You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
We have been so quiet for so long, I just thought I would do a little brain picking. Just new to watercolors.
My first attempts have pretty much been dry brush on pretty dry paper, excepting the sky & a few larger objects.
so... now I am wetting each object before I paint it, The paint runs in the object & stops if it hits dry paper. Am I on the right track?
Also, the explanation for wash over wash or (wash over object) I am believing that it is wet the paper good, thin the paint on a wet brush, sweep the sky. Dry. then repeat in different color. A bit of each color seems to show thru. It doesn't seem to be a smooth blended color. Perhaps that is just lack of practice?
Also, for a mountain or trees in a distance, I am adding blue (Ultramarine) to the paints, I have also tried a blue wash over the trees, but nothing makes it look like it is in the distance. Also is it always blue? to show depth or distance?
Just thought I would shake this forum up. Thank you... I need a class...
Abigail
I'll leave the instructions for watercolors to those who use this medium regularly. I use acrylics more often. My one suggestion is to use the best paper you can afford, even for practice. The right paper makes it so much easier. I've always found it's easier to learn in a class. It's the fellow students you can get so much from.
Cool colors recede,so you don't have to stick to blue. You can try grayer and softer also. A bit of the opposite color can gray or soften the color. So add red to green, blue to orange, purple to yellow, etc. Pick the cooler reds,etc.
If the foreground is brighter, cleaner, and warmer the background will recede. You can also use a softer focus, you don't really see what is in the distance clearly. One trick you can use to soften and gray colors is using the dirty paint water you use to clean your brush. I have 2 jars of cleaning water. The light rinse off the brush water is the one I use and keep until I can't stand the smell anymore.
I hope this helps and doesn't sound too simplistic.
,
I am going to lurk, I have started adding some water color to my drawings after I get them home and haven't worked with them for ages.
I draw with a wide variety of pencils, and pastels. Mostly of the nude female, in a drawing co-op I belong to. Anyone else do this? If so any suggestions?
I have color theory and mixing down. I probably haven't done any serious work with watercolors since university, I graduated many years ago.
I agree about the class. We live in the boonies and classes are either during working hours or too late... :-(
So I have been reading a half a dozen books. LOL Colors I am not bad at. If you give me a color I can match it. Visual perception now, That's another story. I try to analyze pictures upside down. (The pictures are upside down) That helps.
semper. I appreciate your answers. Going back & re reading the color info. I still don't think I would have picked it up about the complementary colors, Tho it made sense. "They are more vibrant when they are next to each other,...They can look mobile" I wasn't getting that at all, but it was hinting all the same. So... no, to a newbie not too simplistic. Thanks
Zen... I am really enjoying them. It is very relaxing to get in a zone.
southern ohio - water colors are not my medium of choice. remember to start light and layer with darker - just the opposite of acrylics and oils.
Probabably the best persom to give you advic in this forum woudlb be GD Rankin. His watercolors are brilliant. Maybeyou should add " hey, GD I need your help to the tread header. He's fantastic and I'm sure he'd be able to give you some great tips.
You’re correct in thinking I work with acrylics, but they are somewhat a new medium for me. Watercolor is what I started with and have the most experience with – so far anyway ;)
I see that you have plenty of quality feedback here, so I’m not sure how much more I need to add. Since I’m self taught there are very likely many things I do differently than traditional watercolorist, and or don’t go “by the book” about. However, I did read a few (very old) beginner type books about the basics when I first got interested in painting with watercolor. With that said, I’ll try to address a few things that I’ve learned . . . mostly from experimenting. Besides . . . I noticed my name down here and thought I’d throw in my two cents, for what it’s worth. :)
Quoted:
My first attempts have pretty much been dry brush on pretty dry paper, excepting the sky & a few larger objects.
so... now I am wetting each object before I paint it, The paint runs in the object & stops if it hits dry paper. Am I on the right track?
I think this is something you just have to get a feel for and it will vary from painting to painting or even from one area to another within a painting. Experiment with various degrees of “dampness” vs “dryness” to see how you like the effects. I have found that I need some areas damp in order to get a nice blend. It also changes with the amount of liquid you have in your paint.
I keep a spray bottle handy and even though I use it mainly to dampen my pallet, I also use it sparingly on areas of paintings – typically a background area that I’m wanting to soften or maybe even change the tint/hue a bit on. Basically like adding a wash I suppose. Like for adding a little more blue to a sky or maybe some softening of some distant trees or something along those lines. Again, experimenting is how I figure out if something works for me or not.
Quoted:
Also, the explanation for wash over wash or (wash over object) I am believing that it is wet the paper good, thin the paint on a wet brush, sweep the sky. Dry. then repeat in different color. A bit of each color seems to show thru. It doesn't seem to be a smooth blended color. Perhaps that is just lack of practice?
This is not something I do a lot of, but when I do it’s usually to alter something I’ve already painted and decided later to change it a bit. For sky and most backgrounds in general, I try to lay down the color I want to end up with. However, that doesn’t always work the first attempt, so yeah at times I do a bit altering with a light wash. Sometimes I even do this with the objects in the foreground. When I do, it’s usually for a very minor change of hue, more than it is to “add depth” to the painting. I have read that others use washes for depth, but I do that more with acrylics than I do with watercolor – at least at this stage anyway.
I’m not too sure how my explanations will come across or help, but I hope they helped a bit. If you have any more questions or specific questions about how I achieved something in one of my paintings that you’ve seen, don’t hesitate to ask. :)
The main thing is . . . Don’t be afraid to try new ideas. Have fun play’n in the paint and show us your results :)
Best of luck!
