Until you find your own way in watercolour, the different methods teachers/instructors give can be very confusing. Many people think that the next course or the next good teacher they hear about will be the illusive breakthrough they need to produce the perfect painting. They spend a fortune on courses and painting holidays in their efforts to learn. I’m not suggesting that it’s a bad idea to attend classes and for the beginner it can be very helpful, comforting and informative when starting out and not knowing in which direction to go. But if the student is taking one course after another in an attempt to find the ‘one perfect way’, he/she can find themselves following each different teacher’s methods so closely that their own individuality is lost.

Their own creativity and ability to think for themselves can be buried in the process. Unfortunately many students never break away from taking courses and although they may become very proficient painters they tend to become copiers of others’ work rather than inventers of their own.

Teachers will all vary in the way they suggest drawing and painting. Some may suggest painting individual objects using the local colour of the object then linking it to the next object like a jig saw puzzle. Others will suggest the way to go is to blend or bleed one object or colour into the adjacent object, area or colour with soft fluid edges. Some will suggest starting at the top of the paper and washing a pale colour right down to the bottom, allowing it to dry and working over the top of it. The initial wash they say will hold the painting together and create a cohesive look to the entire picture.

Yet another ‘way’ is to make a pencil or pen ‘contour’drawing which holds the picture together and is still visible after the paint has been applied. Although the washes of paint in this type of approach can be pale with only the odd section darker to contribute to depth and focus, the painting relies heavily on the under drawing. This can sometimes produce a charming loose painting.

I’ve found an interesting quote in a book by G John Blockley, Painting in Watercolour:-

“Many watercolour painters work in a different way. They aim to paint each part directly on to dry paper instead of building up from an overall wash. In this process the idea is to try to paint each part alongside its neighbour, piece by piece, until the paper is covered. Like building a jigsaw puzzle. This way of painting can lead to a delightful feeling of immediacy and purity of colour. The danger is that white spaces can be left between neighbouring brushstrokes and this can make the painting look restless and busy. My initial wash of colour holds the painting together from the beginning and allows a little more flexibility in judging tones and colour values. The other process calls from first time judgement and decision in applying the colour.”

I’m sure there are many other methods of constructing a painting but the main ones I’ve talked about here are:-

Painting the picture like a jig saw, building up individual objects next to one another.

Painting loose washes on top of a structured pencil or pen drawing

Painting pale washes and building up the image by using fewer washes with more dense pigment in subsequent layers, working from light to dark.

Which way do I paint? Well, each painting is a new adventure and once I get into it, the painting tells me the way to go.

Aileen

Masking Fluid is very useful in reserving the highlights in watercolour and with a bit of care can work well. I’ve always been careful using it in paintings because of the very hard edges and stark white patches it leaves when I come to rub it off.

After I apply masking fluid, I always make sure it’s completely dry before painting over it. I’ve dragged several good brushes over damp droplets or areas of masking fluid, which I thought were dry, only to discover that the fluid has stuck to the brush and I’ve got blobs of rubber scattered in the brush hairs, which is very difficult to remove. If you don’t get it off immediately it can completely ruin the brush and you will be left with an expensive sable brush only suitable for applying masking fluid.

I like to use masking fluid in subtle ways and will sometimes splash, drop, sponge or spread it on with various implements after the first wash is completely dry. It is not being applied directly on to the white paper and I don’t have to worry about hard white edges.

Normally I wouldn’t use it as the sole method of retaining light areas and will often use it in conjunction with candle wax (see previous blog) or alternatively lifting areas, for example on a petal or leaf using the edge of a damp flat bristle brush.

It is very important to make sure the painted area over the masking fluid is completely dry before removing it, which I do with either a hard rubber, finger tips or my preferred method the edge of my finger nail. Grease from finger tips can leave a deposit on the paper which can result in the paper repelling paint.

Sometimes I soften one edge of the masked area to blend it into the adjacent area or colour. Or alternatively overpaint the stark white area with a light colour like a pale blue or yellow to soften the harshness of the white paper.

Masking fluid is very useful in landscapes where a lot of broken washes are needed to show foliage, tops of waves, etc., and I also use it on the rims of jugs, highlights on fruit or glass/crystal etc., in a still life. In fact anywhere where an area is highlighted.

Aileen

This week I have been painting tulips.  Interesting effects can be achieved on the petals using white candle wax.   The wax creates the effects of differing light on the petals and gradations of light through the petals,  I find that wax is not as stark as using masking fluid and doesn’t produce hard edges.  Rubbing candle wax on the paper only catches the ‘peaks’ on the paper surface and not the ‘troughs’.  When you then put a watercolour wash over the area,  the wash goes through into the ‘troughs’ and some of the paper is protected by the wax, so you don’t get harsh edges as you do with masking fluid.  The amount of wax rubbed on an area will also influence the final effect achieved.

I like to use candle wax on petals, leaves, the rims and insides of dishes or bowls where the light strikes but is diffused and again the effect is more subtle than effects produced by masking fluid.

Aileen

The Fritillaria have bloomed outside my studio in the last couple of weeks and how pretty they are. I got my husband to photograph them so that I can use them as reference material for paintings. He photographed them as they were, against the green background of the rest of the garden and against a piece of white card so that they would stand out.

The lovely purple checkerboard patterns will be very challenging to paint but during this week I intend to give it a go.

The advantage of photographing them against the card is that the flowers cast very interesting shadow patterns and again these will be intriguing to paint.

Aileen

Watercolour Texture Medium(TM) is very useful and can be used to create a variety of (illusions) textures. For example, this week I have been painting what I call one of my ‘ composite’ paintings. These are paintings I create from bits and pieces of references I have collected and this week I been working on an African theme. I used texture medium on the body of the leopardand and in the top right corner of the picture where I have tried to give the impression of a cave and cave paintings. The texture medium is used for the rock walls.

