It was always a disgrace for me to not be able to paint well, considering that I have an artist for a grandma. My sister has a talent in oil painting, so I felt as if I was always compared. However, when my grandma came over last December, she taught me another type of painting: watercolor painting. As soon as she showed me how it's done, I became mesmerized. Unlike oil-painting, it didn't smell terrible, the texture was very smooth, and had more variety of colors. I also found a watercolor book lying around at my house, so I settled on this topic. In 7 weeks, I plan on being able to sketch and paint on the spot, meaning I will try to sketch and paint without copying off of a photo. I am still deciding where I would sketch, and which objects I would draw. For week one, I think I am going to just learn different types of water colors, and use my water color book. In this book, there are places where you can trace images of flowers, and paint over the drawings. After that, I want to start by drawing off of a photo and water color paint from there. Then, I want to be able to draw an object on the spot, and be able to make it seem real after water color painting.
http://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/art-show-tim-gardner-a-65073
As you can see on this painting, drawn by Tim Gardner, it looks like a photo. When I first saw this, I thought it was a photo of Tim Gardner and how he spends his life looking at the nature. I think this is my goal, for other people to first look at my painting and not realize that it is a painting. I want to combine a sort of realism into my painting, while also having a sense of romantism added on.
http://www.watercolorpainting.com/brush_exercise_5.htm
I didn't realize that there were many different ways of holding a paint brush. For my first painting, I gripped the brush like a pencil, except I used the sides of the brush for the broader parts. It was quite surprising to see that the way you hold the brush affected the thickness, and the texture of the paint. I will keep that in mind when I draw next week.
My first watercolor painting
This is the book that I've used to learn the basics of watercolor painting. This is to enhance my skills in watercolor, but not the "sketching" part, which helped me to focus on the watercoloring more than drawing the flowers perfect. I chose the yellow roses, and this is what you'd see inside the book:
So I would, with a pencil, trace along these dark lines, and face it down onto a piece of paper. (Watercolor painting ones, preferably) Then, I had to use the end of the spoon to go along the lines, again, to have the lines show on the white piece of paper.
I traced the picture of yellow roses, and painted over the lines. Wanting to just see how well I do, I didn't follow the colors or the directions that were written in the book, but just did what I thought I should do. As you can see, it's not that great. The colors aren't mixed well, and there are big blotches everywhere, without looking smooth. However, I think it looks better than I expected, which, I believe, it a good start for trying to become a watercolor artist!
Sources:
"Art Show: Tim Gardner." ELLE DECOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.
Tait, Wendy. Watercolour Flowers. Tunbridge Wells: Search, 2008. Print.
"Watercolor Painting - The Sumi-e or 'Kingman' Brush Grip - How to Hold a Watercolor Brush." Watercolor Painting - The Sumi-e or 'Kingman' Brush Grip - How to Hold a Watercolor Brush. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://www.watercolorpainting.com/brush_exercise_5.htm>.
I feel your pain, Sun Min; my mom is rather artsy, while I have trouble drawing a proportional stick figure! Anyway, I think watercolor painting is wonderful and pretty unique, since I haven't heard about anyone else doing it for their project. You seem to know what you're doing, as evidenced by your detailed explanation of your painting process. Luckily you have talent already, so I'm not even sure the six-week time limit will be a huge problem, as instinct would suggest.
ReplyDeleteMy only question is if you'll work on your paintings during the block periods, since those may take a while and being around others can distract you.
Wow Sun! I think you did great for just a first try at this! I would probably struggle with this, but the way you used darker colors for shadows was great! I think it's a really good sign that you already have a good idea of what colors and what hues of those colors should go where. I think it's a fantastic idea to go from using the book and tracing, to painting using other paintings as guides, and then in the end to do it free hand. It will give you a lot of experience with watercolor painting!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how long it took you to do the painting above. Since your project is going to become more difficult as you progress, it will also most likely take longer to do your paintings as you progress. Do you plan on doing a whole painting in one day? Or are you going to do bits and pieces each day? And for the whole of the project, how many paintings do you plan to do? It'd be really cool to see all the pieces you've worked on throughout the project!
I think it'd also be a good idea to do more than one painting for each skill level. For example, you could do 3 paintings when you're tracing from the book, 3 from when you're looking off other pictures, and 3 when you're doing it by yourself. You could have a nice little collection!
Finally, I'd suggest that if you mess up on pieces, rather than throwing them away or erasing what you've done, you can keep them to add to your show of progression.
I think this will be a really fun project! Good luck!!
Sun, your first painting is amazing! Although to you it might seem terrible, because you are the artist and you are seeking perfection, to me, it could go in an art museum! I think you showed some true motivation to not just copy from the book, but you used your own creativity. It showed how you are truly trying to become a better artist, because anybody (even I) can just copy the color choices from a book. I was wondering: is your project to focus on the skill of painting with watercolor or to learn how to draw AND paint your own picture?
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