The Artist’s Problem Solver
The Artist Magazine
This new ebook edition of the very successful hardback, published in association with The Artist magazine, provides practical solutions to many of the most common painting problems encountered by amateur artists.This book features the work of 10 well-known artists, looks at some of the most common problems that leisure painters face and shows how to tackle them in a practical and straightforward way.The range of subjects is diverse: from landscapes and seascapes to still life, interiors, people and animals. All the painting media – watercolour, pastels, oils and acrylics – are covered, ensuring that the book offers something for every artist.In addition, the book features a wide range of different styles of painting by top professional artists, who freely give their expert advice including:• Jackie Simmonds• John Lidzey• Peter Partington• Richard Pikesley• Gerald Green• Winston Oh• John Mitchell• Anuk Naumann• Tom Robb• Hilary Jackson
COPYRIGHT (#ulink_3228a1df-5266-53a6-839e-f90ee9030e05)
Collins, an imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers
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First published in Great Britain by Collins 2001
Copyright © The Artist Magazine, 2001
Editor: Geraldine Christy
Designer: Penny Dawes
The Artist Magazine asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
COVER: Detail from Cherries in Porcelain Bowl, Anuk Naumann.
DETAILS (FROM THE TOP): San Rocco, Venice, Winston Oh; Flowers and Hat in Lamplight, John Lidzey.
The text and illustrations in this book were previously published in The Artist Magazine.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN 9780007165711
Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2015 ISBN: 9780008108472
Version: 2015-01-05
CONTENTS
Cover (#ucd92168a-d5eb-5047-90eb-9a045666a745)
Title Page (#ua7bba7c7-0512-5612-9c2d-944714fc8415)
Copyright (#ulink_aee4283e-c8cf-5fbf-bb4b-5c370c80cd25)
Introduction (#ulink_d611c48d-91b2-5aae-b8c3-8b968479a781) by Sally Bulgin (Publishing Editor, The Artist)
Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher
INTRODUCTION (#ulink_1057281c-ccd5-5b37-96f5-4f4a8ceb4da8)
The Artist’s Practical Problem Solver has proved to be one of the most popular, helpful and longest-running series in the UK’s The Artist magazine (first published in 1931). The aim of this ongoing series is to tackle students’ most common painting problems by posing their questions to a variety of top-class artist-tutors, who are invited to offer advice and possible solutions to each problem through down-to-earth instruction, demonstrations and practical ideas.
As the series began to unfold in each monthly issue of the magazine, following the appearance of the first article in the January 1999 issue, I was asked by a growing number of readers about the possibility of developing the Practical Problem Solver series into book form, as a valuable reference guide. Happily, HarperCollins also thought that this would be a good idea: hence the collaboration between The Artist magazine and the book publisher to produce this new, practical art book with answers to the most frequently asked questions from the series.
You will find a host of different problems tackled here, of special value to painters with an interest in traditional subject matter: the basics of deciding on a good subject for a painting; how to convey depth and movement effectively; ways of coping with greens, painting skies, dealing with foregrounds; how to produce convincing figures and introduce them successfully into paintings; tackling backgrounds in still-life compositions; plus many other aspects of painting.
Jackie Simmonds,
GARDEN SHADOWS, C’AN GAURI
pastel on board, 46 x 66 cm (18 × 26 in)
John Lidzey,
STUDIO WINDOW IN SUNLIGHT
watercolour, 43 × 28 cm (17 × 11 in)
Each problem has been carefully considered by well-known artist-tutors, including Gerald Green, John Lidzey, Peter Partington and Jackie Simmonds, who offer sound advice based on their own approach to the subject in hand. The result is a cornucopia of inspired ideas to help you overcome difficulties you may have encountered already during your painting life; maybe those that you are struggling with at the moment; or situations that you might very well face in the future. Whatever stage you are at I know that you will find the encouragement and advice you need here, helping you to progress, and enjoy your painting.
Publishing Editor, The Artist
1
SUBJECT SPOTLIGHT
How do I decide what makes a good subject for a painting?
Answered by: Gerald Green
Talk to any gallery and you will invariably find that subject matter has a major influence on the picture-buying public. But to the artist the relevance of a subject is that it is simply the vehicle through which to express yourself at the time.
To begin with, what you choose to paint will often be influenced by the work of other artists whose particular painting style you admire. Or there may be a tendency to search for idealized or picturesque images that fulfil the preconceived notion of what you think a subject ought to include.
There may also be a desire to paint personal favourites that possess an emotional attachment or contain an element of nostalgia. The painting process then becomes an exercise in producing a ‘nice’ picture. This approach should always be avoided since the solution to deciding what might make a good subject lies not so much in what you choose but more importantly in what will be your response to it and how you are able to interpret it.