African Faces 39h X 29h cms.

The texture medium can be used in various ways and you can use it before, during and after painting. You can spread the TM with a brush, a lining pen, an old credit card edge, a stick or an old broken comb, to give many different effects. It can also be spattered using an old toothbrush.

It is easy to get ‘carried away’ with excessive use of TM so I am careful to be very selective in its use but I hope you will try using it if you have not already done so.

Aileen

I have always found personal paint colour charts very useful in my painting and recently decided to update my charts.

Over the years I have gathered an extensive collection of paints, many of which I have used but not really determined their overall effects. Redoing my colour chart was an excellent way of reminding me of what these colours can do.

As a start I drew squares of about the size of half a pan on a large piece of the watercolour paper I usually use. I then painted in each pair of squares, a colour at full strength and next to it a square of the colour very diluted. I also labelled each pair of squares with the paint name and paint manufacturer. Various manufactures’ paint names can be very different. For example each will have a range of blues and these blues can be very similar but will have a different name, which can be confusing when they produce the same or a very similar effect.

When looking for a particular colour for a painting, the paint chart is a quick reference and it then easy to find what I want. Strong Cadmium Red when diluted gives a very delicate pink; Sepia which is a strong dark brown gives a fawn creamy colour; Brown madder is a beautiful strong dark brown, which when diluted moves towards a peachy/pink. Using the paint chart I found a lot of oranges were dull and disappointing and that the most vibrant orange was Translucent Orange by Schmincke which is my most favourite orange.

I found re-doing my chart a very useful exercise and others may benefit from updating their own personal charts, especially if they have added to their paint collection over the years.

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Monday 16^th March

I was on holiday recently in a lovely hotel overlooking a beautiful bay. The hotel was in a tropical country so it was very hot and a change from the end of a Scottish winter. I was painting some of the wonderful flowers in the hotel when one of the staff approached me. She liked what I was painting and said she would love to paint but that she could not even draw. I asked if she’d ever tried to draw and offered to show her how to begin. Later, after she had finished work for the day, we sat down and we painted some flowers together.

I demonstrated and Luana followed what I did.

At the end of a couple of hours she was hooked and decided that watercolour painting was for her. I think she has a natural talent for painting and should do very well if she pursues it.

It is amazing how showing someone what to do focuses your mind on how you are actually doing things, how you look at an object and begin to represent it on a two dimensional surface. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching Luanna and she seemed to gain a lot from it. It has also helped me to re-look at what I do and how I do it, so we both benefited from the experience.

Aileen

Aileen wanted a studio to give her a place to paint since she has now decided to paint full time. A log cabin in the garden seemed the ideal way to create a studio. (Aileen’s website) This was to be a ’self build project’ to minimize costs and we decided on a 3m x 4m Gotland cabin with 44mm thick walls and double glazing throughout. The cabin was supplied by the Barras Shed Company, Glasgow.

Because the garden slopes unevenly we used decking posts driven into the ground to form the foundations for the cabin to stand on and also to provide a firm base. We laid a layer of gravel and landscape fabric to suppress the weeds.

The cabin kit came from Estonia and comes with a detailed parts list, (very necessary given the number of parts) and detailed plans with written instructions on how to build the cabin. Work started by assembling the base frame and setting this on the prepared foundations.

The base frame is pinned and stabilized using decking posts.

The first four pieces of the walls are then screwed to the base frame and since these pieces are interlocking and fit the base exactly. Each layer of ‘shaped logs’ is built up on the one underneath and because the tongue and grooved ‘logs’ are precisely machined, building up the walls is very quick and easy.

The walls are built up layer by layer; Mike working and Laurie resting!

After 5 layers were built up, the door and its frame were slotted into the gap in the front wall. The door and frame comes ready assembled with glass, handles and a lock and keys. At level 6 the windows and frames are slotted in and again these come ready assembled with glass, hinges and all fittings. (All necessary screws, nails, roofing nails and roof tiles etc are included in the kit.)

The door and windows are inserted.

Once all four walls are assembled to the correct height, the pre-assembled triangular gables are erected at each end and attached to the vertical walls with screws.

The gables are put in position.

Three roof trusses slot into and are fixed to the gables making the whole assembly rigid.

The roof trusses make the structure rigid.

The tongue and groove roof-boards are then nailed in place as are the floorboards and the structure of the cabin is complete. It only remains then to lay the asphalt roof-tiles on the roof and the structure is watertight.

The roof boards are nailed on, Laurie and Isabella helping out

Because the studio is to be used in the (Scottish) winter as well as summer, it was decided to insulate it thoroughly. A 25mm layer of polystyrene sheet  covered with 8mm MDF was used to line the walls and polystyrene and plywood was used to line the ceiling.

Walls and roof are lined with polystyrene and MDF.

The floorboards werecovered with fibreboard insulation and ‘Cushionfloor’ and a qualified electrician installed a power supply for lighting and heating, but because of the very good insulation, the electricity costs should be minimised.

The interior was painted with emulsion and the roof beams, door and window frames stained. The outside wood was treated with wood-stain and a water-proof sealant (free with the kit) and the studio was ready for use.

Studio is complete apart from the path at the front

Altogether for an outlay of about £4500 this was a very Successful do it yourself project and is well with the range of ability for any competent DIY person.

Mike Wrennall

The cabin was built by Mike Wrennall ably helped by Laurie McCulloch who as well as being skilled in DIY also designed Aileen’s website. (Google Weblomania)

Mike Wrennall