Today's effort in my pursuit of watercolor excellence.......I did this from an old painting of my backyard. It's not a good subject for trying to loosen up, but I did accomplish a couple of things. I maintained transparency for the most part. And I managed not to overwork a good part of it.The picture looks better than the painting in that respect, but I am pleased. Even though I didn't do this from life, the original painting I worked from was done that way. So I got the perspective one gets from standing in front of something. Cameras put the viewer at a distance........I used to tell my students that it was a "helicopter" view. They still had to learn to look down at their feet in composing a painting...........at least composing the way I was trying to teach them. It was so natural for them to look out across the landscape, ignoring what was directly in front of them. I used to tell them to look down at their feet for a good foreground and then up at the sky to make sure it isn't shaped like a rectangle. Then find something in between to paint. There were many things I liked about teaching, and tearing down everything the students thought made a good painting was one of them. It was fun to be shocking. Once they were used to everything I had to say and developed minds of their own I needed new blood. They didn't need me anymore.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Next Effort
Today's effort in my pursuit of watercolor excellence.......I did this from an old painting of my backyard. It's not a good subject for trying to loosen up, but I did accomplish a couple of things. I maintained transparency for the most part. And I managed not to overwork a good part of it.The picture looks better than the painting in that respect, but I am pleased. Even though I didn't do this from life, the original painting I worked from was done that way. So I got the perspective one gets from standing in front of something. Cameras put the viewer at a distance........I used to tell my students that it was a "helicopter" view. They still had to learn to look down at their feet in composing a painting...........at least composing the way I was trying to teach them. It was so natural for them to look out across the landscape, ignoring what was directly in front of them. I used to tell them to look down at their feet for a good foreground and then up at the sky to make sure it isn't shaped like a rectangle. Then find something in between to paint. There were many things I liked about teaching, and tearing down everything the students thought made a good painting was one of them. It was fun to be shocking. Once they were used to everything I had to say and developed minds of their own I needed new blood. They didn't need me anymore.
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2 comments:
What a great lesson! You could write a book on this, and the title could be, "First, Look Down at Your Feet." Steps 2 and 3 are great, also, but it would make too long a title to put them all out at once, and anyway, you want to leave discovery for inside the covers. This is a word person, not a picture person, thinking here....
I love the title.......now I just need to write the book.
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