GARDEN, MALCESINE, ITALY
watercolour, 42 × 30 cm (107 × 75 in)
What caught my eye in this subject was the strong lighting. Strong tonal contrasts described the shapes of the elements in the picture. I made this sketchbook study using one warm colour, Burnt Sienna, and one cool colour, French Ultramarine. To maximize the impact of the light distribution I allowed the lightest areas to remain as white paper and then painted shapes rather than individual objects.
OBSERVATION
Recognizing potential subjects from your everyday environment or in seemingly ordinary or unlikely circumstances is an important part of artistic development. To do this you must first know how to look, in order to see with what is generally referred to as the ‘artist’s eye’. This means not merely looking, but observing nature in a particular way. Rather than looking at ‘things’ – flowers, still-life objects or elements in the landscape, for example – look particularly at the relationships between the various elements. Look for differing forms, shapes, lines formed between or linking different elements together, space, patterns and contrasts in tone, colour and textures. These more abstract qualities are the essentials of ‘seeing’ in artistic terms and should also be used as the criteria for selecting prospective subject matter. Images in which you can see a variety of these elements are likely to make the most worthwhile subjects for making a painting.
To understand this way of seeing more fully try looking at a view that you know well, first in the normal way, and then by observing the abstract qualities described. Notice the difference in your perception of what you are looking at. In practice this may be made easier by imagining everything to be on a flat plane, or try looking through one eye only to reduce the effect of distance. Even when not painting you can train your ‘artist’s eye’ by practising this way of seeing and soon it will become second nature.
SKETCHING
One reason why sketching is so important is that it exercises your ability in seeing. So explore your own visual environment, draw anything and everything, whatever happens to be in front of you. Do not just stick to your favourite subject matter.
Get into the habit of being a regular sketcher by always carrying a sketchbook and have it available for any convenient moment. There is an abundance of things around the home that can be used, from the general clutter inside the garden shed or garage to objects in the kitchen. Outside there are parks, gardens, parts of buildings or the clamour and hubbub of city streets; the choice is endless. The process of investigation through drawing will refine your visual awareness and awaken new directions for possible subject matter.
FINDING A FOCUS
How you are able to interpret what you see is also fundamental to your quest to find suitable subject matter. Images that contain a balanced composition with a well-defined focus will give clarity to a painting. Subjects do not have to be bustling with activity or depict wide vistas of landscape. A couple of flower stems in a jam jar, or other simple everyday things like brushes on a sink, can make rewarding subjects. Yet they are often overlooked, or not seen in the right way.
SKETCHBOOK STUDY
watercolour, 28 × 38 cm (11 × 15 in)
When you begin to see with an ‘artist’s eye’ you will discover potential subjects in even the most mundane situations. This display is almost a permanent feature in the corner of my studio and, though I look at it every day, until I painted it I realized I had not actually ‘seen’ it before.
HALLWAY
watercolour, 53 × 38 cm (21 × 15 in)
Still-life images can be combinations of any objects. Ordinary everyday items, perhaps of little significance in themselves, combine to make an interesting subject.
A viewfinder will help to isolate elements of a complex landscape view. The highlighted area is depicted in the drawing below.
POLPERRO HARBOUR
pen and watercolour, 30 × 42 cm (75 × 107 in)
Drawing is a more rapid method of recording the essentials of a subject as the basis for a later studio painting. In this sketchbook drawing I included a monochrome watercolour wash to register the general tonal distribution.
Because our eyes take in an angle of vision of almost 180 degrees we have become accustomed to viewing the world on a wide screen. But painting requires you to focus on the particular, much like a spotlight in a theatre selecting one element of the performance at a time. For landscape work, looking through a viewfinder can be a useful aid. This can easily be made by cutting a 7.5 × 5 cm (3 × 2 in) hole in a piece of card which, when looked through at arm’s length, will enable you to see limited areas of the landscape in isolation.
This is useful for dissecting complex subjects, such as in Polperro Harbour. The photograph shows almost the full extent of the elevated field of view I had of a harbour setting. Though there were several subject opportunities here, I was attracted to the particular part of the scene, shown highlighted, by the tonal contrast between the white cottages set against the darker foreground elements, and the dominant angle of the harbour wall, which had the effect of leading the eye into the scene. I made the drawing to record the essential elements of the view. The addition of a monochrome wash also gave a record of the main tonal distribution.
Further opportunities for developing subject matter can be found by using on-the-spot drawings for later studio paintings, or by inventing subjects by combining parts from several drawings.
