Watercolour Fundamentals - Guidance and Demonstration with Andrew Pitt

now the purpose of this short film and demonstration is to help students who have booked on a residential painting holiday course and being disappointed as being cancelled or postponed during the coronavirus lockdown I also hope it'll help students renew their enthusiasm even though they've had some experience I'll go through the way that I paint and then do a short demonstration of a subject I've done before both on plein air and in the studio now before we start I'll just go through my palette I think all students are interested to see how their tutor paints and what colors they use but you must remember that whatever - - you're with we're all benign bigots we all have an opinion about what we like and the way to paint it and it's important that you also develop your own opinions about painting but also as you learn and get more experience be prepared to change your opinions in the light of what you learn here are the colors I am currently using essentially I have examples of the three primaries the Blues the rates and the yellows and this is something if you are not very experienced is worth getting used to and getting accustomed to your palette here are the four blues and they're arranged so that they get lighter as you go from this end to that end in the same way that the rates go from a brown to a bright red and the yellows go from a dull yellow to a well in fact what is a dirty lemon this is wins of blue green French ultramarine cobalt blue cerulean blue burnt umber burnt sienna light red cadmium red and now the yellows raw umber raw Sienna aureolin yellow and cadmium lemon I've got one or two odds and ends in here currently they are alizarin crimson Viridian green Cobalt Payne's gray and there's a little bit of cadmium orange there one of the things you'll find that students and make underestimate is the size of the brush tutors are always asking students to bring a large brush and when they talk about a large brush we're talking about something like this or these Chinese type brushes which have got slightly longer hair this type of thing which is a size 10 and there's no uniformity in terms of the measuring system that is not what I would regard as a large brush as sort of medium and really a very little use and in doing large areas of skies and foreground now I've quickly sketched out a drawing of the lock keepers cottage at a bridge Basin the scene I know well and have been painting since ours so about ten or eleven and I've it's one of my favorite subjects and I've painted it several times on plein air and therefore know roughly what the colors are the curious thing about painting is that the more the longer you paint particularly repeating subjects the more liberties and the feel that you can take with right well let's start with the sky so a little bit of raw sienna and light red and incidentally I should say that when you're painting try and avoid doing too much of this it of paint pull the brush away from the brush end paint don't sort of keep dabbing or spotting like that paint with the belly of the brush press the brush onto the paper and if you've got rough paper and this is a piece of ash 140 pound rough then you'll need to press the brush into the paper simply to get the paint off the brush onto the paper so this is very very dilute red and raw Sienna touch of cobalt far too much red and start here let's make it a little bit warmer so go back and make another mixture tiny bit of cobalt have a little bit of blue because we want the Sun sort of to be shining this is pretty well pure cobalt stir it up well so that you don't have any undiluted pigment forming little sort of holes in it there's a little bit on the central side a little bit of fainter ease we come down towards the horizon and some cerulean and alizarin cruising a little bit of burnt umber with that as well not too much unusual if heavy-handed its seals its far too much just get the underneath of the clouds and in light red for the that go go over the trees but around the buildings if you can the fewer the less over painting you do the better just a little bit of dark blue underneath that that cloud shape there get a nice variety of shapes and colors and then as we get down towards the horizon the clouds will get a little bit smaller and the buildings can go over these masts right oh this keep it all going at the same time and then touch in some some darks underneath these small cloud shapes to get a little bit of cloud recession in the sky and I'm carefully painting around some shapes where I want to save the white now just take up some of this excess moisture just dry brush those hard edges and then stop just be careful at this stage that you don't sort of go back serious be going back that you don't go back and sort of read we touch it better just to leave it and let it do its own thing if you watch it dry it'll dry different rates and consequently or start to worry and the reason it drives a different rates is there's some areas of more moisture than others so the best thing to do actually once you've cleaned your palate is simply to get on and do something else so let's do something smallish dingey here cobalt the right-hand side is in shades so there's a dream bit of an orangey red light