Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2017 i Watercolor Artist

As this issue goes to press, my team and I have just wrapped up jurying our annual Watermedia Showcase competition (look for the results in the April issue!), so thinking about what makes one painting stand out from another is very much on my mind. It was with great interest, then, that I watched the winners from the various 2016 watercolor society exhibitions come in for “The Year’s Best Paintings” feature (on page 58) and read the comments from this year’s jurors. Although the paintings deemed the best vary wildly in style, technique and subject matter, they all have one thing in common—that something special that caught the jurors’ interest (in many cases from the very first glance) and held it. Beyond technical prowess, these paintings exhibit an often indescribable…

Backyard Mark-Makers If texture has any role in your watercolor painting, you probably own some not-so-traditional art tools. Dawn Beedell, art instructor and founder of ARTPAD art studio in Lancashire, England, holds an experimental mark-making workshop to offer artists “a wider repertoire of mark-making techniques that can add texture and interest to their work,” she says. “These tools were made using twigs and bamboo sticks discovered in the garden and found items such as teasel heads, wool, tinsel, cardboard and herbs, which were then tied to the sticks. Some items also can be used just as they are, like lids and toothbrushes.” Non-Masking Paint Remover The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is a workhorse around the house, but many watercolor artists love it for its ability to remove paint—even when it’s…

• Paper: Fabriano Artistico fine-grained 300-lb., 100-percent cotton paper for medium-sized works, and rolls of fine-grained 80-lb. for larger works • Brushes: Winsor & Newton brushes made with marten fur (sizes 12, 8, 4, 2 and 00). When she uses synthetics, she opts for Escoda and da Vinci. • Paints: Viceconte’s work owes its brightness and chromatic clarity to the relatively small number of colors she uses. She turns to Winsor & Newton tube paints, as she says they preserve freshness. She primarily uses aureolin, rose madder, cobalt, ultramarine, burnt sienna and Payne’s gray. With aureolin, rose madder and cobalt, she creates the tones of warm or cool gray that are the foundation of her work. With ultramarine, burnt sienna and Payne’s gray, she shades and depicts darker areas.…

One glance at a hazy cityscape painted by Nadine Charlsen, and you might instantly imagine the feel of mist on your face or find yourself squinting to glimpse a busy metropolitan bridge through the dense fog. This watercolorist’s mastery at capturing the atmosphere, character and grit of urban surroundings is what makes her artwork so true to life, and so palpable. Her past professional life in theater design undoubtedly has influenced her art. From Stage to Studio Initially, watercolor wasn’t a creative endeavor for Charlsen, particularly during the three decades she spent bringing shows such as Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street to life onstage in and around New York City. “All the set renderings I did as a designer for a director to see what was going…

“I was drawn into this painting by the girl sitting on the window ledge. What is she thinking? What is she seeing? The underlying design is magnificent, and the complementary palette emphasizes the warmth of the light and the coolness of the shadows.”–CHRIS KRUPINSKI, JUROR There’s a spot in my neighborhood, in the back of an abandoned building, where the late afternoon sun casts a beautiful shadow pattern across the windows. All I needed was someone to sit there and pose. The light and shadows were there to see, so no pre-planning was necessary—nature at its best. “In my original reference, there wasn’t any graffiti on the windows. Since my beautiful young model is Korean-American, I thought it would work well to use a Korean word—in this case, the word…

I began with a reference photo (above) that featured a woman sidelit from the left. I determined that the windows in the background added interest, but were too light. Meanwhile, the dark values on the apron and those surrounding the figure were too dark and flat. Step 1: I made a pencil drawing, straightening the windows and simplifying the background, and then applied masking. Step 2: I applied a yellow wash over the areas I wanted to consist of darker values. Step 3: I laid blue and pink washes into the yellow underpainting while it was still wet. Notice how the value pattern is beginning to take shape. Step 4 (detail): I left the left side of the face light as I started to paint the skin tone. I placed…

Helen Brown hbrownart.com Helen Brown (page 10) lives in Sunriver, Ore., and exhibits her watercolors at the Tumalo Art Company, in Bend, Ore. The former French-teacher-turned-artist uses a batik process to achieve luminous, transparent paintings. She’s a member of the High Desert Art League and the Watercolor Society of Oregon. Nadine Charlsen nadinepaints.com Nadine Charlsen (page 48) is an urban landscape watercolorist and instructor based in Asheville, N.C. Her behind-the-scenes theater career spanning 40-plus years has enabled her to translate her knowledge of light, shadow, scale, color and texture to paintings of artistic drama inspired by what she sees through her camera lens. Kathleen S. Giles kgilesstudio.com New York artist Kathleen S. Giles (page 75) is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society, Watercolor USA Honor Society, and the…