GARDEN CORNER
acrylic, 38 × 28 cm (15 × 11 in)
Many suitable subjects can be found in and around the home. This corner of my garden offered a ready-made composition with an amalgam of shapes, patterns and colours.
PAVEMENT CAFÉ
watercolour, 25 × 36 cm (10 × 14 in)
This subject focuses on a small corner within a busy area of pavement cafés. I wanted the painting to portray the essence of the subject as simply as I could without allowing it to become overworked with detail.
BRINGING SUBJECTS TO LIFE
Another major determinant in subject choice will be your ability and experience in using your chosen painting medium. If you are not adept at painting figures, for example, you will be far less likely to think of using them as possible subjects. But generally, whatever you choose, the best way to get the most from your subjects is to paint them in the most direct way you can. Aim for simplicity, both in your method of painting and means of expression. Do not try to create an exact copy, or produce a photographic likeness of your subjects.
Pavement Café illustrates a small corner of a large pedestrian piazza. I selected this area because the patterns of the shapes generated a lively composition, and my aim was to try to catch the essence of the subject with the minimum of detail.
Many of the problems that will confront you when painting can often be resolved by producing preliminary studies, either in monochrome or with limited colours, to help sort out doubts or uncertainties in the interpretation of your subjects. These can be small thumbnail sketches, or larger studies similar to Garden, Malcesine, Italy on page 8. This was produced using one warm and one cool colour to establish the distribution of tonal values, direction of lighting and colour temperature (the relative warm/cool colour relationships) within the proposed image.
Preliminary studies will also allow you to try out different colour combinations in which perhaps you wish to convey mood or atmosphere. In Winter Landscape the mood was achieved by using complementary colours, yellow and purple, which when mixed gave a range of neutral colours tending to grey in the middle. This gave an unusual colour cast to a wintry subject with the inclusion of a warm sky that, combined with using a middle range of tonal values (without the extremes of black and white) gave a more muted feeling to the painting in general.
Atmosphere is obtained principally by adjusting the quality of lighting in a painting. This can have the effect of reducing a subject to just a few simplified shapes. Paintings looking into the light, for example, will dramatically change the elements of a subject into a series of silhouettes.
So, wherever inspiration leads you, opportunities for subject matter exist all around you. All you have to do is to know how to look for them.
WINTER LANDSCAPE
acrylic, 51 × 61 cm (20 × 24 in)
Creating an atmosphere can transform seemingly uninteresting or commonplace landscape subjects. I based this studio painting on a small sketch that I made in the summer months. Closely related tones in combination with a restricted palette of yellow and purple gave a muted mood to the image.
2
CENTRE OF INTEREST
What is a focal point, and do I really need to worry about it unduly?
Answered by: Jackie Simmonds
Many wonderful pictures have been created by artists who have not bothered with a focal point; instead, these pictures tend to be about pattern and texture, a tapestry of shapes and colours. Nevertheless, I believe that a picture will always benefit from having one strong focal point – the centre of interest. A good way to think about a focal point is to create in your mind the picture of a stage full of dancers. The lights are set to wide beam, taking in the whole stage. Your eye darts from dancer to dancer, finding it difficult to concentrate on any one spot on the stage. Now imagine the lights dimming slightly, and a brilliant spotlight shooting out to illuminate one main dancer. Now you have no problem where to look: you are being directed to look in one spot, while your peripheral vision takes in the whole scene.
If you simply sit down to paint whatever is in front of you, without planning the composition, you run the risk of producing a weak picture, one without a sense of purpose. If the subject you select does not have an obvious focal point, you need to consider how to create one. A seascape, for instance, may have no obvious focal point – in fact, the sheer scale of an area of ocean makes it very difficult to focus on one spot – but for the picture to be interesting, the viewer’s eye needs to be held within the rectangle, focusing on one dominant area to begin with, before moving on to examine the rest of the image.
THE MOROCCAN DOORWAY
pastel on paper, 51 × 30 cm (20 × 12 in)
Here the viewer’s eye is directed to the doorway by the lines of the pathway. A little obvious, perhaps, but it works well! The doorway is positioned off-centre, and on the top right ‘eye’ of the rectangle. Notice, too, that the edges of the pathway, where they meet the edges of the rectangle, are asymmetrically placed. Positioning them at exactly the same point, to the left and to the right, would have been rather boring.