red with the cobalt will give me a gray which will mix nicely with that that blue to give me a fuzzy edge and then some light red for the bottom of the boat here and a bit of burnt umber and burnt sienna for the side that's in there show you there just take a little bit off there just to indicate that's where the light is that fuzz's up that doesn't matter while we're doing that though let's make sure that we do the cast shadow at the same time so it all joins on their anchors the boat and to the ground right now that the sky is dry we can set about doing the slate roof of the block keepers cottage make sure that you've got a nice generous amount of moist paint if you've got dried up paint then the picture looks sort of dried up and mean also try and paint standing up if you can I try when I'm painting in the studio to replicate the position that I would take if I was painting outside which is standing up and it'll give you a certain sort of immediacy and hold the brush at the end rather than write down the near here to the because that way you'll get a more painterly look you're not writing a letter letter home you're painting and the two are quite different so you try and avoid sitting at a desk or a table because it's too high it's a little bit of LED flashing near the base of this chimney stack just dab that before it starts to misbehave then we can go straight on and do the shadow under the eaves cobalt blue and it's here now I'd like to introduce lots of different colors in these so the shadows have a little bit of raw Sienna which is going to turn a little bit greeny with that blue back to the cobalt that little angle will Indy straightaway indicates the angle of the Sun strain it up a bit a little bit of his room type somewhat very strong color in this room then when we get to the corner we can do under the soffits ultramarine and burnt umber will give you a nice rich don't look and then carry on you want any tube too much in a way of hard edges in the shadowy areas because it draws attention to the shadowy area and people look at the light and if you draw their attention to a shadow they know they're aware it's the wrong area there's an unnatural place to look and therefore it makes looking at the picture that makes them feel slightly uneasy dark their roof sorry cerulean yeah perhaps and even though I haven't actually done the grass here I would continue with the nitrate altering with the cast shadow of the building across here cut that little bit of boat there and then while that's dry let's get some real thick paint ultramarine and burnt umber almost the consistency of toothpaste and if we put it even against these damp areas here it sort of sucks in the excess moisture dark there and we can then fuzz in the the windows while it's still a little bit wet nope just darken that of it we can go back once still wet without losing too much of the freshness and let's do the dark side of this chimney you want it's not quite dry yet if we go back with real thick paint and that of course cast a shadow across the this roof here and that's we can even just once we think about it put into the two chimneys just pots it's one there as well then carry on a little bit of a live room with this brownie here there's a little bit of raw umber and to make this roof is interesting as possible bit of ultramarine so tiny bit of a littering with that it's even a little bit of cobalt violet just to change the color roof and Congress is stupid just one that's all drying we could just put you know a little bit of cadmium red on this lifebelt little bit of red rose hips a bit of raw sienna bits of wood things stacked up there try and think of making a nice painterly looking mark that will look like something rather than concentrating too much on making it into a plank of wood it wants to read is a knife what I would call interesting watercolour mark was just stop and have wait for that to dry now you will notice that just while I'm waiting of it to dry I always plead my palette I think you should keep operating with us cleaner palette as possible it's the best way to them keep your colors nice and clean and fresh right let's do a little bit from the the background burnt burnt umber and cobalt give me the sunny side of this Tim's bartsch just make it a little bit darker if it's not right when you put it on and it's very difficult to judge what is what it's going to look like until you've actually got it on the paper against the next the tones that you've already delivered and it's not right change it straightaway don't wait to the thinking while I can go back and over paint that then it's not a sensible idea but not about a bit here there's a nice blue boat here or yacht and there's the little portholes on the side here and wooden cabin top just suggest that keep keep the viewer entertained and they can work out what else you've actually got on your is in your in your picture do enough for them to identify and make up the rest not so little that they just get fed up and a mystified but not too much that you won't force take the story and the beauty of suggesting is that whatever the the viewer comes up with every individual who looks at the picture regardless of how they finish it off in their minds is correct now what we're while we're waiting that's if we can