SHELAGH ASHLEY
PAINTING ON HOLIDAY
Landscape painting is always much better if you can do it outdoors, particularly if you can do it while you are on holiday! Being away from the normal chores of your day-to-day routine will mean that you are much more relaxed, and therefore more likely to be inspired. Watercolour is the perfect medium to use for this as it is quick drying, and the materials are easy to carry around.
Equipment
First of all, keep your equipment to the essentials. Boards and easels can become very heavy if you have to walk any distance to find exactly the right spot. If you like to work from an easel then choose one that is lightweight and easy to collapse. However, if you prefer to sit and paint, take a small folding chair (a fisherman’s stool is ideal) and work with your board or pad on your knee.
If you buy your paper in block form there is no need for a board. If you use loose sheets and need a board, it is worth buying a very light one. A piece of 6mm MDF board cut about 1” larger than your paper is ideal (mine is 12” x 16”).
You may like to take several different types of paper, depending on the subjects you are tackling. A good not surface (140lb or 300gsm) is a good basic, but you may prefer a hot pressed surface if you intend to do line and wash. A rough surface is good for creating sparkle on water, and a sketch pad of cartridge paper is very useful.
Your paints are of course essential; make sure that you have refills or tubes of your favourite colours.
Take a reasonable selection of brushes. A good basic selection would be a no. 8 or 10 (with a good point) as this will tackle larger washes and fine detail; a no. 4 or 6; a no. 1 rigger; and possibly one or two flat brushes (these are very useful for painting straight walls, bricks and window panes). If, like me, you like to work with a big brush, choose one with a good point; you will probably be able to do almost the whole of your painting with this one brush. You will need a small plastic bottle to carry water, and 2 small jars or similar containers (preferably quite shallow and with a broad base so that they don’t tip over easily).
If you are going to be painting in the sun you will need a wide brimmed hat. This will not only keep the sun out of your eyes and off the back of your neck, but will also shield your paper from the glare of the sun. Remember also to keep your arms covered as it is very easy to burn without realising it when you are engrossed in your work. You may even need to use some sun screen if it is really hot (but try not to get it on your paper!)
Remember that if you are using masking fluid, it will dry very quickly in the sun - especially on your brushes; rinse the brush frequently to prevent this happening. Also make sure that you keep the cap on the bottle or it will go off quickly.
Choosing Your Subject
Don’t spend too much time trying to choose a subject. A lot of valuable painting time can be wasted looking around in case you can find anything more inspiring - paint the first thing that inspires you! However, try not to choose anything too complex; keep within your own limitations.
Once you have chosen your subject, make any adjustments to the composition where necessary. A viewfinder is useful for this (perhaps on your camera - take a photograph before you begin for future reference). Don’t forget that objects like trees can be moved slightly, removed or even added to improve the composition. You don’t have to include anything that spoils your composition, simply because it’s there.
Sketching and Painting
Keep your preliminary sketches very light, avoiding where possible use of an eraser, and simplify wherever possible. Decide what detail is relevant, and eliminate any unnecessary fuss. Avoid any possible hazards!
When you are ready to paint, first of all decide on your palette. Make sure that you keep your colours clean and bright - don’t allow them to become muddy. Look at how the light is affecting the way that you see colours.
Study tonal relationships before you begin, making a tonal sketch first if necessary. Consider the techniques you wish to use, and carefully plan your order of working.
Create recession, or aeriel perspective, in the landscape by using cooler, paler colours in the distance, exaggerating this effect if necessary.
Keep your washes fluid, so that they remain clean and transparent, especially when you are working in layers of wet-on-dry.
Tonal Sketches
Painting outdoors is a very different experience to painting indoors. You will find that the outside temperature will affect your drying times, especially if you are painting in a hot climate. You will have less time to work, as the light, and therefore any shadows, will be constantly changing. You may even find that you require two sittings to complete a painting. If the light and shadows are what first inspired you, the chances are that by the time you get to that point in your painting, they have changed entirely! If that is the case, the best thing to do if possible is to return to the same spot on the following day, and at the same time of day, to complete the painting.
