Transparent vs Anything Goes

Learning to paint watercolor in the late 60's, I watched an evolution from pure and transparent to the almost anything goes spirit of today's watermedia. In full honesty, I can do things opaquely that I could never do in transparent watercolor and I'm thankful for the progress. Yet I wish to pay homage to the purist ways. When I see a good transparent watercolor handled in the classical way, it's a joy to behold: fresh, crisp, luminous as if lit from within. Whenever I can achieve it, I'm thankful and "Dive Boats" is an example of this. Direct and to the point, not overworked, what a former teacher called a "watercolor statement".
So, go for the glow, and if you miss, there are always alternatives.

Holiday Greetings

To all my friends in the arts, both near and far: may this holiday season and the new year bring you health, happiness and new creative directions. May your brushes stay wet and all of your efforts be positive.

Best Wishes - Tom

ps. Rudolph stopped by and says, "Hi"!

Cropping?

As a student, I was told never to crop. Reason given: a strong artist knows how to design and cropping is a sign of weakness. It reduces the value of the painting. I choose to blow off this expert advice and crop whenever it will make a better painting.

What's "cropping"? It's the process of cutting down a painting's dimensions by reducing the horizontal or vertical sides or both. I've even converted a vertical painting into a horizontal and found more than one successful small painting in an unresolved large one.

I've had a fair amount of success cropping. The photos show how I use mat corners to find potential crops. I often find new takes on a successful painting that I wouldn't crop, but would start a new painting based on this technique.

As far as a reduction in value, I just don't believe it. Your job as an artist is to produce the best image possible. If the cropped version looks stronger, go for it!

Carlin Kielcheski, a Force for the Arts

I want to honor a friend who has been a true supportor of the arts. Recently, I received an invitation to attend a show of artwork by Lt. Col. Carlin Kielcheski (ret.) at the United States Air Force Academy. I've known Carlin for many years and have admired him as an artist who paints strong, well-designed watercolors. However, it's his devotion to integrating the arts into a military education that makes him outstanding. While many believed that there was no room in the service academies for art classes, Kielcheski debated this issue with senators and generals, keeping the program alive. He has been a positive influence among many academy graduates including a Medal of Honor recipient, an all-American football player, some very accomplished artists and many who have a great love and regard for the arts because of him. I salute Carlin for his achievements and service.
For those of you who have access to the USAFA, his show is at the Permanent Professors Art Gallery on the 3rd floor of the Fairchild Building and runs from November 1st to December 8th, 2009.

Glazing with Brights

A short video that highlights the process of glazing using bright watercolors. I glaze over a muddy area on a student's watercolor to bring it to life.

Fall Newsletter Now Online

Since the last post was about painting rich darks, I've devoted the Fall Newsletter to the importance of value studies and six basic plots that have worked for me. Read more at:

http://home.earthlink.net/~towen02/Newsletter5.pdf

Snow's coming!

Creating Rich Darks

In transparent watercolor, being able to paint rich, luminous darks can be very rewarding and very frustrating. The frustration almost always happens when artists fail to create a fluid, saturated mixture. They select a color that's dark by nature, like Prussian Blue, water it down and layer it over mid-tones. Because it lacks intensity it fades to a dirty gray.
The trick is to make a large puddle of pigment (any dark color will do) on your palette and keep adding pigment until the puddle becomes very dark and intense, but still remains fluid. If I would compare this puddle to something that we all know, it should have the consistency somewhere between whole milk and cream: maybe half & half?
Float this color with a soft brush over the desired area. Avoid scrubbing or working it into the underlying colors. This makes mud. You can create color variation by dropping some equally dark colors into the area while it's wet (sometimes called "charging").
It works for me. Remember: fluid darks, soft brush and float the colors.
Let me know if you have any other ideas that you'd like to share. I'd be glad to hear from you.