SWITZERLAND & WOBBLY TRAINS!!!

I have been trying to spend less time on the internet and my blog is one of the things I have been neglecting.  I can't believe how long it is since I last did a post.  Sorry, because that also means I have been neglecting my blog friends.

Recently spend 2 weeks by trains visiting mainly Switzerland.  So long on the train I did some painting and sketching.  Not easy.  It is amazing how wobbly train journeys are when you are trying to paint some detail.

Here is some of the work done on the journey and that one at the end done from a photograph since we came home.

  Stresa on Lake Maggiore, some wobbly people cos of the train!

On the Bernini Express on the way to Turano

Painted from a pic in magazine.  Mint ice cream cake. 

From a magazine

Again, from a magazine

From the Bernini Express brochure  The red is the train

For sale on the Glacier Express this little mountain goat

Painted since our return.  This was the view from our hotel.  One of those 'special' memories that I just had to capture

HOLIDAY THIS AND THAT

Here is a mix of this and that seen and sketched on holidays.

Seen in a shop and there are suggestions that it is Annie Arkwright from Accrington (See label 'friends of mine' if you haven't met her)  

Very quick sketch of a large vase with carved gold flowers and candles, while at a concert for Mozart and Chopin 

Rose given to all the ladies on the river cruise ship, which last nearly 2 wks.  Thank you Mr Captain!

Sketch of an ABC castle on the river Rhine in Germany.  If you didn't read my last post ABC stands for Another Bloody Castle!!!

Have a lovely week y'all.  Keep safe.

COLOUR MIXING - WATERCOLOUR ( PART 1)

I recently held my very own workshop!!!  Yes, honest.  Talk about stress. But I heard in our little art club that people didn't know about warm and cool colours, transparent colours etc.  So, I plucked up the courage and gave it a go.

I was very influenced by two artists in particular.  Hazel Soan whose workshops and holidays I have been on and is the Queen of Colour Information, and Colin Ratcliffe who was a tutor at Higham Hall in the Lake District who passed on the setting out of your palette and separating cool from warm colours.

Here is just some of the information that may be of use to one or two of you.

FIRE & ICE Here’s the notorious colour wheel, that I like to think of as Fire and Ice. Bright reds and yellows against the iceberg colours, some colours veering towards fire and some towards ice. Eg. alizarin veers towards blue on the wheel where Ultramarine veers towards red.  I use mostly transparent colours to avoid mud.  I am going to ignore staining and non staining, and lifting colours, that’s another story!

BOOKS THAT I RECOMMEND BY HAZEL SOAN (QUEEN OF COLOUR).                                    

1. Collins 10 min Watercolours by Hazel Soan  (which explains all aspects of      watercolour, wet in wet/ colour mixing/ people etc) I think it’s great value for money.

2. Hazel Soan’s Watercolour Rainbow, which is a definitive watercolour ‘colour’ book.

3. Learn Watercolour Quickly – Hazel Soan (see chapter 3)

COLOUR  Cool veers to green/blue and Warm hints of red

Here’s my palette with warm colours separate from the cool, so I don’t have to think about where my cool colours are so that I don’t get a bright mix if I don’t want one.   Transparent colours are the darkest (apart from yellow), you can hardly tell what colour they are e.g. Pruss, alizarin and modern names like quinacridone and permanent.  Opaques are the lighter creamy colours and are heavier pigments, which makes them opaque you more likely to get mud. E.g. Cad Red. & Cobalt. Similar colours may be trans or opaque with different manufacturers so always check.

NB If you put 2 cool colours you will get bright mix, 2 warm a dull colour, cool and warm softer colour.  Will make sense I hope.

Tubes v half pans. Tubes are softer and easier to mix sometimes you have to scrub the half pans. But pans are easier to carry.  Best of both worlds I squeeze tubes into pans.

Artists v Students.  Colours are the same, main difference is the stronger pigment in the artists so you need less to mix your colours.

WATER

Control of water is most important. Lots of water and the paint moves and spreads more.