HOW TO SELECT A FOCAL POINT
Ask yourself when you sit down to paint what it was that first attracted you to the scene. It may help to write this down in your sketchbook. If you cannot answer this question immediately – it is possible that you just liked the whole view – ask yourself what you would best like to emphasize, or draw particular attention to. Sorting out your thoughts before you commit to paper is an important part of the process of painting. It does not mean that these ideas and thoughts are set in stone; you might decide to change the emphasis during the process of painting – but it certainly will help your confidence, and sense of direction, to have a good, positive starting point. Deciding on what is most important in your picture will give the picture meaning; your reason for choosing that particular scene will be clear to the viewer.
Divide the paper or canvas into thirds, vertically and horizontally. Where the lines cross, these are the ‘eyes’ of the rectangle, perfect spots on which to position a focal point or area. My diagram shows all four, but you would only use one, ideally, for your main focal point.
Divide the picture into two, from corner to corner. Then bring a line down from one of the other corners, to cross the first line at right angles. Where the lines cross, is the ‘eye’ of the rectangle, or focal area. In my diagram you can see two alternatives.
HOW TO POSITION YOUR FOCAL POINT
You should always aim to direct the viewer’s eye into and around the picture. Therefore, the placing of the main elements of the picture is crucial. Artists through the centuries have used the ‘golden section’ – a way of dividing the rectangle that is somewhat complicated, but worth exploring (see Bernard Dunstan’s book Composing your Paintings published by Studio Vista). A simpler way is to divide your rectangle as in either of the diagrams above. Placing the focal point onto one of the ‘eyes’ will be both successful and comfortable.
L’ESCARGOT
pastel on paper, 41 × 51 cm (16 × 20 in)
Although the shell looks fairly central, in fact I placed it carefully within the rectangle so that its sharply sunlit right-hand edge, and its shadow, were positioned in the lower right focal area of the rectangle. The flowers, in reality, were a different colour – I chose to use orange, the complementary colour to the blue-greys of the iron shell.
THE HURVA SQUARE CAFÉ, JERUSALEM
pastel on paper, 51 × 61 cm (20 × 24 in)
This was a difficult composition, since the café seats stretched across the scene, but I decided on a dominant focal area of the bench, table, silhouetted figures and two umbrellas on the left. The umbrellas are sharply defined by the light area behind. The lines of paving, and the tree trunk, lead to the focal point, about one third into the picture.
HOW TO EMPHASIZE THE FOCAL POINT
Deciding where to put the focal point is just the beginning. Although this will help you to begin your picture with confidence, since everything else should slot happily into place around the focal point, sometimes that focal point fails to attract attention. There are several devices you can use to ensure that the focal point commands the viewer’s attention properly:
Strong contrasts of tone: If you place your lightest light area in the picture next to your darkest dark area, this will inevitably command attention, since this will be an area of great visual tension and drama – just what you want.
Strong contrasts of colour: By placing vivid complementary colours next to each other – blue next to orange, red next to green, or yellow next to purple – you will draw the viewer’s eye to this point in the picture. If you use colour contrasts to draw attention to a focal point, the colours you use must be in key with the rest of the picture, so that they do not jump out in isolation, and should be gently echoed in other areas.
Dominant shape: A main, large shape in the picture will command attention – but be sure to integrate this shape with the rest of the composition, by echoing it with less dominant but similar shapes elsewhere, or perhaps by softening edges in places.
Direct the eye with ‘lead-ins’: Directional lines, implied lines, and points with an image can be used to gently lead the viewer to the focal point. For example, a pathway might lead up to a group of figures; the light-touched tops of clouds might bring the eye down to an important tree in the middle distance. In a still life, the edge of a table, or frame of a picture on the wall in the background might direct the eye to the bowls and jugs on the table. Becoming aware of shapes, and edges, within a rectangle, instead of thinking solely about the physicality of the objects featuring in the scene, is a big mental step to take, but a vital one to encourage the development of your sense of design.
Using a viewfinder: You will find it really helpful to use a viewfinder. We tend to ‘see’ our subjects, particularly landscape subjects, landscape shape. Yet a tall focal point may be much better expressed in portrait format. Make thumbnail sketches of the view. Feel free to adjust elements within the scene, to emphasize or echo the focal point – you could shorten a tree, for instance, if it is exactly the same size as the church, your focal point.
SUMMING UP
In his book Composing your Paintings, Bernard Dunstan says: ‘It is dangerous, although tempting, to isolate the different aspects of painting from one another … everything in a picture that looks as if it could be taken out and examined as a subject by itself turns out to be dependant upon, and modified by, many other factors’. So although I have offered you a few basic ideas here about the focal point in relation to the composition of a picture, please be aware that it is only a small, if important, part of the whole painting.
