Farmland in Monochrome

Watercolor always scares me due to the apparent finality that comes from contact between color and paper. There is no way to retrace steps once brush meets paper. Yet I have seen videos of watercolorists who seem to effortlessly correct "mistakes" and produce beautiful pictures. As a result I have played with watercolor more and am finding that accidents can be turned into unanticipated creativity.

That was not the case with this farmland picture, but the challenge I set here was to produce a watercolor picture with a restricted -- almost monochromatic -- palette. I used only burnt sienna, raw sienna and ultramarine blue. The effect is a rather pleasing dusky scene that is so reminiscent of the American midwest.

Farmland in Monochrome, Watercolor on 300lb paper, 9"x12", Not for sale

Window in Old Brick Wall

Life has been a whirlwind of late, hence a lack of new posts. When I did have a chance to paint, the results have been less than stellar and certainly not worth sharing! In any event, I am working through the "slump" and hope to post more regularly once again.

Window in Old Brick Wall follows in the series of window-themed watercolors I did last year. Needless to say the variations that can be found on a single theme such as this are nearly endless. Working on the window paintings has also taught me the discipline of sketching an outline before applying color. This is of special importance in an architectural subject where the proportions need to be more exact than in some other subjects.

Anyway, it is nice to be back and I look forward to comments as always.

Window in Old Brick Wall, Watercolor on 140lb paper, 4"x6", $25

Tribute to Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), An American Classic

Andrew Wyeth, a beacon of the American art scene, passed away last week. Without a doubt, Wyeth was (and always will be) an American treasure. His poignant images of the American landscape (e.g. Christina's World) are readily recognizable by even those with no particular interest in fine art.

Wyeth's paintings, most in watercolor or tempera, are deceptive in their simplicity. Cleverly composed and meticulously executed, the images appear shorn of all color yet remain powerful in their depiction of images of daily life. In looking at Wyeth's paintings, I find it easy to get drawn in and then experience a lingering compulsion to wonder about the story these pictures tell. Surely, the stories that Wyeth's pictures tell are worth more than a thousand words.

Wyeth was 91 when he died in his sleep, as private in his death as he was in life. Today's post is my modest attempt to remember this giant of the art world.

Untitled, Watercolor on 140lb paper, 9"x12", Not for sale

Variation on Barn Window

Combining media in art is nothing new, nor particularly notable in itself. Ultimately, as Randall Tipton has pointed out, what artists do aims to produce a good painting rather than worry about rules. Indeed, if artists followed rules there would be no progress in art.

Rough-Hewn Barn Window is just another ordinary window, perhaps on a hay barn, consisting of rough-hewn planks nailed together, less a piece of marvelous carpentry than an example of ultimate American pragmatism. Therein though lies the character of the workmanship, however elementary, done by a human hand.

This piece is done with ink and watercolor which lend it both definite form and some texture. Prolonged study might even suggest directionality to the light falling upon this window that, even in the most fantastic of imagination, could only conceal the basics elements of farm life.

Rough-Hewn Barn Window, Watercolor over pen and ink on 140lb paper, 4"x6", $30 (unframed)

Old Town Window

My work often takes me overseas allowing an opportunity to capture interesting ideas for later use when I am back in my studio. Sometimes I am lucky to have a camera with me while at other times a sketchbook. Very often there is just the memory of a sight, seen perhaps in passing, that inspires a painting.

Old Town Window is a sight that is so frequently found in the old cities of Europe that this picture could almost be from anywhere. Once majestic buildings of vintage that often predates the New World continue to be in regular use. Unlike the urban decay common to some large American cities, the European brick and plaster or stone buildings show unique character rather than looking aged and decrepit. Even though time has taken its toll, there is an enduring solidity and sense of continuity that I hope is apparent in this picture. Almost certainly, this window will still be there well after many of us.