GD
GD - Thank you. After cach said call on GD, I noticed you hadn't been in in a couple of days, & thought I'd wait. I appreciate your input. Like you, I am reading everything I can get my hands on. And I notice with the specifics of semper's explanation, I can pull more out of a book.
Let's see. I guess the wash is just that going over & over again. I did it for one old wall paper scene I did. I think I will post & ask specifics if that will work. *Believe me I am blushing. I don't say they are good, just hoping for critiquing of ...* My feelings wont't get hurt. I Promise.
Boots & bucket in front of open door. Scanned... So colors are going to be hard to see. I washed the wall with yellow, blue & brown, just to see what happens.
The boots ended up overworked, moving the paint , removing it. Basically, I ruined the paper... LOL
This rooster was wet on wet everywhere, yet it still looks choppy, don't you think. Although, I ""thought" That it was wet, maybe not wet enough. I love the colors by the way... That may be my downfall. Maybe I need to just go back and add to it.?
Your spray bottle is filled with water, right. You wrote (when adding a little blue, ) wet the add the paint?
By the way, the boot scene came after reading your lion page, " I like to move the paint around. Start darker & lighten it up.
And one last question.. How did you end up making your lion's mane (awesome by the way) so fluffy? Any brush ? pull off?
I know your busy & I appreciate your answers, but don't feel you are stuck with me...
Your Boots & bucket looks pretty cool to me . . . I can see how your washes worked well for you there. I know how easy it is to *overwork* stuff with watercolor, especially on the lighter weight paper. The lion I did was my first on the heavy grade paper and I like it better. It’s tougher and thicker, so it takes more abuse ;) Plus it doesn’t warp as easy when you get it all wet.
On the rooster, you can always go back and *soften* the hard lines with a damp brush and of course add more detail with a little drier paint on a small brush. Oh and yes, my spray bottle is just plain water.
As far as the lion's mane looking fluffy . . . I ended up doing a few different things and I got that part a little darker than I wanted in a few spots, so I ended up doing a bit of lifting and also used some Chinese white mixed with some tans to lighten a few places up a tad. Then went back and hit some shadows with darker tones to bring the highlights out a little more. I think the thing that helps that fluffy look is slightly blending the edges between the light and dark to get a softer look.
Hope that helps :)
Also, I recently joined a free paint/art site that seems to be very friendly and helpful (much like here) and they have sub-sections for about any type of art you can think of and skill levels. I suggest you have a look if you haven’t already, it’s free and the people there are probably a lot better at offering advice and tips than I am. Of course I’ll still help when and where I can, but I’m just one opinion where there you will get all sorts of good and friendly advice. It’s called Wet Canvas http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/index.php?referrerid=102131
My user name there is Gary_Rankin so if you join, look for me in the Animals/Wildlife and Watercolor sections :)
Oh my , thank you. That is a great site. I lost an hour today... They even have tutorial/lessons.
You need to check it out zen if you plan to do more. (She said to a master)
I did go back & rework the chicken. Smoothed it Up & now it looks like it need more detail like. So it got me thinking. Even though I am building up color... about4-5 layers on chicken & boots... I am still cranking these babies off in a couple of hours... *** Should that tell me something***
I am working on the Strathmore pad watercolor paper, 140 wt. But you are the 2nd to mention this... so I am thinking.. I can change up after this pad?
Lastly, I tried your fluffing method on some foggy spray... Mine wasn't good, but it definately was much foggier...
You see! Everyone has an effect on someone...
Plus my aunt did something soooo sweet. I sent her the scanned pics of a couple, I didn't post & she made up little Thank you cards, with the pic on the front. What an idea! I thought I would share.
lol @ lost an hour. I thought you may enjoy that site. It’s full of useful art related info.
As far as the amount of time spent of a piece . . . I think that’s an individual thing. To each his/her own . . . ya know? Some people work faster than others and I also think some speed automatically comes with practice, experience and confidence. Also I think it has a lot to do with how much detail vs how “lose” you want the final piece to appear.
Personally, I paint pretty slow – or at least I think so compared to most other artist. For example, I generally spend about 40-60 hours on one of my detailed wildlife portraits. Of course I like details and tend to get a little carried away at times. The lion took closer to 100 hours and I probably could have stopped at around half of that and it would have looked ok, but I wouldn’t have been satisfied. Then again, like most of us, I am my own worst critic and tend to be too much of a perfectionist for my own good at times.
As far as the paper you are using . . . again, that’s a matter of personal preference. It’s a good deal cheaper and not a bad weight to use for most projects. I used it for a long time and still have some around. However, after using the 300 lb. variety, I do like it much better for painting the large pieces like the lion. (it’s 20 x 26) I think it’s fine for what you are doing and I’ll still use it for smaller projects.
With that said, if you have the extra $10 to experiment with . . . pick up a piece and try it, you may find it better or you may not think it’s worth the extra money at this stage? (you can always cut it into smaller sections)
Yeah the *Thank You* cards are a near idea :) The Hobby Lobby here sells some little 5.5” x 8.5” packs of 14 sheets of 140 lb. cold press paper that are kind of handy for that sort of thing. I’ve used them to paint little stuff on and attach to the front of a Christmas or B-Day card. Kind of personalizes the cards a bit more ;)
Ya'll are most welcome. I think you will enjoy that one and I'm thinking that the old *two heads are better than one* thing applies here 100 fold. There's a lot more folks there that can offer you suggestions, tips, tutorials etc. and are better at that type of thing than I am for sure.
It's kind of like Dave's for art ya know? Not that there aren't some great and knowledgeable artists here too, but there are tons there and the whole site is set up for helping artists, like we learn about gardening here :)
Oh and you can be sure I'll share my next paintings here as well :)