Alternatively, you can make a very quick working sketch in watercolour, backing this up with a photograph taken at the point where the light and shadows were best. An even quicker method is to make a tonal sketch in pencil or charcoal. This, together with a photograph and some colour notes, will give you enough information to paint the scene at home. Water soluble sketching (graphite) pencils are very useful for this, as parts of the drawing can be dissolved into a wash to give better tonal information.
Watercolour Pencils
These can also be very useful for making quick working sketches on the spot, as your sketch can contain both colour and tonal information. A damp brush can be used on the spot to turn the sketch into a watercolour, or this can be done at home. An Aquash brush (a nylon brush with a water reservoir in the handle) is very useful for this.
Painting Light
One of the joys of painting abroad is the quality of the light. You have probably heard artists say that the light is different in warmer climates, and this is often what inspires them to paint.
Clean, bright colours will help to create the illusion of light in your paintings. This is particularly important when it comes to tackling the shadows. Wherever there is sunshine you will also find shadows; without the shadows your paintings would not look sunny, even if they are painted in bright, light colours. In fact, generally speaking, the darker the shadows are, the brighter the light will appear.
It follows therefore that your shadows are of the utmost importance, and should be treated as such and not just as an afterthought. Avoid using dull greys (put away your Payne’s Gray!) and look instead at blues and purples, or neutral colours created by using colours from elsewhere in the painting. As blue and purple are complimentary to orange and yellow (the colours associated with sunshine) they immediately suggest warmth.
Shadows will reflect colours and light from their surroundings, so look for the difference between warm and cool colours, both in the sunshine and in the shadows. A shadow may vary in temperature, being warm (e.g. oranges, browns and red-purples) in areas that are reflecting light from other surfaces and cool ( blues and greys) in others.
Watercolour is the perfect medium for painting shadows; because the paint is transparent, shadows can be painted over the top of objects using a wet-on-dry technique. When the painted shadow is dry you can see through it, just like a real shadow. However, in order to successfully achieve this effect, the paint must be applied correctly.
Firstly, always make sure that you have enough colour mixed before you begin painting your shadows. If you have to stop mid-wash to mix up more colour, you will find the paint drying in patches, or even developing a backrun.
Test the mix for colour and strength of tone, remembering that both colour and tone will be affected by the colours and tones already on the paper. Then apply the paint with minimum pressure to avoid disturbing the colour beneath. Keep the brush well charged; if you carry on painting until the brush is almost empty before refilling, you will find that you are applying it more thinly towards the end, causing the paint to dry quicker, and losing the transparency. It is worth practising this a few times on some spare paper before adding the shadows to your painting.
If you are working outside in very warm temperatures, with your paint drying very quickly, it might be worth simply pencilling in the position of the shadows. You can then paint them later in the day or indoors when you get back home or where you are staying.
As the shadows are usually one of the last things tackled in your painting, it is at this point that it all begins to come together; the final tonal values make the scene look three-dimensional, and with the shadows the sunshine suddenly comes out! It is also at this point that you risk overworking the painting. Stand back from your work, or even walk away for a few minutes before coming back to make a final assessment. Add any finishing touches, but don’t fiddle!
HOW TO OVERCOME YOUR FEAR OF PAINTING HOLIDAYS
Painting outdoors for the first time can be a very daunting experience, especially if your first time is on a painting holiday! The first thing to remember is that you are on holiday not on a course with an exam at the end of it, and the whole idea is to enjoy it! Don’t be put off by the fact that there may be more experienced painters in the group - you are painting for your own enjoyment, hopefully with an encouraging tutor who will help you to make the most of your time.
