art secret 21 - maryellen minute #5

Landscape Artistic Stretchies

art secret 20 - it's ever green, watercolor fir trees

art secret 20-it's ever green, watercolor fir trees


Here is a simple and effective way to create an evergreen tree in snow.

1. Holding your paper vertically, draw a hilly horizon line.

2. Do a wash in the sky area and add some blues. While it is still wet, lightly sprinkle some salt on it here and there. Let your painting dry. After it's dry brush the salt off and there you have a nice snowy effect.

3. Now we start doing a light underpainting with the side of a round brush using a very light mixture of sap green and prussian blue. Make sure you overlap into the snow.

4. Using the same color mixture start at the center of the tree and work towards the edges of the tree but-Art Secret-stop a little before the edge so you can still see some of the lighter color underneath!  I do go to the very edge
at the bottom of the tree to create a cast shadow on the tree.

5. Now you will add a darker and final layer from the center out, again keeping in mind that you don't want to go out too far. Make sure you can still see the first and lightest layer of color and the second layer as well. That way you create color perpective and now...

6. ...for the details. I made sure that the center of the tree was the darkest and I created a light source by painting a shadow under the tree. And for the final touch, I loaded up a toothbrush with white paint (tempera will do) and splattered the whole painting with the white paint for a snowy effect. Make sure you have a lot of newspaper under and around your painting or you'll splatter everything. These are great little paintings.Enjoy!!!

art secret 19 - creating the black value: acrylic

Mickey Mouse looks good in black but black is not always the best choice in a painting...so let's create the illusion and mystery of black without actually using it.

I used a combination of colors sometimes just mixing two and sometimes all of them. The first one in the top row is Dioxine Violet and Burnt Umber mixed together and directly underneath is a tint (adding white) of that mixture. 

 

So you'll see that the top row is a mixture of colors and the row directly underneath is that mixture's tint. Try mixing them yourself and add new colors. It is a mystery and one for you to solve, so go create the black value!

art secret 16 - maryellen minute #2

going green

The secret to painting a wonderful green color.

art secret 12 - watercolor winter snow scene

watercolor winter snow scene

with no white paint used

First sketch out a scene on regular drawing paper, then, using tracing paper, trace it with black marker. Place your marker drawing on a light box or window and trace it onto your good watercolor paper. This allows you to not only use your drawing again but..(art secret!!!) it ensures that your watercolor paper doesn't get scarred from repeated erasing.

Ready to trace onto good watercolor paper.

Next make a color menu (art secret #9 and #10). I used new gamboge, rose dore, prussian blue, payne's gray, burnt umber, burnt sienna, viridian green(winsor green), sepia and a dash of alizarine crimson for my color menu. Do your underpainting (art secret#11 ) and sky area.

Underpainting and sky.

When your underpainting is dry, start layering up your color leaving the white paper as the snow.

layering in color

Try to get most of the tree trunks and branches done before you start adding your pine needles. Next I added some grasses and twigs sticking out of the snow as well as some other details.

Adding twigs and other details.

And now for art secret #12...

Using a sharp exacto knife gently scrape away paint to create snow and white in the water the same way. Pick off the paint to create snowy and icy areas on the trees and water. and Voila! Snow details finish off this peaceful, beautiful winter scene.

art secret 11 - secret of painting or drawing pumpkins

There is a simple SECRET for doing a drawing or painting of a pumpkin!

Hint: Check out the way the pumpkin has lots of lumps and bumps.

First, sketch out the pumpkin being careful to include all of the vertical lines and make sure you sketch the part behind the stem as well.

If you are doing your pumpkin in color practice using yellow as your

under painting and build up

your layers with orange, alizarine crimson,sap green and burnt sienna to

create your lights and darks.

For your final painting be sure to create a caste shadow under your pumpkin with the complementary colors mixed with a dash of orange. Notice how the core shadow has a lot of orange showing. Enjoy!

art secret 10 - make a color menu part 2

Find the Transparent and opaque colors!

Art Secret Question: What one color is always very transparent in all media? Hint: It's not yellow. See below for the answer. You'll be stunned.

 

Another way to check out your color menu is to test the opacity and transparency of the colors that you are going to use. Here Laura is using permanent black India Ink to make tests strips. You can test the colors of any art media this way.

Let's talk about why it's important to know the qualities of the medium you're using. Right now Laura has let the India Ink dry on the watercolor paper overnight and will be using watercolor to test her colors. As artists we need to know if one color will overwhelm another color or even obliterate it.

Using the primary colors of red, yellow and blue as her base, Laura is taking 12 completely different colors with 12 different qualities. Check out the names of the colors and see how they look over the India Ink.

Using these same colors, Laura has let them blend together to see the effects she can expect while painting with them. Way to go, Laura!

You all should give this a try, it gives you a lot of information before you even start. And save your menus so you can continue to use them.

Art Secret Answer: Alizarine Crimson is always a very transparent pigment. Test it out and see.

art secret 9 - make a color menu

Color Menu For Your Painting!

Why practice on your final painting? The easiest thing to do that gives you the most control is to work up  a menu of the colors that you are going to use in your painting. Look at the shades of yellow and green watercolor in the sample menu above. You can do this with any art medium.

This is a work up of the colors you see in the color menu above. The artist has also added complementary colors into the study. Using a color menu and knowing what colors to use makes your painting shine. Try it and share with us!

art secret 4 - yellow and red don't make orange...

Well okay they do BUT...they also make light orange, yellow-orange, red-orange, violet-orange and you get the idea. Here's a sample.

And, of course, if you add the complementary color of blue to orange, you get a beautiful earthy color perfect for casting shadows. Depending on how much of each you add, you can adjust the  earthiness.

art secret 3 - red and blue don't make purple...

They don't?? Actually sometimes they do, but versions of those red and blue hues often make so much more like: maroon, blue-violet, red-violet, dark violet, light violet, pink, rose and so on. You can control your color and be a better painter if you mix your colors together to create a color instead of using a "tube" color. And if you add the complementary color you will create some beautiful muted, earth tones that a will defy description. Check out some of the color mixing that my students did. We had so much fun doing this.

acrylic

watercolor

acrylic

art secret 2 - new gamboge (yellow)

New gamboge is another Magic Color. Find it at Dick Blick.


New Gamboge is also a color that plays well with others and will add an amazing glow to your watercolor when used as an underpainting. It is a clean, clear yellow that won't muddy and has no green overtones. It's also a great color mixed or used on its own. Try it in a still life or sunset, you'll love it. Look how it gives the orange a delicious glow. Yummm.

Hint: It's an intense yellow-use it sparingly at first.

art secret 1 - rose dore

Did you know that a color called Rose Dore can give your watercolor paintings the life and luminosity that you're looking for? Use it as your underpainting color and watch what happens. It plays well with other colors and never gets muddy. It's a little pricey but well worth it. 





Hint: Rose Dore works best when you use it very lightly. You can find this at Dick Blick.

First I coated the entire paper with a light wash of Rose Dore. After it was dry I washed the sky area and added a rich pigment of Pthalo Blue. Notice how you can't see the Rose Dore but the sky has a lovely luminosity. When the painting was finished I went back in and added a richer Rose Dore to the tree trunks and along the horizon line to give life to the whole painting.