Old Town Window, Watercolor on 140lb paper, 4"x6", $30 (unframed)

Fog and mist

What you get with watercolors is often somewhat of a surprise. The medium performs in infinite ways depending on a variety of factors.In Fog and Mist I was aiming to create the impression of recession just by varying the proportion of water and paint without actually changing the color.

With the paper barely moistened, I started with the background trees and gradually worked up to stronger color for the foreground trees. Once the paper was dry, the bare tree trunks were put in to suggest a fall or spring feel. A bit of color added to the foreground and the piece was done! The picture is not quite what I imagined but it is close enough.

Fog and Mist, Watercolor on 140lb paper, 4"x6", $10 (unframed)

Yet another snow scene

It has been a dismal couple of weeks in the southeast with day after day of rain and grey skies. This is quite a contrast from the usual daily doses of sunshine I am now used to after having left Michigan over three years ago.

Looking out the window and seeing mist and grey seems to have been my inspiration for the snow scenes once I got started. Birch in Snow is likely to be the last one for now, though. The rich, brilliant colors I normally use in my acrylic pieces are beckoning once again.....

Birch in Snow, Watercolor on 140lb paper, 4'x6', $20 (unframed)

Snow-laden Trio

In response to Snowy Meadow, Carol Schiff rightly pointed out the challenge of switching betweeen painting oils and acrylics, where one goes from dark to light, and painting watercolor, where the process is reversed. In watercolor, the lights must be preserved right from the beginning since there is no good way to add them afterwards.

I started Snow-laden Trio by making a loose pencil sketch. Then I used masking fluid to block out the snow both on the trees and the ground, as well as the tall leafless tree trunks. The next step was to apply the sky using a graded wash of pthalo blue. Towards the ground burnt sienna was added to the blue along with lots of water to get a weak grey wash for the foreground.

Once the wash was dry, the evergreens were laid in using a strong blue-green mix. After the trees were dry the masking fluid was peeled off, then the grasses and shading were added to the foreground. On stepping back, the hard edge between the bottom of the trees and the foreground did not seem quite right, so I softened it out with a wet brush.

Snow-laden Trio, Watercolor on 140lb paper, 9"x12", $35 (unframed)

Snowy Meadow in Watercolor

While I am not especially fond of snowy scenes, a reader of this blog made a special request to which I am responding in this post. Since the requester is a native of Canada with plenty of access to scenes like this, I am a bit puzzled at the request.......Anyway, here goes.

I don't often paint in watercolor so this one took some preparation and thought. The whitest streaks of snow were covered with masking fluid which was removed after the initial graded wash of pthalo and ultramarine blue. The rest was just a matter of serially laying in the trees and embellishing the foreground with some stray grasses poking through the snow. The white patches look reddish but only in the photograph -- must have been the light while I was taking the picture. In the actual painting they are a brilliant white which, mixed with the pale bluish foreground, gives the painting a "cold" look.

Snowy Meadow, Watercolor on 140lb paper, 9"x12", SOLD

Simple watercolor

Watercolor is probably not the easiest medium for self-taught artists. From figuring out the choice of paper weight to the amount of water to use were aspects of using watercolor paints that I learned through experimentation. Having started with acrylics first, it was easy to assume some of the same attributes would carry over. The task proved much trickier as I came to realize what every half-decent watercolorist knows! Watercolor paint can only be worked over so much before the freshness of the color is lost leading to drab, muddy pictures.

Sand Dunes was one of my early attempts in watercolor and one that reinforced some key learnings: (1) Use the fewest colors possible, (2) exploit the whiteness of the paper to achieve highlights, and (3) be bold with the brushstrokes. The last may be the least obvious but not less important than the other points. Slow, tentative brushstrokes inevitably are the prelude to overworked areas that spoil the painting.

I also like Sand Dunes because it was done with just two colors: yellow ochre and ultramarine blue. Simple palette, simple painting.

Sand Dunes, Watercolor on 140lb paper, 5"X7" (Not for sale)