Today’s watercolor experiment:

My experiment today is a continuation of my warmup exercise (see Lesson 10 – Brush Strokes). I extend the utility of the marks I make and use them to build a composition.

I made four vignettes of landscape-like compositions using a number 20 round brush and sepia pigment. The idea was to begin with marks in the midrange of tonality. The book I use, the Tate Watercolour Manual, Lessons from the Great Masters by Tony Smibert and Joyce Townsend, highlights the work of Alexander Cozens, who built his compositions from informally placed blots and other brush marks. In the exercise I used for this experiment, it says to ‘rapidly splodge down a number of irregular shapes suggesting tree foliage. Don’t try to form trees, just build up splodges.” (pg74). I admit I did more dabbing and scrunching than splodging, BUT I didn’t try to form trees.

Below are my first attempts at building compositions from dabs and blots. Many more attempts are warranted. I am pleased about this, since it is a lot of fun.

Tree Compositions from Blots and Scrunches