hair really caught my eye. Everything about her was soft and feminine except the harsh darks centers around the flowers. I wondered why the artist would make them be so dark.

My Setup - I tried a few different mixes for my purples

Steps in Painting a Statue

1. Paint the dark areas with a mid value: I like to do this first as it allows me to blend the edges of the darks areas without making other areas too dark. This also allows me to get more familiar with my drawing, test my colours and my brush. I had started with a larger brush and quickly moved to a smaller one.

I started with the Darker areas at the shadow side

2. Use paints that lift and move on your paper: I prefer non staining colours as this allows me to lift and soften edges. So important with all the folds and curves in my lady.

Working on the Darks, increasing the value range around my darks

3. Darken the Darks: After painting the mid and lighter tones on my lady, I went back and darkened my darks. Having worked over the statue once already with my mid and light blends I have a better idea how darks my darks need to be. This will of course result in some adjustments to the mid and light tones.

Working on the Face - adding value very carefully!!

4. Leave the Face to last: Ok, this is really a person choice but one I find useful. By leaving the face to last it gives me a chance to be really familiar with my materials and ‘into my painting process’. Let’s face it. Unless you are a portrait artist, faces can be a little tough. The smaller the face, the harder it can be. (One little dot, can have soooo much affect on the total look of the face. )

The Values around her face have to be dark enough to give her face depth.

5. Recheck your values: It is always to a good idea to recheck your values before you decide you're done. As you work from one area to another, the change in values can affect what is happening in other areas. What once appeared so dark/light may not now be as affective.

6. She is done!!

Sketchbook Cover: Young Lady by John Lawlor, 1812

Doesn't she look great?! And my black cover suddenly looks 'very interesting'. I am super pleased with how she turned out. My book is complete, with lots of great memories of my trip. You can see a flip-through of my Portugal Concertina Sketchbook book HERE.