TWO GARDEN CHAIRS
pastel on paper, 51 × 61 cm (20 × 24 in)
It is obvious that the foreground chair is the focal point of the picture. The shadows on the ground lead us in from the bottom edge of the rectangle to the chair, and the light tones of the chair contrast strongly with the dark surroundings. The second chair, repeating the angles of the first, provides an effective pictorial echo.
3
CREATING DEPTH
I have difficulty in creating a sense of depth in my paintings. How can I achieve the effect of depth so that they appear more realistic?
Answered by: John Mitchell
There are several ways in which you can suggest depth: perspective, tone, overlapping, and weight of texture or line. In practice any picture will use a combination of these.
Perspective is probably the most obvious way to suggest depth. Unfortunately, it can become confusing with expressions like ‘vanishing points’ and ‘height lines’. So let us try to keep it simple.
These drawings demonstrate easy approaches to perspective. Practise by drawing matchboxes seen from different angles and follow this up in thumbnail sketches like these. Perspective is the main method of getting depth into paintings.
LINEAR PERSPECTIVE
Objects appear to get smaller as they get further back in the picture space. So a tree in the foreground will appear higher than a similar tree in the background. We all know about the effect of looking along straight railway lines as they run towards the horizon – they appear to come to a point. You can also get this effect by looking along the length of a table with your eyes at table height. Not only, therefore, do objects get shorter in the distance, they also appear to get narrower.
So far so good, but it gets a bit trickier with roof lines – how do we know when the line should run uphill or downhill? A common mistake is to make part of the drawing or painting look as if it has been seen from eye level and the rest from a helicopter. An obvious example is when a chimney top is drawn from above and the roof from below. Try to imagine yourself standing before the building. Draw the nearest corner, then if the roof line is above your eye level it will appear to run downhill away from you and the ground line will appear to run uphill. If you are drawing on site hold your pencil horizontally in front of one eye, against the building as it were – shut the other, and you will be able to see the correct angle very easily. If you are looking straight on at a building, the top and bottom lines will be parallel with the top and bottom of your page.
MOUNTAIN AND LOCH,
watercolour on thick cartridge paper, 15 × 23 cm (6 × 9 in)
The mountains were painted in increasingly stronger washes of Indigo. The darker areas appear to advance and the lighter areas to recede. Strong tonal contrasts bring the boat and the people ‘forward’ to give depth.
AERIAL PERSPECTIVE
Aerial perspective means that tones and colours will become fainter in the background. We all know about the ‘blueing’ effect in distant hills where sky and land become almost indistinguishable.
TONE
Try painting a picture using one colour. Allow the nearer tones to become stronger by building up one wash on top of another and you will create depth. Strong tonal contrasts in foreground details will develop it further.
OVERLAPPING
If you draw objects separately across the picture surface, you will struggle to create the effect of depth. On the other hand, if you allow some objects to overlap others you will immediately suggest their spatial positions. Make the ones in front bigger and more tonally developed and depth will be reinforced.
WEIGHT OF LINE
Dark, strong lines drawn against a light background will advance into the foreground. So vary your linear quality to exploit this effect in drawings or paintings. It is really the converse of how white chalk works on a blackboard. The contrast between black and white makes the chalk legible, but try using white chalk on white paper and it becomes difficult to see.
Little exercises like these, using overlapping and tonal contrast can be done quickly. It is possible to create all kinds of depth effects using these elements. Invent your own wonderful landscapes and worlds by playing about with viewpoints and eye levels.
HARBOUR WALL
watercolour, pen and ink, 63 × 44 cm (25 × 17 in)
Linear perspective was used in the drawing of the houses and the boat’s cabin. Notice that because the house tops are above us the roof lines slope down into the distance and we cannot see the top surfaces of the chimney supports. Aerial perspective has been suggested by using lighter tones and gentler contrasts in the background, saving the stronger effects for the middle and foregrounds. Overlapping was used extensively.
TEXTURE
Texture is a quality that can be so easily overlooked in painting. Try to develop your skill with it. Perhaps you could use thin washy paint layers in the background and thicker textural layers in the foreground. This is easier in oils or acrylics, but you can create varied textures in watercolours as well, by using dry brush, for example. Do not try using watercolour straight from the tube, however; it may crack as it dries. Respect your medium and work within its limitations.
Take one landscape or still-life subject and work it out in several versions using different depth techniques in each. Then try a combination of methods, in different proportions, to see which is most effective. These do not have to be ‘finished’ pieces; after all, you are hoping to learn from them. Quick, small studies are ideal.
Depth is something most of us try to achieve in our work. By experimenting with these techniques and exercises your skill will increase and your paintings improve.
4
SEVEN-MINUTE SKIES
Is there a quick and simple method of painting a sky in watercolour?