do some of these little figures she could have done these are not earlier really because in reality if I'd have been on on the on the scene these people would have been the first to have moved and therefore they're often the things that you'd want to do to have that one in the blue this chap will have in white I think so we just gave the trousers try and paint them in the same spirit there's the rest of the picture so that they don't you don't get tight just because there are human beings large something here and what it is most just a big box or something these are boats in the distance in the in the actual lock basin now one that's dry we can quickly put in some of this the path lots of different colors this is a gravelly path surprising how tonight these parts are actually and they've got the Sun just a bit more pure raw Sienna paint round him a little bit of burnt umber with it we draw the pear brush in the direction of the perspective it'll help drive the viewers attention getting into the into the picture and the rough dry brush marks as they're called indicate a little bit of the texture of the of the path and while that's drying ultramarine and light red will give me a sort of blue array for the distant shapes here they're just paint round some of the whites that you want to preserve then we've got some large trees here region of aureolin keep the brush on its side and they'll be able to get an indication of the the foliage of these spring trees a little bit darker and more solid as we come down here and then forget the trees and think right now painting the shape of that boat there's a bit of a cabin top there join up they're very easy to overdo the background while you're doing it you need to bear in mind all of the time this is background to foreground and therefore in painting it don't draw too much attention to it it needs to still look like the background when you finish the foreground if you see what I mean right we just let that dry off for a few moments and then we'll finish off around here right let's put in the the grass on this his foreground a bit of Viridian and plenty of raw Sienna I'll give you an end a little bit of aureolin give me a nice sort of sunny green starting here and work from the back to the foreground don't finish one side and then do the other side keep them all going at the same time make a little bit richer as we come down rosianna a lot more I'll see in a moment to warm it up a bit even a little bit of raw umber it's very warm in here today so it's drying very quickly and there's bits of grass on this on the edge here now while that's drying do a little bit more to the background the darker side of thee is Tim's barge ultramarine and burnt umber and of course now I'm painting the short of that man there so that pulls him out a bit so whenever you're painting anything in a sense you're painting more than one thing you're not only painting the positive shape but you're forcing out the neighboring shapes as well I just invented a little bit of a diagonal shadow there that'll help sort of give some sense of perspective there and just a little line of gonna love that boat there now it's cerulean blue the chaps lake on the other leg it'll be ultramarine as it's gonna be more in the shade so they wear this chippy quite dry that that's a bleed too much just dab it don't keep mucking about with it otherwise you'll you'll regret it put a bit of shade on to the left not sort of right on the side of this chip these trousers can join like dark just here on that side of his face but don't put any features because they then become portraits tiny bit of orange dunno what it is it just helps suggest something going on your distance read some antifouling boat right now let's try we can set about these trees or I need to just before I do that there's a little bit of red just on the corners of this the hip roof this of the cottage here right now the trees and the distance ultramarine and raw Sienna be a darker green now that dark does a lot to force out the Sun eh of the cable into the cottage Phrygian and burnt SIA give me a richer dark green probably a little bit too much to me too much of a Phrygian than that we got some big trees here Trond do the with a little bit of a lively brush to get the spilling of of the bushes in the leaves lighter down then dark again rigid and burnt sienna [Music] it a raw Sienna with it now a little bit of aureolin Sienna just a bit lighter they're back to a darker green say mixture region and burnt sienna and a bit thicker of course now just indicate one or two branches but don't overdo the branches and they'll always be the autumn branch works catching the light so you can scratch those out with your fingernail but again don't over do the tricks now that those trees and cast a shadow sort of a dappled shadow across the roof of this Garrard shed place here just wanted the dark in here and then cobalt and light red make it nice sort of dappled shadow all those trees you should have underneath thee the gutter their double shadow there and shadow also only drawn detail in the light so there's the weather-boarding be more obvious in the light and then this will be in the shade just join us up there and it'll cast a little cast a shadow of course the cross here mainly blue it's gonna be a bush