Colour sketch for Walkway
Posted: November 20, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 14 CommentsA few days ago I posted a value sketch that looked something like this (but monochrome) for a painting I was planning to work on. Well, I turned it into a painting and it was a disaster. And the reason was that I had thought about the values but not the colours. So when I went to put some pigment on the paper it was a huge mess. Plus I added a first wash on dry paper and then decided I wanted to work wet-in-wet so I tried to rinse out what I had done. Yikes! Some of the pigments were staining and they left an unpleasant glow on the paper. It goes without saying that it will never be posted. This new sketch is my attempt to figure out the colour first so I don’t mess it up a second time.
This is very reassuring for us amateurs. And a reminder of the value of thinking and planning before painting. Looking forward to the painting.
That planning is so important. And you can be reassured that I mess up plenty.
Shari,
It would be interesting to see what you consider a mess. You could post and show what the problems are. Interesting learning process. I have done that with my students showed them a really early watercolor to see where I started and where I am now. It was really encouraging to them.
Gail
You want to see that, do you, Gail?
Humm. I have to see if I haven’t torn it up 🙂
Actually I do have it and I will think about it. I know it is a good learning process.
Thank you Shari for your insight and hindsight :: I never thought of doing a color sketch before, and that is very smart. Anything to help us improve our paintings, I am way for it. Also, you had mentioned about future workshops… while I am thinking about it, you had suggested painting skies which is fantastic and I really need that. And maybe a bit of a shadows workshop? I know that it would really me me out as I am really really struggling with my shadows…. and skies…. and paints…. and… and …. and… LOL!
I will have a long list of workshops for you Jane! I will really try and break it down next summer.
That was my first reaction too – I’d love to see what went wrong and how you address the issues. Most of the time, we only see the final, beautiful results that accomplished artists produce. Very seldom, do we have a chance to see works that end up in the recycling bin and understand that not every work an artist makes is a work of art – that work that ends up in the bin is really part of the process, part of the journey to the piece that actually succeeds.
But I’ll understand if you don’t want to post it, too! 😉
I understand what you are saying Yvonne. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.
The painting is finished and I have both of them sitting here — the good and the bad.
Maybe I will surprise myself and post them both. We’ll see.
Would you consider moving the two figures closer to the viewer? it would give more breathing room between the man, the garage, the woman and the tree.
The painting is done Sue Anne so you can see it tomorrow…
You know, I would be really happy if I could do watercolours just like this… so free and relaxed. I really like the way you have left the ragged edge of the frame, rather than cropping it when you scanned. Can’t wait to see the finished one… and my vote goes to not posting the failure… I would rather that you maintained the illusion of your perfection. : )
Well the teacher got the better of me. I had to post both. Let me know if it was educational for you.
I agree with some of the comments. It would be interesting to see the bad result before the good one. The error is something that we have to live with and an artist is not above it. We should learn from our mistakes and not be ashamed of it, so it would be a good learning process to see what went wrong and how you managed to correct it, although the skecth is already a beautiful piece of art.
You got your wish Filipe because I posted both. Glad you like the sketch too.