Answered by: Winston Oh
Have we not all had the experience of drawing a good landscape complete with fine architectural detail and then wrecking it immediately by messing up the sky? In order to succeed, it is important to pay attention to details such as your brush, paper, amount of water, paint, and speed of application.
Think of the sky as a loosening-up exercise. It is the least demanding component of your landscape. Unlike a building or other physical structures, you are not expected to paint the exact sky before you. Instead, you have the freedom to create the sky of your choice to suit the overall composition or the atmosphere you have chosen to depict.
Using the wet-on-wet technique is preferable because it results in a soft effect in cool colours, without hard edges, naturally contrasting with the stronger landscape tones and putting the clouds in the far distance where they belong.
INITIAL PREPARATION
For a support choose 200 gsm (140 lb) paper or more, as heavier weights do not cockle during the wet-on-wet exercise. A Rough or Not surface provides absorbency, which helps to produce soft fluffy clouds. A rougher surface makes it easier to leave random, irregular white unpainted accents on cloud edges, and facilitates the attractive flocculent textured effect of French Ultramarine when it dries.
BERNEY ARMS WINDMILL, NORFOLK
watercolour, 30 × 46 cm (12 × 18 in)
A grey, windy day, with low scudding clouds, enlivened by streaks of white paper showing through. This was painted with a large squirrel hair brush, in swift horizontal strokes, using various mixes of French Ultramarine and Burnt Umber. Payne’s Grey was used for the heavy rain cloud. Th distant trees were painted with a mix of French Ultramarine and Indian Red.
Your brush has to be large enough to hold sufficient water. For a picture about 30 × 45 cm (12 × 18 in) use a large squirrel hair brush, or a size 10 or 12 sable. On a picture 25 × 35 cm (10 × 14 in) use a size 9 or 10 brush.
Step 1 shows a soft grey sky, achieved with wet-on-wet technique.
In Step 2 brisker brushstrokes are added to produce a cloudy sky that is fresh and lively.
For the purposes of the two demonstration pictures of a cloudy sky above, I used a combination of French Ultramarine and Burnt Umber predominantly. My other usual colours are Cobalt Blue, Coeruleum, Light Red and Raw Sienna. A blue sky may gradate from Ultramarine to Cobalt Blue to Coeruleum towards the horizon as a result of refraction through the atmosphere. Often there is a warm glow just above the horizon, for which I use dilute Raw Sienna. Light Red is mixed with French Ultramarine or Cobalt Blue to create a cooler grey for distant clouds that are near the horizon.
Roughly plan where your cloud or clouds and darker tones are going to be placed, in relation to the rest of your composition. Indicate lightly with pencil the shape or rough outline of the cloud pattern. After gaining experience with this sky technique, it can be fun to improvise cloud formations without prior drawing.
THE WET-ON-WET METHOD
To start, angle the painting surface at 10 or 20 degrees. Wet the sky area fairly liberally and briskly with sweeping strokes. On rough surfaces this action will leave a few random irregular dry spots for accents. Unwanted spots can be covered over in the next stage. Leave larger dry irregular areas if you wish to create a prominent white cloud edge. Of course, you could wet the whole surface evenly for a soft fluffy cloud effect, as in Step 1.
Charge the brush with a moderate amount of a mixture of French Ultramarine and Burnt Umber of moderate intensity. More of one or other colour will determine how grey or bright a day you wish to portray. This is the base layer, so lay it on loosely in broad, preferably oblique, strokes, starting in one top corner. I use this as my tester corner. If the first stroke is too light, I can then stiffen the mixture immediately. I like a fairly strong toned corner anyway. As you move away from the corner, lighten the tone, varying the mixture with each brushload. If one corner is grey, make the other corner bluer. Where you wish to have white clouds, leave a gap of 2.5–5 cm (1–2 in) to allow for some diffusion of colour from the wet edges. Work your way down the sky, and by the bottom third dilute the grey towards the horizon, leaving it almost white around the middle third of the horizon.
Proceed immediately to the next stage (Step 2), where it gets more enjoyable. Use a significantly stiffer mixture of the same colours, with less water. This is important, because anything more dilute will make a mess and ‘cauliflowers’ may appear. Use this to darken clouds. As you move down the sky, narrow down the height of the clouds as they recede towards the horizon. Use Light Red mixed with French Ultramarine for the lower distant clouds with cooler tones. Do not forget to vary the size of the clouds.
