Thomas Schaller Workshop

Pier Light, watercolor on paper, 18x12

I nearly missed the opportunity to attend Thomas Schaller's workshop in Denver last week, as this was a very busy time at work. But thanks to my wife's encouragement and support I worked alternative times and made it to the classes, and it was well worth the trouble. Schaller's talent and intelligence are inspiring and it is easy to see why he has become a star in the watercolor world.

Tom emphasized in his demos and instruction the need to go beyond mere beauty and to look for the Art in the subject. For him, that means to look for and capture the light in the scene, and to use design to add a time dimension to the "story" he seeks to tell. I imagine this explains his interest in bridges, rivers, streets and roads, all of which convey a visual and psychological expectation of movement through the pictorial space.

From this initial concept and a tonal value sketch, he builds his painting with very wet washes, using bright color and bold brushstrokes to maintain a look of spontaneity and freshness. He is careful to connect elements throughout the image, and to "listen" to the painting to avoid overworking. His approach is both simple and sophisticated, and at the same time advanced in vision and traditional in technique.

Tom took on some challenging material for his demos, and showed his ability to problem solve. He was brave to take the entire class to paint en plein air on the second day in very warm weather, but everyone enjoyed the experience.

The pieces I did during the workshop turned out well, immediate and spontaneous, fueled no doubt by Tom's reminders to all of us to simplify, to stay in the moment, to remember to breathe to avoid tightness. This was exactly the advice I needed at this point, so this was both fun and beneficial.

Demo at the Front Range Community College

Lunch Break, 16x12

Last month I had the opportunity to return as a guest to the FRCC in Longmont for a demo. This time I chose to demonstrate painting a street scene on Aquabord. Thanks to Camille and her students, they were engaged and attentive and asked excellent questions. They had a chance to observe how the paint reacts at a near vertical angle on this clay support, and how color can be easily lifted and areas reworked on this surface.

Aquabord is made of kaolin clay, and needs to be "flushed" (saturated with clean water) before first use. After that it accepts watercolor in a similar way as paper. Color lifts easily, so care must be taken when painting in layers not to disturb the previous application. The benefits are that corrections are easy, color can be lifted all the way to white, there is no buckling and the piece once finished can be sealed and framed without glass.

The image below is the result of the 1.5 hour demo.

The image above is the finished painting, after another couple of hours of work.

Demo Photo

Urban Realism Workshop with John Salminen, part 2

Royal Street, New Orleans, watercolor on paper, 15x21

This is the painting I completed during the urban realism workshop with John Salminen. I used M. Graham paints, Arches 140lb cold press paper, a squirrel mop brush, flat and round synthetic brushes, and a round kolinsky for details. I had chosen my reference from a photo I took in 2001, and did all the drawing in advance of the workshop. I will comment on some of the aspects of the painting that illustrate learning points from the workshop:

1. The tonal plan corresponds to John's guidelines to use value to differentiate the planes of the picture: The background is built with light values, the middle ground with middle values and the foreground with dark values--the exception is the main figures, but that was done as a form of focus. John's demo and the work of other participants showed that the association of planes and values can work in any combination (middle>dark>light, light>dark>middle, etc.) and produces a successful feeling of depth. I also tried to use a wide range of values, from the white of the paper to very dark grays.

2. A lot of the light details were saved with masking tape and cutting knife, some were lifted with Mr Clean Magic Eraser--this allowed for the creation of very thin lines and fine detail.

3. The reflections on the sidewalks was done using John's method of wetting the paper, dropping color with vertical strokes of a flat brush, and softening the transitions with a hake brush.

4. The dark walls on the right were painted mostly with ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, which created a warm dark value that was competing with the warm color walls on the left. If I'd tried to cool the color down by brushing further layers of color, I would end up with a very dull surface. Instead, to fix that problem, I masked around the wall shapes and sprayed with blue color through a mouth atomizer, which cooled the color without significantly altering the value or luminosity of the shapes.

The resulting painting is successful in capturing the mood and atmosphere of a hot, humid New Orleans morning. John Salminen pointed out the role of the foreground darks in making the middle value shapes glow with reflected light.

