Feb 11, ‘11

“Do you want cognition to contribute design values to your watercolors or do you prefer to just ‘emote’ and roll dice in the rectangle?”  Edgar Whitney, The Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting

I try for a balance; emotion and cognition, which is why I'm reading, studying and quoting  Edgar Whitney.  


I've been passionate about the graphic arts since Grade School and for awhile in my career, was a professional Graphic Artist.

In doing all these experiments with this image I feel that I’m balancing the emotional with the logical learned from past experience and constant learning.  I’m certainly feeling & emotional, being human and struggling with human existence,  the most noticeable this time of year being Weather and Arctic Cold.  

Yesterday I traced the image from the 2nd working copy, traced it onto sketch paper and did a small (16th sheet) painting using the color swatch I made from the day before.   

The photos show how I transferred the image using tracing paper.  1) the image after I traced it from the working copy 2) using a #6 lead pencil to rub graphite on the lines of the drawing from the back of the tracing 3) taping the tracing to the wc paper and going over the lines on the front of the tracing paper with a fine ball point pen. 

Traced from Working Copy

Tracing with lines gone over in #6 graphite pencil on the back of the tracing

Tracing squared up and taped to Sketch Paper

Showing  the image traced to the sketch paper with fine point ball point pen

When I was done tracing, I did a quick painting using the pigments from my color swatch.  I’m not entirely happy with the painting so far, but neither am I disappointed.  I’m needing to continue my experimentation.

 

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My project for today was to do another painting, using my ideas from yesterdays and apply them to today’s.   This one was done on a piece of watercolor paper cut from a full sheet and is a 16th of the size of the full sheet.  I’ve established tone using a mixture of Cerulean Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cad Yellow and in the foreground, an optical gray I mixed last winter.  I used pure Cad Yellow where the light is strongest, in the middle ground house that’s closest the foreground horizontal roof.  The half tones in the middle ground are a mix of violets with the purest being the closest and the grayest the farthest back.

 

I decided yesterday that I’d use frisket in this painting to preserve certain white areas so I applied that, which show as shiny spots on the photo.  I enjoy applying the frisket ever since I discovered that my Walnut Drawing Stick was the perfect tool for me.  Before I added the frisket I erased the dark graphite lines, which is why the middle ground looks like one big blur, which is what I wanted.  I added marks for the tree with the frisket.  I plan to do the rest of the tree before I remove the frisket and where it has been will be the most colorful part of the tree. 

 

I’ve come to a place with this small painting where I’m not sure where to go next.  I think that’s a signal that it’s a good time to stop for lunch.