there well well that's still wet let's put in a thicker darker green here so just if the paint is thick even though it's going against a moist area it pretty well stays where it is and that gives me a nice soft edge and then some thicker paint ultramarine burnt umber to give me the sort of gutter line along here and there's a window here and a doorway here put that in while it's still moist rather than wet little fuse and stay where it's more or less where you've put it but don't make friends with the under painting so look as if it belongs to them to the doorway and might have misjudge that then we can just stretch out a little bit of light in that area there and then notice this is all about getting one edge to flow into another that's drawing out a bit there so I want that to fuse into that ultramarine with a bit of light red and then this these big trees will cast a shadow across here so I don't want any holiday choose amongst that lot so that we look here the sharp edge against some of the darkest darks and the lightest lights now while that's drying we can go back and give the palette a quick mock-up with a sponge we should be able to go back and do some of the these big some posts here they're quite dark of me there's another one here they're to do with the log gates there's big lock gates here in so a bit of pain is great because quite donk because those cast a shadow so we'll put that in the same time and just put a little bit more detail here the masts try and do them fairly carefully and straight if things are meant to be straight and I think you should paint them straight but don't because if you've made hard work of it and you're you doesn't want to look as if you've you're worried about making a mistake and if you do don't keep correcting it just draws even more attention to an area that you don't the viewer to look at this is the sort of spritz spritz or the sail on the Tim's sprit spritz sail barge here and crane here quite a nice little sort of feature just a dog it won't be the first time that I've sort of changed the direction of the crane the West leaning you know you know I've had it you don't want them unnecessarily leaning out of the picture so it's nice to have them leaning in into the picture and there's also a telegraph pole in front of it there's another telegraph pole here no come shadow course I should make she put put a in his shadow in while I think about it he's a little bit of rigging on the barge don't ever do the rigging there and there's other boats here this see where this mast here against for rigging sowho forest of masts from various craft try and do them an avoid landing on top of somebody's head if you can that's a bit clumsy so that don't panic if that happens just think of water and rub it out and go back the say one I'm aiming to get a nice sort of lively look as if despite the conditions as has been painted for my pleasure if somebody else gets some pleasure from it that's good it's not guaranteed they're not academic watercolors don't tend to be academic in the sense of being academically perfectly right and what they are is they've got more life and guts in them now we're getting towards the end one or two find a little adjustment this this barge that could be a bit darker I think so now is the time to just over paint little areas but like avoid planning on to it doing any over painting because I know I'm going to make mistakes anyway and which again are required but if I build you know the painting then I'm still going to make mistakes so I'm very quickly into three four five layers and that way you lose the sort of freshness and the beauty of the integral to color wash you want a little Virgie on there there smudge the end so it looks if it's waving in the wind and little wires from these poles I think we'll call that a day now once you feel that whatever you do isn't necessarily going to strengthen the picture but weaken it then probably it's time to to stop don't keep looking around for things to add look at the subject and ask yourself have you got the main things forms shapes tones and colors that drew you to the subject in the first place and then look at your picture and ask yourself is there anything really significant but that I've forgotten to put in and more to the point is there anything that you've ever done and in a sense overstated and you draw it draws the viewers attention to something in the picture the way you've done it where in fact they wouldn't have made they wouldn't have seen it in the the subject it's not what you've looked at it's the way you've painted it that will attract people's attention well I hope you enjoyed that video of watching me paint then I think the most important thing during this lockdown period is to use it profitably get to know your palette in colors and gain confidence in painting irrespective of whether you've painted much before or not and then when the lockdown finishes and we are all we'll able to venture outside again and perhaps even go on courses and we'll be able to take full advantage of that opportunity good luck thanks for watching and keep safe

Channel: Andrew Pitt

Views: 505,516

Rating: 4.9453378 out of 5

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Id: AWtjbE84XGI

Length: 48min 8sec (2888 seconds)

Published: Thu May 21 2020