Urban Realism Workshop with John Salminen

I have just completed a workshop on Urban Realism with the master John Salminen, in Colorado Springs. This workshop had been in my goals for a few years now and I finally had the opportunity to attend, and it delivered: John is a great artist and instructor; his wife Kathy the perfect assistant! The three day workshop was instructive and inspirational, and the twenty participants did a wonderful job under John's guidance. Some of the highlights were:

• John emphasizes a value plan, but unlike other instructors who used this as a device to maximize contrast in center of interest, John stressed the way to use values to separate the planes of the space and create depth.
• John demonstrated different ways of reserving whites, and of rescuing light areas, and shared his recipes for warm and cool grays and darks.
  
• We learned the use of a mouth atomizer to adjust value and temperature in our paintings.
• We also learned practical techniques for creating soft and hard edged reflections.
• One of the most important takeaways in my view was the importance of related middle values.

Another fringe benefit of the workshop was the opportunity to meet a group of wonderful artists, most from the Colorado Springs area, including the master Tom J. Owens.

In my next post I will include more notes and a photo of my painting from the workshop.

The Greens of Summers Past

The Greens of Summers Past, watercolor on Yupo, 20x26

Nowadays, Summer arrives with the sound of children on vacation playing in the neighborhood... Thinking back of younger years my summers were also filled with the sounds of friends playing in the back yard or on the streets, but also the loud noise of cicadas, the warm, humid air of southern Brazil and the intense, unforgiving green of the landscape. It was in this nostalgic, peaceful mood that I painted my latest creation on Yupo synthetic paper, of a scene in a park near my sister's home in Castro, Brazil. It was based on a study I did on my sketchbook. Simpler days that can still inspire...

This painting was done with only four colors, and only one green. I took advantage of the variations allowed by the color green apatite genuine from Daniel Smith to create a range of greens. When applied very densely, this color is very dark. I layered a thick coat all over the colored areas, and later painted back into some sections with clear water, diluting the pigment to lighter, warmer greens to create the main tree and other features. The sky and the house and the highlights in the water reflections were all lifted back to white, in a negative shaping process akin to carving. I'm including below a detail, to show some of the textural effects of the color on Yupo, some intentional, some less controlled.

Demonstration This Saturday!

This Saturday, October 2nd, I and other artists represented in the Rocky Mountain National Exhibit will be doing demonstrations of our techniques, from 11am to 2pm, at the Foothills Art Center in Golden.

I plan to do a complete painting on Yupo, of another urban scene, in a style similar to the piece in the exhibit, to give people a good sense of the methods and materials used, the thinking process, etc.

This will be an informal event, the public is encouraged to ask questions and participate. The artists will be in front of their exhibit paintings, doing the demos at the same time, giving the public the opportunity to choose whom to watch. It will be a fun experience, and it is totally free. By the way, admission is free all day to the exhibition as well.

Stretching versus Flattening the Paper

This post addresses two questions I hear often--whether it is necessary to pre-stretch the paper for a watercolor painting, and how to flatten a painting that is buckled or warped.

I don't stretch the paper before painting. One reason is that I have very limited time for painting, and this preparatory step would consume some of that time. Secondly, I often paint outdoors, and it would be impractical to carry several boards with stretched paper. Finally, I don't really find it necessary.

As the photo above illustrates, I simply clip the sheet corners to the board and that works well for my purposes.

While clipping the sheet to the board keeps the paper flat while I'm painting, sometimes the sheet warps after I take the clips off, and I need to flatten it. I'll use my latest painting to illustrate the process, as in the photo below.












1. First, I wet the back of the painting thoroughly with a flat brush and clean water. I spread the water evenly on the entire surface.












2. As show in the photo, I allow the paper to absorb the water evenly until saturated, and add more water in some spots if I notice they are drying too rapidly (I live in Colorado and the air is very dry).












3. I wait until dampness is down to a sheen, and turn the paper over, to be face up, onto a clean, dry board. I place another board over the painting and press it down to make sure it's flat.












4.I move the board to expose one edge of the sheet at a time, and tape that edge down with masking tape. I press and flatten the tape well to avoid any gaps or bubles. I repeat until all edges are taped.












5.I remove the board from the top and let the painting dry, laying horizontally, face up, uncovered, until it's completely dry and stretched. This could take many hours, so I often leave it to dry overnight.












