by 2 people |
Do we need another watercolour tutorial?
The easy answer is no!
But of course there is always room for an experienced artist ( with a modest outlook) to pass on some of that experience to a fellow artist who may just be starting out on a journey of discovery.
In this lens I hope to reveal how I use the process of sketching to develop an eye for a subject and a process for capturing what seems a limitless scene. Constant sketching and varying an approach just to see what something looks like will help all artists who are trying to capture landscapes in watercolour.
The accompanying sketch shows Glastonbury Tor from the Avalon Marshes, Somerset, UK
But of course there is always room for an experienced artist ( with a modest outlook) to pass on some of that experience to a fellow artist who may just be starting out on a journey of discovery.
In this lens I hope to reveal how I use the process of sketching to develop an eye for a subject and a process for capturing what seems a limitless scene. Constant sketching and varying an approach just to see what something looks like will help all artists who are trying to capture landscapes in watercolour.
The accompanying sketch shows Glastonbury Tor from the Avalon Marshes, Somerset, UK
Why Sketch?
shouldn't you just go for a finished picture?
Even the great artists sketch.... and the more they do this the better they are like to be. Turner left many sketches after his death, to the nation. Even his skimpiest works show how he was approaching issues like skies and landscapes. The constant sketching will more than repay the investment in time for any artist.
A painting simply called watercolour beginning shows a simple sketch which probably would have been completed in the fullness of time. There are many of these in books and galleries but I have not yet located a web link.
I often simply use up the remains of my palette to create sketches from my imagination - a little like doodling really but it does help to keep my pictorial vocabulary in use and growing. These sketches I call my "Turnerisms", they show a this simplistic doodling approach to landscape subjects. Not something I would frame and hang on the wall but "hey" they were done for fun and practice.
They were actually done on cartridge paper and so the effect of wet-into-wet washes is not very relevant but having fun and making marks is never a waste of time. In this series of lenses I hope to be showing you many more of my sketches, some in this vein, some looking more like finished works but all have the main objective of teaching me something.
As for the second question above, it is always worth sketching out one or two small thumbnail sketches to decide on compositional features prior to starting any major project/painting. Professionals do it, what makes any amateur think that they don't need to? read about any major artist and the chances are that he will know what he is going to paint and how he is going to achieve any particular result before he starts. Why take a chance? Of course there are many instances of paintings being changed part way through but by and large even the masters will have made sketches of potential problem areas before the main work is started.
Some examples of what I am saying would be an obvious update to this lens, at the earliest opportunity. watch this space!
A painting simply called watercolour beginning shows a simple sketch which probably would have been completed in the fullness of time. There are many of these in books and galleries but I have not yet located a web link.
I often simply use up the remains of my palette to create sketches from my imagination - a little like doodling really but it does help to keep my pictorial vocabulary in use and growing. These sketches I call my "Turnerisms", they show a this simplistic doodling approach to landscape subjects. Not something I would frame and hang on the wall but "hey" they were done for fun and practice.
They were actually done on cartridge paper and so the effect of wet-into-wet washes is not very relevant but having fun and making marks is never a waste of time. In this series of lenses I hope to be showing you many more of my sketches, some in this vein, some looking more like finished works but all have the main objective of teaching me something.
As for the second question above, it is always worth sketching out one or two small thumbnail sketches to decide on compositional features prior to starting any major project/painting. Professionals do it, what makes any amateur think that they don't need to? read about any major artist and the chances are that he will know what he is going to paint and how he is going to achieve any particular result before he starts. Why take a chance? Of course there are many instances of paintings being changed part way through but by and large even the masters will have made sketches of potential problem areas before the main work is started.
Some examples of what I am saying would be an obvious update to this lens, at the earliest opportunity. watch this space!
So what now?
A rundown of the lenses in this series:-
1. sketching on location (tba)
2. sketching trees
3. sunsets (tba)
4. finding inspiration (tba)
5. (tba)
2. sketching trees
3. sunsets (tba)
4. finding inspiration (tba)
5. (tba)
Some watercolour sketches on Flicker
so many different approaches
Looking at other artists sketches can be very educational, notice how they have approached a particular problem, what have they done to overcome any difficulty that the subject might have bought up? Don't necessarily copy but learn and apply these lesson to your own work. Above all practice regularly, this is the most helpful advice for any artist. The more you create the better you will become.
woodstock (Inistioge...
nude sketch (l)
nude sketch (O)
nude sketch (M)
343_tile_sketch-plat...
Sidi Bou Said, Tunis...
Avondale Forest, Co....
Traffic in our Pune...
Sidab gate
Centro Storico Scale...
automatically generated by Flickr
Great Stuff on Amazon about watercolor sketching
want to read more, then why not try Amazon; lots of great art books many are inexpensive second hand books.
Sketches of Amerindian
Amazon Price: (as of 12/11/2009) 
Blog Posts from Google
what do other people say about sketching?
It is always interesting to surf other peoples blogs to find new, interesting content.
- Art & Creativity - My Sketchbook: Memory sketch - Kromdraai
- Misty Landscape in Kromdraai - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm watercolour paper - Maree© Had to take my car for a service last week, and I always like to leave early so that I miss the early morning traffic - from 6.30am onwards ..... I am in a sketching phase. And especially scenes, not things or objects. Scenes like buildings and architecture, streets, les places, small shops. I don't ... 5 days ago. Zeh Original Art: Daily Watercolor & Oil Paintings by Janet Zeh ...
- Art & Creativity - My Sketchbook: Harrismith landscape
- "Harrismith landscape" - Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - size 12" x 8.5" I drive down to Ballito on the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, about 6 or 7 times a year, and have done this route along the N3 South for so many ..... I am in a sketching phase. And especially scenes, not things or objects. Scenes like buildings and architecture, streets, les places, small shops. I don't ... 6 days ago. Zeh Original Art: Daily Watercolor & Oil Paintings by Janet Zeh ...
- My Journey With Art: In For Repair, Original watercolor plein air ...
- In For Repair, Original watercolor plein air landscape painting. 11" x 15" Watercolor on 140 lb. Archival Paper Contact me for availability and price. This is a quick sketch at the Marine Terminal in Newport News, Virginia. ...
- rompedas: ONE OF THE FINEST AMERICAN WATERCOLORISTS OF THE 19TH ...
- But both the hilly landscape and the sketch for a later schoolteacher picture are more specifically associated with the inland location, though typically Homer generalizes his image beyond the moment. .... The Adirondack Guide Watercolour and pencil, 1889. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston This image is courtesy of the Art Renewal Center. Hunter in the Adirondacks Watercolor over graphite, 1892. Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University From The Artchive. Hound and Hunter ...
by artyfax
I am a largely self-taught artist with a long time interest in the creative arts. After school I studied metallurgy and achieved two higher degrees in... (more)
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