Then, while the surface is still quite wet, you are ready for the final accents. Fill the tip of the brush with strong pure French Ultramarine and drop this into one or two small areas among the grey clouds to suggest blue sky peeping through. If you place the spot of blue beside a white cloud, it will accentuate the white edge immensely. Try washing in a dash of dilute Raw Sienna at the mid-horizon, behind a mountain or a pale area within a white cloud. You will be surprised at how this lifts the colour in the sky.
Now stop! Lay the painting flat and let it dry. Do not rework any part of the sky before it is completely dry. There is a cut-off point when the paper is about two-thirds dry, beyond which any application of paint will spoil it. Some accentuation can be done after drying. Wet the area first with clean water, and then drop in a darker, stiffer paint lightly. This exercise should take you no more than ten minutes. I call it the ‘seven-minute sky’ simply to emphasize the key element of the technique – its swift application. A loosely painted, fresh-looking sky only works well while the surface of the paper remains fairly wet.
LOW TIDE AT PIN MILL, SUFFOLK
watercolour, 30 × 46 cm (12 × 18 in)
A sharp white cloud edge was obtained by keeping the upper cloud border dry while wetting the rest of the sky area. The contour was further shaped while working in a stiff wash of French Ultramarine. Light Red was mixed in for more interest in the sky.
When the sky is dry, you will notice that the colours are about 10 or 25 per cent lighter. This may disappoint initially, but when the whole picture is completed, you will appreciate that the lighter sky contrasts well with the landscape below, and it recedes into the distance where it belongs. Practise and experiment with different colours and tones, and you will develop your own version of the seven-minute (more or less) sky!
5
THE LONGER VIEW
I always have problems with my foregrounds. Can you offer some help on how to tackle them successfully?
Answered by: Jackie Simmonds
Foregrounds can cause all sorts of problems. Too much detail, and the viewer’s eye is held firmly in the foreground and fails to explore the rest of the picture. Too little attention to the foreground, however, may result in a boring, unconsidered area at the base of the picture. Often the main problem is that the student has not taken on board the idea that the foreground area of a painting has a purpose, and that purpose is usually – although there are no hard and fast rules in painting – to lead the viewer’s eye into the scene. Even in the shallow space of a still life, or an intimate corner of a landscape, the foreground of the picture needs to be carefully considered.
CAPE TRAFALGAR FISHERMEN
pastel on pastelcard, 46 × 66 cm (18 × 26 in)
I placed the horizon high in the rectangle to leave plenty of space for the foreground. In this way I was able to use the wave tops and edges, and the edge of wet sand, to draw the eye firmly towards the fishermen. A large foreground emphasized the emptiness of the beach, bar a few fishermen, and gave me the opportunity to paint the wonderful light on the sea, which was as important an element as any other in the picture.
ORGANIZING THE DIVISION OF SPACE
Before launching hell for leather into a painting, one of the best ways to prevent the foreground causing problems is to do a thumbnail sketch or two. I have lost count of the number of times I must have mentioned this, so forgive me if you are one of those who hates thumbnail sketches, and is fed up with being told that they are important. However, a small thumbnail sketch, executed in a few minutes, will quickly show you if your divisions of the rectangle are uncomfortable. You will be able to decide, before committing yourself to colour (and in watercolour painting, this is an extremely useful plus point), whether you have left too much or too little space for the foreground. You can change elements of the scene, in order to direct the eye more positively to the main centre of interest. You can decide whether you want foreground elements to dominate your picture – or whether they need to be drastically subdued. Making fundamental changes of this sort once a picture is well under way is not conducive to good temper!
SISTERS IN THE SANDS
pastel on paper, 46 × 66 cm (18 × 26 in)
This painting is composed of horizontal bands of colour, and the foreground area between the base of the picture and the focal point of the three children was quite deep and so potentially tricky – it could have been rather bland and boring. However, I emphasized the undulations in the sand, and the areas of blue, to break up the foreground in a lively and interesting way. Marks in the foreground are much larger than those in the distance, too, helping the sense of depth.
A thumbnail sketch will sharpen your perception; you begin to see the subject through a painter’s eyes and in pictorial terms. Clarifying your mind, and attempting to create a well-balanced design, does not mean that the image is set in stone – it simply means that you will be able to work more freely with your chosen medium, concentrating on the creation of an image that is a combination of good design and painterly approach.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
A very useful way to think about how to tackle areas of foreground is to consider the way we ‘see’ a scene at first glance. When we look at an area of landscape our attention usually focuses on a main point of interest – that which attracts us most. We are aware of the foreground – the area between our feet, and this point of interest – but only peripherally. So, somehow, we have to find a subtle way of painting the foreground so that it leads us to the point of interest, but does not detract from it.