Less water and the paint won’t spread as far.  Lay lighter colour down first and add second colours alongside, same wetness, the second colour pushes away the first. If you want to add a deeper controlled colour like a spot, wait til the shine goes off the paper and drop in thicker paint, the thicker the less it will spread.

I recommend 2 pots of water, one for clean water, so you are less likely to get mud.

Big v small brush.  Large is quicker, looser, less control of water good for wet in wet.

Smaller brush need less water so more control, good for details at the end.

Be bold with your colours. Watercolour dries much dries lighter than you expect.

Milk, cream, butter are the consistencies of paint, from washes to laying in thick colour into an already wet wash.

COOL & WARM VARIANTS OF THE PRIMARY COLOURS

Cool Red                     Alizarin -          Perm. Rose

Warm Red                   Cad Red -         Vermillion, Pyrrol Scarlet (mostly opaque)

Cool Yellow                Aureolin -         Lemon Yellow (opaque), Transparent Yellow

Warm Yellow              Ind. Yellow -    Cad Yell, Hansa Yellow, New Gamboge

Cool Blue                    Pruss -               Pthalo Blue, Winsor Blue

Warm Blue                  Ultra -               Cobalt (opaque)

                                    Raw Sienna –    Cool

                                    Yell. Ochre  -    Warm (semi opaque)

COLOURS I CANNOT  DO WITHOUT

MISCELLANEOUS INFO

Try and have a limited palette when painting, it’s more harmonious and easier for colour mixing.

Opaques are useful at the end of the painting for highlights and for oomph.

2^nd wash pushes away the first

Ways to mix your colours/put a dry layer over another dry layer on paper/blend on paper wet in wet/mix in your palette

List of Transparent/opaque/warm/cool/colour mixes (I treat semi opaque as opaque)

NB Some makes are slightly different so you need to check.  My notes are based mainly on Winsor & Newton.                                           

TRANSPARENT: (least likely to get mud if you use only transparent colours)

They’re darker and look almost black in your palette.

Warm Colours

Burnt Sienna

Burnt Umber

Indian Yellow

Sap Green

Ultramarine

                                                 

OPAQUE:  Chalky colours, more likely to cause muddy colours. Generally brighter in your palette       

Warm Colours

Cad. Orange

Cad. Red

Cad. Yellow

Cobalt Blue

Light Red                                            

Sepia

Yellow Ochre

                                   

Cool + Cool = Bright

Warm + Warm = Dull

Cool + Warm = Softer colour

Opaques are good for adding highlights and oomph at the end of the painting so don't ignore them!

 Cool Colours

Alizarin Crimson

Aureolin (Yellow)

Permanent Rose

Prussian Blue/Pthalo Blue

Raw Sienna

Raw Umber

Viridian

Cool Colours

Cerulean Blue

Indigo

Lemon Yellow

Paynes Grey    

Titanium White      

Here are the examples I asked them to try using their own mixes.  With some suggestions for colours which you might be able to read on the sample sheet.

Sorry my notes are a bit here and there, and in the end I have passed on to you most of my knowledge.  Hope it helps just one more person.

I will do another short post, with some suggested colour mixes.

.Remember you’re an artist like a musician or a poet.  You are here to entertain not record pictures exactly the same as a photograph, so take risks, change composition and colours. Let the colours flow into each other. Let your imagination run riot.  Have fun.  It’s playtime!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Remember, if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

PARIS & NORMANDY

Here's some sketches from my recent visit to France.  I tried to do a sketch a day, however quick. And the equipment I took.  Was in a really happy mood, so each one is a happy memory!  I do try and sit somewhere very discreet as I get all embarrassed if someone is watching me.  Are you the same?

These next three sketches are what I do when I am hanging around

Rouen Cathedral.  This lovely middle age city has narrow street, timber beamed houses and is famous as being the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake

Just in case I fancied doing a bigger painting I had a larger pad with me, but didn't use it.  The Khadi pad is really handy and the plastic oil dipper containers for my water.

I wish you all a lovely weekend, see you next week sometime. Au revoir.