Today’s warmup exercise:
Graded washes have a real application in watercolors. Today I practiced with the ‘gray’ mixture I concocted in my first (published) warmup exercise (Scales). Instead of gray, it is purplish.
After I painted the first graded wash (that deposits more pigment at the top of the picture) in the small sections of my chart, I let them dry. Then I began another wash partway down the paper, again laying down more pigment along the first brush stroke. My lesson book, the Tate Watercolour Manual, Lessons from the Great Masters by Tony Smibert and Joyce Townsend suggested that the second wash should be a silhouette of a mountain range. I repeated the process with another ‘mountain range’ in the foreground.
Lesson 3 – Application of Graded Washes
In the top right panel, before applying the second mountain range, I dripped a bit of water and blotted it up, taking away some pigment in the process. This led to the perception of clouds in the valley.
I like these a lot…very mysterious. (K)
A little technique goes a long way. Thanks, Kerfe.
Gosh Jack these feel completely different – I would never have guessed they were yours if someone had shown them to me anonymously. I’ll be interested to see how this lesson affects your own ‘voice’…
Well, I had to do something to break away from portraying Mike for a while. The lesson book from the Tate is giving me a new place to begin, plus the promise of painting like the masters when I’m done with the course (hahaha). However, I do have another portrait of Mike in mind for when I’m ready to begin again.
I hope you like the new style in the interim.
As always, thanks for taking the time to comment.
Best,
Jack