A particularly useful aide-mémoire, therefore, is KIS – Keep It Simple. The danger, when sitting in front of a subject, is that we look too hard, and long, at the foreground, because of its proximity.
THE OLD MILL HOUSE, MAJORCA
pastel on board, 46 × 66 cm (18 × 26 in)
The foreground in this instance was an area of fairly colourless gravel – but once again, the sunlight came to my aid, and presented me with some wonderful shadows to use. Cover the shadows with a finger to see how important they are. Without them, the foreground would have been a large, featureless, uninteresting shape at the base of the picture.
Areas of foliage, for instance, can be very complex indeed, and if they are portrayed very precisely they will hold the eye firmly in the foreground, preventing any movement ‘back’ into the scene. It is generally a good idea to keep most foregrounds fairly simple – which may mean forcing yourself to find a way of simplifying what you see. Squinting at the scene often helps. Having said this, there is another trap waiting for the unwary painter. If you make the foreground too simple it might look empty and monotonous. A painter’s life is not easy!
A FEW DOS AND DON’TS
If your area of foreground is a large expanse of ground – for instance a field, or an area of grass, or sandy beach – while Keeping It Simple, DO see if you can vary the colours, and perhaps the tones, for variety and interest.
In order to encourage a feeling of recession in the image DO see whether you can use larger brush or pastel marks in the foreground, and allow your marks to become smaller and finer as the scene recedes. This will create a good illusion of moving from foreground, to middle ground, to distance.
DON’T block the viewer’s ‘path’ back into the picture with a monotonous horizontal foreground feature, such as a fence, a wall, or a line of tall grasses across the bottom of the picture like a fringe.
Obvious ‘linear’ landscape features such as paths, rivers or furrows can be used to lead the viewer’s eye to the main point of interest, but DON’T FORGET that you can deliberately use shadows on the ground, subtle modulations of colour and tone, and suggestions of texture, for the same purpose.
DON’T simplify the foreground to such an extent that it becomes a featureless bland shape at the base of the picture.
Where possible, DO see if you can create subtle ‘zig-zags’ back into the distance – diagonal movements towards the background move the viewer gently backwards, encouraging a look around along the way!
GARDEN SHADOWS, C’AN GAURI
pastel on board, 46 × 66 cm (18 × 26 in)
In this picture the eye is led towards the background, despite the important foreground element of a large potted plant on the left. The reason that the plant does not hold the viewer in the foreground is that the ground shadows link with the plant. The close tones in this foreground area hold together well, allowing the eye to move back gently, not only via the linear element of the path, but also across the bands of light and shade, which diminish gradually in size.
Try to think of your foreground as a challenge – the challenge is to make the foreground an interesting and useful area, without necessarily including every element of detail visible in nature. You are an artist, not a photographer, so you can edit the foreground, and impose your will, and creativity, on the scene.
Pictures speak louder than words, so have a look at some of my paintings reproduced on these pages. Although I seldom tackle traditional landscapes with obvious foreground, middle and distance, I have included a few images that demonstrate the principles I have discussed here. Notice particularly how light and shadows can often provide strong directional elements to help your compositions.
6
FLORAL STILL LIFES
The flowers in my still lifes seem to lack life. How can I make them look really lush and thriving?
Answered by: John Lidzey
Flowers in a still-life setting can present the painter with an exciting prospect. They can offer a range of beautiful, delicate colours and tones, and graceful shapes that can be a joy to paint. However, often what looks attractive to the eye can be very difficult to represent in paint. The following guidelines will hopefully be of some help in the production of floral still lifes, where freshness and vitality are more important than botanical accuracy.
CHOICE OF FLOWERS
It is probably better to paint from real flowers rather than artificial ones. Although artificial flowers can be very realistic they often have a static quality that can all too easily be transferred to the painting. To overcome this problem, use a free and loose painting technique that will supply a quality of life missing in the subject, as in Studio Window in Sunlight.
Even if you choose real flowers to work from, avoid those that have a motionless elegance, which when represented in paintings can often look unexciting. It is better to select flowers that are rather more unpretentious with an interesting mixture of blossom and foliage. Wild flowers thrust roughly into a container can create a wonderful subject. But they may last for little longer than a day, so you may have to paint faster than you usually do before the subject wilts.
STUDIO WINDOW IN SUNLIGHT
watercolour, 43 × 28 cm (17 × 11 in)
The centrepiece of this studio still life is a bunch of poppies thrust into a glass jar. The flowers are artificial, yet the looseness in the way in which they were painted gives them a vitality that was missing in the subject. I allowed the colours to ‘bleed’ here and there and created a wide range of tones from pale tints to warm blacks.
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