For the last four years, I’ve painted almost exclusively on rice paper using a batik technique that gives my paintings an appearance not imitable by using traditional methods. Originally used in Java, Indonesia, batik is the practice of producing colored designs on textiles by dyeing them after having first applied wax to the areas to be left undyed. When used on textured paper with paraffin and watercolor, the process provides a wonderful texture without any additional effort. My move to batik on rice paper has produced a luminous effect thanks to many thin layers of paint and wax, and my paintings now have a looser feel to them. I’m reminded that it was in Watercolor Artist (August 2011) where I first learned of the batik painting method for watercolor. I…

I have never seen any mountains that were so lovely and refined in color and form,” William Trost Richards wrote to his wife in 1878. He had just climbed to the top of Wales’ Mount Snowdon during a two-year European stay. “I got some new ideas of mountain effects and I think there were many that would have pleased even you.” On every page of this long letter, Richards quickly and economically sketched mountain landscapes including one he described as “from the top of Snowdon,” in which craggy peaks surround a deep valley, with clouds rolling above. The drawings and his words bubble with excitement, revealing his passion for the landscape. An Artist in Earnest Richards had shown an interest in working directly from nature at a young age. A…

• Surfaces: Arches rough paper, ranging from 140- to 300-lb., and Khadi handmade paper (100-percent cotton rag) • Paints: “I use color from Daniel Smith, American Journey, Winsor & Newton and occasionally Holbein,” says Charlsen. “The colors I keep on my palette are most often Payne’s gray, lunar black (cool palette), peach black (warm palette), quinacridone gold, Potter’s pink, burnt umber, Vandyke brown, Prussian blue, new gamboge and raw umber. The only green I buy is Winsor green (blue shade); I make all my other greens.” Charlsen also keeps on hand white gouache that she tints as desired. • Brushes: a variety of specialty brushes, including all kinds and sizes of scrubber brushes (including a large “take-it-all-off” scrubber); rubber-grip Royal travel brushes; large scenic and hake brushes for large paintings…

How to catch the eye of a juror: “For a juried competition done by digital entry, have the work professionally photographed. It really makes a difference. Also, be careful how you mat and frame the work. I often reject images because the framing and matting are just so insensitively done.” –Lynne Warren, “Watercolor U.S.A.” juror “Artists need a nice, well-designed painting with a lot of color and value contrast. Also, the design of edges is important—whether the painting is abstract or representational; nice, strong edges stand out.” –Carrie Burns Brown, Ohio Watercolor Society juror “I first look for some kind of emotional content that grabs me. Once I’m grabbed, I start looking at design—how the artist used the elements and principles of design to reinforce the content. Then I consider…

“Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”—Martin Luther King Jr. I live in Ashkelon, Israel, which is located just 8 miles north of the Gaza border. Needless to say, I live in constant fear of attack. I painted War Zone immediately after the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, also known as Operation Protective Edge. To capture the distant view of combat, I aimed to render the dust, ash and smoke—the chaos-texture of high-tech combat. My painting demands visual and emotional attentiveness. It gives the viewer an awareness that many people look out their windows and see a world devastated by hatred, despair and war. If you look out your window at peaceful scenery, you have reason to be grateful. Let us all live in a world of peace. Yael Maimon…

• Paper: Any kind of rice paper will work, but my go-to option has little stick-like flecks in it and is quite strong despite its fragile, transparent appearance; newsprint; watercolor paper; black construction paper • Watercolors: Winsor & Newton and Daniel Smith • Paraffi n: I buy paraffi n at the grocery store and then melt it in a miniature crock pot that I bought at a garage sale for $5. The wax doesn’t heat to the temperature of combustion in this little pot, so I’m comfortable using it for long periods. • Brushes: I only use inexpensive brushes. Between the heat and the wax, they’re ruined after a few paintings. • Misc.: wax paper, waterproof pen, iron, newspaper, credit card, matte medium, roller…

Step 1: Because I want to portray morning time in this piece, I start with very light colors, primarily light purple, ultramarine and a cold pink. I want the tower to dissolve gently in the background, to be almost transparent. Step 2: Here, I begin to weave in a story by adding a figure in the foreground. At this point, he’s the darkest spot on the painting. With his addition, I’ve established both my lightest lights and darkest dark early in the painting process. Step 3: I continue painting the background buildings. Their tone is slightly darker than the tower. Step 4: To spice up the story, I add trees and paint a few more figures heading into the background. The figures’ implied movement directs the viewer’s gaze to the…

Step 1: Charlsen begins with her own photo (1a), cropping or changing the composition if needed. In Photoshop, she creates a lighter version in color (1b), a grayscale version (1c) and an enhanced black-and-white version (1d). “This helps me start the painting by laying in the shapes and dark areas first,” she says. Step 2: To establish the drawing, Charlsen sometimes traces and then enhances the lines with black watercolor pencil, or projects the image and then draws using a dark watercolor pencil. She then begins laying in the darks with Payne’s gray or Vandyke brown. Once the bare bones of the image are shaped with the shadows and dark areas, Charlsen lays the painting flat and applies water where she wants the hard edges to start “melting,” which helps…