6.Finally, I remove the tape carefully to avoid tearing or damage to the paper, and the painting is now completely flat.

Boston Harbor: From Sketch to Final Work

I had meant this study to be more of a step-by-step demo, but I ended up forgetting to photograph more often or more evenly during the painting process, so now all I have is some snapshots of the work in progress. They still provide some insight into how the painting evolved, so here is the development of Boston Harbor:

1. Pencil sketch, fairly detailed. My goal was to practice painting water, and to use a combination of colors I hadn't used before: turquoise and scarlet. I was attracted by the diagonal lines that lead to the main boats. I "invented" some details, such as the figures. In my reference photo, somehow, the scene is deserted.

2. First washes, using cadmium scarlet and cobalt turquoise in various combinations, with some cobalt blue and some magenta as well. I didn't want the sky to be blue, so I used the diluted scarlet for a pale orange hue.

3. I added glaze of cadmium scarlet to unify the distant buildings, and of cobalt turquoise over the scarlet on the nearby buildings, to darken and cool down the color. It was difficult to work the sunlight because this photo was taken in the middle of the day, with the sun high in the sky. It is trickier to define shapes without longer, darker shadows.

4. I added the water very quickly, with loose strokes of a large brush, with cobalt turquoise and a little scarlet to gray it down in shadow or reflex areas. I pulled some of the cobalt turquoise onto the boats as a reflected color. I added darks and other details, using indigo mixed with the previous colors.

5. I got tired, moved on to other paintings and left this unfinished at this stage for a couple of months, until I finally got back to it yesterday. I finished the shapes of the boats and added details in the middle ground (too much I think). I used watercolor pencils to add lines and details and color in some areas, as in the poles, for instance, to finish the piece.

Boston Harbor, W&N watercolors on Waterford CP paper, 22x15

Demo at the Depot Art Center

This week I was invited to do a demo at the Depot Art Center and Gallery in Littleton, Colorado. The event was very well organized and well attended. It was a challenge to paint while avoiding blocking the view of the 20 or so participants! But I enjoyed the experience immensely and the feedback I got was positive. Here is an image of the demo study:


This was painted on a half sheet of Waterford 300g cold press paper, using Yellow ochre light, Ultramarine finest, Cadmium red light, Permanent Carmine, Cadmium yellow medium, from Schmincke; Cerulean blue, Cobalt turquoise, from Winsor & Newton; Quinacridone Burnt Orange, from Da Vinci. The brushes I used were Rekab 320s Kazan squirrel mops, sizes 6 and 8, and Da Vinci Cosmotop Spin synthetic round, size 24.

Some participants were curious about the Rekab 320s brushes: They are not usually available from the major suppliers in the US, I had to order them directly from the US importer Armadillo Art (see the website on my list of Links of Interest to Artists). They are excellent quality and much more affordable than other major brands.

I hope the presentation and discussion were interesting and useful to all participants! I plan to post a step-by-step demo here very soon.

Bring it Forward: Adjustments to a Study of Trees

Every painting session teach you something, even the failed attempts teach you what to avoid, and how to make the bad better... In this practice study I did this week, things didn't go according to plan.

My reference photo is on the left. I liked the lost and found quality of the branches, so I didn't try to define them in a very structured fashion, I was just following the shapes, and introducing touches of color. I wanted my focus to on the trunk of the tree on the right.

When I stopped, I assessed the situation:
Good: The tree trunks looked quite nice, there was an interesting variety of color in them. I liked the pinkish hue in the background.
Bad: I overworked the sketch, as usual. The Indian yellow in the far tree was too distracting. The shadows on the ground were too fuzzy and muddled. And worse, the two main trees were side by side, it was unclear which took precedence, and that dragged the center of interest to the center of the painting, and made the composition flat and static.

This was just meant to be a study anyway, but I decided to make some further adjustments as a learning tool: To give the tree on the right precedence, I lengthened its trunk down to bring it forward. Next, I defined its branches better so they overlapped the tree on the left. And I added some directional lines with dry brush and some darker shadows, to give the tree more contrast.

A study of trees, watercolor on Arches paper, 6x9

Now the focus is clearer. While the improvement was only minor, it did teach me some do's and don'ts for my repertoire. That's what practice is all about!

