Watercolor of and in the Landscape

Watercolor of and in the Landscape

360 Online Weekend WS | This program is completed

1501 10th Ave East Seattle, WA 98102 United States

TBD

All Levels

6/13/2020-6/20/2020

10:00 AM-3:00 PM PDT on Sat

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$215.00

$193.50

$10.00

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This workshop will take place online on two Saturdays, June 13 and June 20.

Why do people want to paint landscapes? What does a painting do that a photograph can’t? Why is watercolor such a frequent medium for these paintings? We’ll examine possible reasons, I will demonstrate some of my answers, and together we will practice some of the skills that underlie the discipline. If the weather and virus restrictions cooperate, we will move from indoor studio exercises to the most difficult and rewarding practice of all – painting outdoors from life. If it’s too inclement, we’ll discuss ways of working indoors from sketches and photos that keep the results bold, fresh and lively.

Assuming we still must practice social distancing, we will do some initial exercises online first. If the weather is good and restrictions on city parks have been lifted, we will go on to paint outside (“plein air”).

If not, we’ll continue to work indoors and online in alternating online meeting/demo periods and personal work time during which I’ll be available to answer questions. We will regroup in the last hour of each day to discuss our progress and results. I will contact everyone signed up during the week beforehand. If we can’t go outside, have available some photos of locations that inspire you, and I will have some you can use as well. We’ll spend some time on different skills for painting from life versus photographs.

Besides continuing the work we started on session 1, I will offer some interim activities and we will rejoin each other on session 2 to make further progress.
Spring quarter 2020 classes will be held online.

  • · 1. Paper: I like 140 lb archival (100% cotton or rag) watercolor papers with a cold press or rough finish, such as Arches, Fabriano, Saunders-Waterford, Kilimanjaro. I’ve been known to paint on gessoed or synthetic paper too but I keep coming back to traditional watercolor papers as offering the most flexibility. Despite their stated equivalence, the same papers in block form have a much less forgiving surface and I
  • recommend against the blocks. I rarely work larger than quarter sheet outdoors: 11” x 15.” And we’ll do some exercises on smaller pieces first.
  • · 2. Brushes: A minimum basic set of a #8 round, a one-inch flat, and a rigger or other fine pointing brush if you are purchasing new; or whatever you are used to and already have. Watercolor brushes are traditionally much softer than acrylic or oil brushes. Holding a lot of paint and keeping a good point (for rounds) are the important qualities. If this is your first experience with watercolor, don’t buy expensive sable brushes right away. Even though many people swear by them, I’m hard on equipment and find soft synthetics to be just fine.
  • · 3. Paints: A basic set of colors. “Professional” or “artists” watercolors in tubes are almost always more intense than pans; I use only tube colors. Bring what you have if you already have watercolors; it’s not a requirement to go out and get all new paints. Here is my basic color set; I try to have both a cool and warm version of each basic color, as well as a good mix of transparent/opaque/staining pigments. Every manufacturer’s paints are different; I mix them up a lot. I generally like Daniel Smith, Schminke, Holbein and Winsor & Newton. I’ve developed a personal addiction to some particular hues, but again, bring what you have.
  • Hue Cool Versions Warm Versions
  • Yellows Aureolin (transparent) Cadmium Yellow (opaque)
  • Quinacrodone Gold (stain)
  • Raw Sienna (more
  • opaque than transparent)*
  • Reds
  • Pinks
  • Oranges Permanent Alizarin Crimson or Carmine (stains)
  • Ruby Red, Opera, Quinacrodone Magenta (stains)
  • Potters Pink (transparents) Cadmium Red (opaque)
  • Permanent Orange
  • (opaque)
  • Quinacrodone Sienna
  • (stain)
  • Rose Madder
  • (transparent)
  • Blues Indigo/Phthalo Blue (stain)
  • Cerulean Blue (Dan Smith’s is opaque)
  • Manganese Blue Hue (transparent)
  • Ultramarine (opaque)
  • Royal, Indanthrone or
  • Schminke’s Delft Blue
  • (stains)
  • Cobalt Blue (opaque)
  • Greens Phthalo Green (stain)
  • Cascade Green (Dan Smith)
  • Viridian (transparent) Sap Green, Serpentine
  • Green (stain)
  • Hookers Green or Terre
  • Verte (transparent)
  • Green Gold (Dan Smith)
  • Earth Pigments Raw Umber (opaque) Burnt Sienna (most are
  • transparent, but Dan
  • Smith’s is opaque)
  • · You can get away with only 6 basic colors if necessary: and cool version of each primary, e.g. a warm red and a cool red, a warm blue and a cool blue, a warm yellow and a cool yellow. I don’t use much black myself; I usually mix blacks and greys from two complements, though Payne’s grey or Hematite is a handy shortcut for many rock tones. I find an opaque white gouache and a few other colors, such as Dan Smith’s Cascade Green, Windsor & Newton’s Lavender, handy and interesting but not essential.
  • · Depending on what kind of paints you have, you will want a palette for squeezing them out and pans for storing gobs of paint in; that way you don’t have to carry the tubes around for every trip. The lightweight plastic ones with divided buckets around the sides are perfectly fine.
  • · 1-2 water containers for painting with. I have (2) 12-oz plastic beer cups that fit my plein air easel tray. A small spray bottle is nice for juicing up your dried gobs and for wet paint effects.
  • · 4. A notebook for notes and value sketches
  • · 5. Pencils for making preliminary drawings. I use a good old 2B most of the time
  • · 6. Pencil sharpener
  • · 7. Kneaded or white vinyl eraser
  • · 8. A board to paint on that’s just a bit larger than your paper. I don’t stretch the paper, I use bulldog clips to hold it on to the board. I have and use both special watercolor boards that fit on my plein air easel and pieces of gator board or foam core covered with adhesive mylar.
  • · 9. Paper towels or Rags for clean-up and painting. I like to cut up old T shirts. I throw them in the washer with my dark laundry when they get too dirty and have used some for years.
  • · 10. Easel or table top
  • • microphone-and-camera-enabled computer or ipad or smart tablet
  • • smart phone (android or IOS)
  • • Strong internet connection
  • · Excited Attitude!