There are a couple of exercises you can do at home prior to departure that will hopefully prepare you a little. The first is an exercise to help you to hone your drawing skills and increase your drawing confidence. Choose a landscape scene, either from a photograph or working outside if you prefer. Draw the scene in your sketchbook with a pen (without using pencil first!). This may sound scary, but no-one need see your finished sketch! You will find that this exercise will make you look at your subject much more closely, and make you think much more carefully before committing an ink line to paper. Try this several times, and you should be pleasantly surprised at how much your drawing will improve.
The second exercise is designed to make you more selective when painting outdoors. Again, choose a landscape scene, but this time to paint in watercolour. Allow yourself only half an hour to produce a watercolour sketch of your subject, ensuring that within that time you record necessary information such as composition, colour and tonal values. This should help you in the future when painting outdoors, when you have a limited amount of time in which to complete a painting. You can also use this technique to make watercolour sketches on holiday, from which you can produce more detailed paintings when you get home
SIMPLIFYING YOUR SUBJECT; THE ART OF RESTRAINT
Once you have mastered the technicalities of watercolour as a medium, the next step is interpretation. It is relatively straightforward to simply copy a scene or photograph, but simplifying your subject can give a better and more satisfying effect. The real inspiration and talent of artists such as Rowland Hilder and Edward Seago is their ability to ‘see’ subjects in a different way.
Composition
Your choice of subject is important, but even if you are working from an existing photo you can alter the composition to improve the picture and change the emphasis. Reduce detail where necessary - only put in what you need to convey what you want to say in your painting. What you leave out can be as important as what you put in, but remember that you must keep the tones right - screw up your eyes to eliminate unnecessary detail and clarify the tonal values.
Important Elements
Focal point
Balance and unity
Tones and counterchange (light against dark)
Here are some suggestions for techniques that can help you to convey information without having to resort to too much detail:-
Trees
Distant trees can still be illustrated by a simple wash of the right colour and tone; trees against the skyline could be put into the sky wash wet - in - wet to give a soft edge.
Use a dry brush to imply detail.
Scrape back for light trunks against dark or use hake brush sideways for dark trunks against light.
Reserve detail for foreground but don’t overwork.
When painting branches, you will find that quicker more confident strokes will give a better impression than timid tentative ones, but don’t overdo them.
Counter change - light branches need a dark background and vice versa. Always look for contrast and use the right tones to convey it.
Buildings
The perspective and proportions must always be right.
If you wish to add people make sure that they are on the right scale with the buildings - also notice that all the heads will be at almost the same height (perspective and horizons at eye level).
Use colour to convey texture of brickwork and stone etc in the place of detail, especially in the distance; perhaps choose granulating pigments such as Cerulean, Potter’s Pink or Naples Yellow to imply texture on walls
Vary the colour of large expanses of wall for interest, and warm it up where necessary.
Hint at detail where appropriate e.g. tiles etc.
A flat brush is useful for paintings and buildings.
Skies
Don’t attempt to paint an exact replica of the sky in front of you - they are constantly changing, so just try to capture an impression as simply as possible.
Again, wet-in-wet techniques can do this with minimum effort - let the paint do the work for you.
Try not to fiddle - go with whatever happens first time, it will look fresher and more natural.
Water
The more simply you paint it the better.
Look for tonal contrast - water will be darker in tone against snow, lighter against dark foliage and trees etc.
The tones of reflections tend to be closer together that the tones of the actual subjects.
Use wet-in-wet for an impression of soft reflections
Colour
Don’t be afraid to interpret colour to improve your subject - be creative.
Use complimentary colours together to enhance the effect.
Vary areas of colour in temperature and tone to create interest and avoid monotony (buildings, grass, water etc.)
By distilling and interpreting your subject you are putting your own
personality into your painting so that it becomes an artistic impression rather than a copy. Capture the essence of the subject rather than the detail. Use these guidelines:-
1 First impressions
2 Make design changes - decide what to reject and what to change
3 Improve colours and tones
4 Avoid possible hazards