Week Three: Sketching and Watercolor Painting from Photos

Week 3

These two photos are what I watercolor painted off of this week. Scroll to the bottom to see my product and compare with the actual photographs!

Bigger's Blog
He is a portrait artist, and he explained the how watercolor paint is made and the characteristics of the watercolor painting. After reading them, I could see how I like watercolor more than other types of painting.

• Transparent yet can be made opaque (fancy, huh?)
• "Light" painting medium (opposite/reverse of Oils and Acrylics)
• Allow the white of the paper to show through
• Capture luminosity

Like I have already guessed, the article explained that pigments are made from ground minerals and dyed powder. The interesting part is that they are held together with gum made from acacia tree. That leaves me wondering... where does the smell of acacia go then?


John Sell Cotman

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/john-sell-cotman
(Go to this website to look at all of his paintings)

This grand artist, who drew this amazing painting, was born in Norwich, England. Although he only had a little formal training, he became the leading member of watercolor painting circle in London. In the 20th century, he was the most widely known English watercolorist. The British museum has been wonderful enough to contain all of his work from his early chalk drawings to his etchings. Looking at his watercolor paintings, I was amazing by the realistic colors he used, and the details. I mean, the painting above leaves you feeling amazed by how beautiful it is, even though it looks rather gloomy. I feel like rather than just looking at this painting for what it is, it leaves me of a bittersweet memory. I think the reason hides behind the use of his colors, where it's bright colors lie beneath the cloudy and murky colors of nature.

Some quick history knowledge I learned was that British dominated watercolor in the 18th century, yet the U.S. now dominates it. Before, humans use their fingers, sticks to paint with water-based pigments on caves, as many of you already know. Sometimes, they were drawn with ask, earth/minerals and water. Egyptians used to paint on papyrus paper and decorated tombs, while the Chinese watercolor painted on silk and hand-made papers. During the Middle Ages, European monks were known for decorating books with watercolor paints. It's awesome to realize people in history have done what I'm doing!

Now....after looking at his wonderful paintings, let's take a look at my paintings.

Painting #1

Sketches from the photograph...
(I know it's kind of hard to see...sorry about that.)

After painting....

The thing I had trouble with this painting was shading and the skin tone of this person. If you look at the original photograph, the tone of the picture is very dark with hints of green everywhere. However, I couldn't make her skin look green without making her look like an ALIEN! I kept on diluting color of her skin, almost to the point of ripping the paper... (As I have learned last week NOT TO DO. Oops) My mom told me that adding hints of white to make the skin color pigments makes skin look awkward and unreal. So I stayed away from using white, and mixed peach with yellow and green. The next trouble I had with this painting was the shadow. I didn't know how to show the shadow on the arm and the necks without making it seem as if part of her skin was burnt. Though I'm still not satisfied it, I left it the way it is now, not wanting to ruin it further.

Painting #2

Okay, I've always wondered why my grandma has been telling me that art works are meant for looked at from "far away", not up close. However, I came to understand why. At a quick glance, it may look "okay", but when you look closer at it in details, there are too many mistakes! I was about to rip the second paper, because in the beginning, it looked worse than terrible. I was sure it wasn't going to a success. However, I just kept on working at it with patience for over 2 days, and I think it turned out nicer than I had expected it to. I'm proud of myself, because I didn't think I could paint the grass as nice as it is on the picture. However, I glazed diluted yellow water paint first, and then started working on the details. There are some things, such as the color of the sidewalk, that are not clearly visible on the picture. If anyone wants to see the actual painting, don't hesitate to ask!

For next week...
I've noticed that a big thing was missing in my paintings...my signature! However, I couldn't really put them on, because I don't have one of those fancy loopy signatures to enhance my paintings. So next week, I'll be practicing making my personal signature and working on some more paintings based off on photos. Also, the two pictures I will draw are the Big Ben and my family picture. Wish me luck!

Works Cited

BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/john-sell-cotman>.

"John Sell Cotman." N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/Cotman.pdf>.

"Portraits by Biggers - Watercolors Portraits, History of Watercolors, Portrait Art, Graphite Portraits." Portraits by Biggers - Watercolors Portraits, History of Watercolors, Portrait Art, Graphite Portraits. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.portraitsbybiggers.com/history-of-watercolor-paintings.htm>.