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| I have masked out Michael's right arm and accidentally
had a big drip of masking fall off my brush. I will wait till it is completely dry
before I remove it. I redraw out the column and I have found a small error between
the column base and the background. I will fix this in final detail. I prepare my
wash colors, Gamboge Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Opera Rose and Pthalo Blue.
I will have about 5 to 8 minutes from the moment I lay down my water wash to the time I
lay in my final wash. I begin with a heavy water wash and then in the picture above, I
have totally covered the Pillar with a light Gamboge wash.
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Next, I add a layer of Burnt Sienna and Burnt
Umber....the paper is still very wet and I have lots of time now to focus in on building
the 3D contours of the Pillar.
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Then I add the Opera Rose layer and a Pthalo blue
layer. The paper has dried to the point now where the colors are not dispersing.
You will feel and see this with experience. I do not like to rewet my paper,
so that is why I prepare my five color washes in advance.
I
totally blow dry the column and allow the paper to flatten out.
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As in the Cityscape portion of the lesson, I begin dry
brush dabbing VanDyke brown into the the pillar, paying attention to the contour of the
Pillar and to the play of light on the round surface. Notice how I use the outside
of the image area to dab my brush before I begin dabbing the image area. It is
important to remove excess paint from the brush to avoid splotching.
Tips and Hints
When dabbing large areas of a painting with the dry
brush technique, rotate your brush after a few dabs to avoid wallpapering a pattern. |
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| Using Burnt Umber, I begin cutting details by painting
in the section lines of the pillar.
We are now about 25% done
and the Pillar is beginning to take shape. |
Using the dry brush technique, I work in the Mauve over
the whole Pillar. Using Payne's Gray, I begin adding the imperfections to the stone
and also to enhance the Pillar section lines. The Mauve will act as my base gray as
I want to create a dark gray stone that has seen hundreds of years of weathering and man
made exhaust. Although I have the general shape, I am not really concerned at this
point with technical correctness. |
Now I work in two layers of Yellow Ochre using a
vertical stroke brush application. I add Burnt Umber for the Pillar section lines. A
complete blow drying of the Pillar and then I apply a 100% coverage of a Titanium water
wash. The reason I used Titanium white instead of Chinese White was I wanted
to achieve a graying effect of the stone as you can see in the next picture and it gives
me a great blending base for the heavier blues that I will be adding after the white wash
dries. |
After a super drying, I add a good semi-transparent
wash of Cerulean blue.. The Pillar is now over 50% completed. Now I will
focus on technical correctness and the softness of light on the Pillar and shadowing
and of course....aging.
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| The Water burnishing phase of the Pillar. I will
use clean water and apply it to an area of the painting that I would like to lighten up.
In this case, the whole Pillar. I move my brush in a circular motion removing
layer after layer of washes until I begin to see the Gamboge yellow layer of the very
first wash. This is a gentle process so work within a small area at a time...no more than
2" x 2". This is a paintstaking process, so take your time and respect
your watercolor paper.
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Tips and Hints
Remove the watered down layers with your Bounty paper towel
using a straight push downward with your thumb. A Dab..hold and then view...Repeat
the water burnishing step again to remove more paint if necessary. Do not rub the painting
with the paper towel. You are not wanting to affect the watercolor paper at
all with this process...So pay attention to what you see and feel here.....This burnishing
affect will leave the Pillar looking like it is made of sandstone when you are completed. |
I have now lightened the Pillar enough to my
satisfaction and now I will build the the 3D effect of the column and also fix any
imperfections and ensure technical correctness of its form and structure. I have now
reduced my palette to four colors, Indigo for the really dark areas, Burnt Umber for soft
shadowing, Mauve for transition from dark to lighter of the shadows and Opera Rose
for...just because..
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I have now completed the first level of of the thick
round base. I will continue moving upward before returning to the base of the
Pillar.. I am using my 15/0 brush to build the shadowing and contours and the cracks
in the stone. For shadowing, I am adding my paints by dabbing them on to the
surface. I have come back with my #6 brush with a little water to blend the paint
for a soft transition. What is being created here is an effect that when a viewer of
the original painting studies the pillar, they will want to feel the very texture of the
stone. This is the goal of every Realist Artist. |
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| I have worked from the base up to the top of the
Pillar. Only subtle detailing remains before I move into the base of the Pillar.
The Pillar is now just over 75% complete at this point. |
Continuing with gentle dabs of Mauve and Indigo to
continue with the contours of the stone and the darkening of the chips and imperfections
in the stone. I have now moved into the base of the Pillar. |
When the base has received its final layer, I move back
up to the background area where I made an earlier drawing error and I I fix the building
in the background...looks like a condo eh! |
The Pillar is completed. Now I remove the masking
on Michael's arm. You will notice that I rarely use Black as one of my colors
although I keep tubes of Ivory Black in my collection. I replace it with Indigo,
which provides me the ability of fixability. Later. |