Sketching "Plane" Air..., part 1

Okay, so you are trapped in and buckled up... but your imagination does not have to be! Sketching on the plane is a great way to pass the time and hone up your skills. Below are a couple of my favorite exercises, with examples from last Thursday:

1. Sketching people: Flight attendands make good models, as they are often in the same positions and are used to being looked at. I don't try to make a portrait, but focus instead on capturing their general figure, or some interesting aspect, such as their uniform or earrings. You can start the sketch during the safety demonstration, and resume it when they come through with the beverages cart. But more often than not I try to sketch other passengers, usually a few rows ahead and across from me, so I can sketch their profiles without bothering them--look for distinct features such as eyeglasses, unusual hairstyles, hats, etc. Sleeping passengers also make good models, for their immobility. Remember to be discreet.

2. Abstracting from in-flight magazines: These magazines always have great photos, you could always imitate the images, but try this more creative exercise instead: Look for photos or sections of photos that could make interesting abstract patterns. Make a simplified thumbnail outline of the key shapes and patterns, then close the magazine and try to finish the value study from your own imagination, adding lines and other shapes, changing the tonal values, etc.

Too challenging for you? No worries, you can always practice sketching the people and scenes from the photos in the magazines, or from photos of your own.
Not challenging enough? Try sketching with a brush, or in color. Or sketch from memory, by focusing on a photo in the magazine for a few minutes, then closing the magazine and trying to reproduce it from memory.

Interesting subject, and a lot more ideas to discuss, so I'll get back to this topic in a future posting. Bon voyage !

Learning Points: Mel Stabin Workshop, part 2

Busy Afternoon in Lucca, 11x15 (detail)

One our second day of the workshop, Mel demonstrated the use of value sketches, and the painting of figures in a street scene. Our assignment was to practice those two skills, and my effort is illustrated above, in "Busy Afternoon in Lucca." You can see how the features of the figures were merely suggested, and rendered quickly, allowing colors to merge, as on the girl on the right. Similarly, the figure of the lady fuses with the stroller she is pushing, and the figure in the red jacket merges into the man's shirt in the foreground. The two figures further back were very simply indicated, with their shapes described mostly in negative by the dark door behind them.

Jazzed Up, 22x15
In days four and five, I took a more experimental approach in the assignments to practice the figure. In "Jazzed Up", I used line and free color, painting very quicly and directly, using the brush and color to "sculpt out" the figure, while dark colors, splattering and aggressive directional lines further emphasize movement and rhythm.

The workshop with was a great learning experience, and a fun one at it!

Here's Mel Stabin posing by one of his paintings. (Photo courtesy of Herb Rodriguez)

Learning Points: Mel Stabin Workshop

I have just had the privilege of learning from renowned watercolorist Mel Stabin, in a full week workshop organized by the Paletters Art Club in Broomfield, Colorado, and attended by a great group of local artists. (Photo by Dianna Wilson)

Mel is such a great guy: friendly, talented, considerate and funny (including George Carlin impersonations). He provided us with excellent demos and instruction, advice and critiques, and a wealth of artistic quotes. The new concepts and techniques were challenging to master, but the atmosphere was very relaxed and encouraging, so we all learned a lot.

I had a wonderful time (just could not wait to get to the workshop earlier and earlier every morning) and finished the week with a nice set of six brand new paintings. Here are three of them, to illustrate some of the concepts discussed:

Nywot Farm, 11x15 in.

In "Nywot Farm," I focused on two concepts: First, merging together shapes of same value, where the barn door and the wall of the shed are an uninterrupted shape; second, I used color gradation in the dark areas of the barn, keeping the same value but allowing the color to vary from blue to yellow to red.

Another Day Goes By, 15x22 in. (photo by Herb Rodriguez)

In this painting, I practiced preserving the white of the paper to indicate strong sunlight. I also used the three kinds of brush strokes: hard edges and soft edges throughout the surface, and the dry brush technique to indicate the rough texture of the stonework where the old man is sitting.

To the Light-house, 11x15 in.

In this painting, the point was to practice the abstraction of shapes and use of line. It is also an example of the element of repetition, as in the shapes of the several boats, and of the use of diagonals as a dynamic compositional element.