Gray Sky and Twiggy Branches
The wiry lines of the branches contrast with the mottled areas of the gray clouds.
Tag Archives: contrast
Sky Construction
I was thinking of a way to translate yesterday’s photograph into watercolor. I have figured out a way to paint facsimiles of clouds – generic clouds. It is much more difficult for me to paint a specific cloud. Therefore reproducing ‘Between the Lines‘ as a watercolor would not be easy. It also wouldn’t further any […]
Curb with Old Paint
I saw an interesting curb on the way back home. I like the texture of the old paint. It looks like a thick coat. The bricks compliments the color of the paint; their textures contrast. The shadow provides a rich dark tone thereby setting up a full range of tonal values.
Abstract – Mask
For today’s study I mixed a solution of quinacridone burnt orange and another of turquoise. I find it much easier to have a lot of liquid pigment at my disposal, especially for washes. However, I began by painting narrow traces of burnt orange (without plan). I abutted fields of turquoise against the orange for maximal contrast. […]
Lesson 9 – Tone Study
Today’s warmup exercise: I’m finally getting to learn the technique of at least one Master watercolorist from my book, the Tate Watercolour Manual, Lessons from the Great Masters by Tony Smibert and Joyce Townsend. The Master is Claude Lorrain, who lived in the 17th century. The example shown in the book is The Tiber from Monte Mario c.1640, which suggests rather […]
Abstract 52515
Today’s watercolor experiment: I had nothing in mind to paint today. When that happens, I get my inspiration by just getting started. Sometimes I do this by dipping my brush in a color that suits my fancy and stroking it across the paper. Perhaps the color or the shape of the stroke will inspire my next […]
Great Basin
Sometimes it takes an out of towner to show you a classic site you’ve never seen even though it is in your own town. The kids came into town a day or so ago and they wanted to see the redwoods in Great Basin State Park. They grew up here, so they had visited the […]
Purely Process
Nothing too inspirational happened today. I was too lethargic to read, although I started a very interesting book by Dr. Patricia Churchland called Touching a Nerve. She and her husband Dr. Paul Churchland are neurophilosophers, a subject I find extremely interesting and hope to write about in the near future. I found myself staring at […]
Purple Woods
Today’s watercolor experiment: Yesterday’s preliminary experiment in purple was a first step in my investigation of purple-yellow interactions. I was hoping for a result analogous to the orange-blue exercise shown in the latter part of the post, yesterday. In this expansion of my sketch shown in my post, From a Magazine, the goldfish were separated from […]
Texture
I write this in the waning hours of 2014 (~7PM Pacific Standard Time). For most of you, it is already 2015 right now. It was really sunny here today, but cold (for California). I took a walk to stock up on some refreshments for later tonight and, as I usually do, I looked around for […]
