|
Bill Teitsworth, NWS
(Don't forget to click the "back" arrow on your browser to return to this page after clicking on an image!) |
|||||||||||||||||
|
For the watermedia artist, "landscape season" is over once your paint water starts to freeze. Now with Spring coming, landscape season is coming around again, and warm-up exercises like these sky studies (below and at right) make sense to me. Even though I'm interested in the sky, I try to make all the pieces work together. Now I'm interested in how to make trees come against the sky in a believable way. |
![]() High Summer acrylic on linen
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Sky at MacLain Farm acrylic on ragboard March 1, 2010 |
Periodically I get interested in skies, what my mentor Betty Lou Schlemm used to call "...the soul of the landscape." It's an interesting challenge to try to get it right, that huge arching dome, and make it really feel like a sky. We shall see. Sky at MacLain Farm, at left. | ||||||||||||||||
|
So, at right is the second version of my demo. Still using that cropped full-sheet format. Same palette, same value-plan. Just taking it to the next level, and pushing the image to see where it leads. At the "thumbnail" size you can see that for sheer impact, the earlier, simpler version has a slight edge. But at the larger size, or "normal viewing distance," the elaboration of the second image starts to work. This is the image-making process! |
![]() Pennsylvania Nocturne watercolor on Arches paper |
||||||||||||||||
|
Last of the Light watercolor on Arches paper
|
There are two other versions of Last of the
Light (left): one in my sketchbook, and a small "color rough" done in
acrylics. This version was a demo for our class today, so
there are one or two problems with it, but still, I must say, this is very
close to what I want to say about this subject.
The point of the demo was to show the power of a greatly simplified value-scale. Just three widely-separated values: a light near the white of the paper, a dark near black, and that shadowed blue almost exactly between the two. |
||||||||||||||||
|
In the two demos, at right and below, I was exploring different aspects of painting snow. Of course, in watercolor you paint everything else but the "snow," which is usually untouched white paper. In the one at right, I really overstated that blue for the shadows...a move that gave me the leeway to put a lot of strength in the sky. The combination of the brilliant white of the paper, the bold blue shadows, and the blustery sky really conveys, for me, the feel of the day...after the storm. |
![]() After the Storm watercolor on Fabriano paper Demo, January 23, 2010
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Foreground Shadows watercolor on Fabriano paper Demo, January 9, 2010 |
![]() China Delight
watermedia on ragboard
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Claire with Flowers acrylic on ragboard
|
At left, "inspired by the masters"...in this case, a
double-barreled investigation into Bonnard's color and his
wonderful, quirky sense of composition. An exercise like this is fun
to try occasionally, and is a great way to map out interesting new
directions.
December 15, 2009 |
||||||||||||||||
|
White Still-life watercolor on Fabriano paper Demo, December 4th
|
The companion piece to Black Still-life.
Here the "forms" are carved out
of the untouched white paper by the midtone washes. The rough,
raw quality doesn't bother me...it was a demo, after all...but I may have
gone overboard in selecting "unpretty" subject matter. Still, our
students definitely got the point, and they did a fabulous job!
Saturday class, December 4th, 2009 |
||||||||||||||||
|
November 24th, 2009. At right, a short pose from our sketch group...trying out the new batch of Domestic Etching paper. |
![]() Claire, Tuesday 11/24 pastel on Domestic Etching |
||||||||||||||||
|
Black Still-life watercolor on Fabriano paper 26" X 22"
|
At left, a demo from our class today, November
21st. It
was great fun to do, and I hope that sense of enjoyment comes through!
Fenceline, acrylic on linen, below, can be seen until the end of November at the National Arts Club, Gramercy Square South, NYC, in the Allied Artists of America annual.
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Study for "Fenceline" Permanent marker on sketch paper For web-exclusive tips on
value-contrast in http://www.artistsnetwork.com/article/value-contrast-technique
|
![]() Winged Being watercolor on Arches paper Civic Ballet of Scranton Art/Dance Collaboration
|
||||||||||||||||
|
PS: Click to enlarge the images in my gallery below (some "pre-crash" ones don't work), and don't forget to hit the "back" arrow on your browser to return to the gallery.
Recent Watercolors and Acrylics
|
|||||||||||||||||
![]() Red Canna watercolor on Arches paper
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
![]()
watercolor on Fabriano paper
|
![]() Red Tulips watercolor on paper |
||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||