What is a colourist

When an artist claims they are a colourist, what do they actually mean. I know some local artists who claim they are colourist. How does one know if they are a colorist or not? As an art admirer, how does one determine if they are looking at an artist who is a "colourist?"

Many believe that a colourist is one who is more concerned with the play with colour and who will exaggerate a colour, or use an unexpected colour rather than the colour that is really there.  Colourists also seem to have an aversion to greyed colors. They'd rather play with pure colours and insinuate gray, than "dull" down a passage with grays.

Others believe that a "colourist" depends on the impact of colour and is less interested in 3D form as achieved through light and tone.

Today's artist find id Marc Folly

Have a great week,
Danielle

Loose painting vs. Tight painting (including realism)

Is there a rise of super-realism?

I've noticed that the prize winners of many recent art contests  are almost indistinguishable from photographs. Even the runners-up appear quite photographic.  It seems like both artists and collectors are attracted to works where they think they see evidence of skill and craftsmanship -- and this is too often defined as photorealism.

Strangely enough, I see a greater number of discussions about painting looser.  Many books will tell you that most watercolorist start out tight and loosen up over time. However, when I look at the number of "likes" on Facebook, it does appear that tight paintings receive more "likes" from other artists.

I'm not sure if there is a disconnect with what I see in discussion groups and overt signs of what is "popular".

It's unfortunate that too many new artists are sucked into trying to paint to match a style, and satisfaction is reached once the elements match a preconceived idiom regardless of the individuals thought or ideas. Art is not reached by becoming proficient in a style, it comes from being truthful to what you see.

Do we consciously paint tight or loose? many have different styles based on subject. Also some paintings look very realistic from a distance, but if you look at them more closely, they are actually quite "loose".

I don't think that one way is better than another.  We all have our own opinions on what we find visually pleasing and mentally stimulating, therefore, we will all have our own opinions on what we consider to be "art at it's highest level."

I think it would be a shame if the artistic community decided to snub one style as more worthy than another.

Today's artist find is Adam Juraszek

Have a great week,
Danielle

Wet in wet and various factors

Wet in wet is likely one of the most well known watercolour techniques and one that provides some beautiful effects.  It's also one of the techniques that produces unpredictable results associated to watercolours. For this technique, the wet paint is applied to wet or damp paper, the colours flow and blend into one another in beautiful, unexpected ways, creating a diffused effects.

A number of factors need to be considered for the use of the wet in wet technique.

Paper weight

• The use of this technique is known for making 140lbs paper buckled, especially when the entire paper is wet.
• Even with lots of water, good 300lbs paper will not buckle with this technique.

Proportion of paint to water

• Very watery (high ratio of water) washes will spread quickly and leave washed out colours and very diffused shapes.
• Thicker washes,  also called charging, will not spread as much and will produce more intense colours.  The thicker the mix, the easier it will be to create shapes.

Texture of the paper

• Hot pressed paper doesn't absorb much water or paint and the paint will not stick as easily, if the surface is angled. The paint will flow and will not leave much colour on the paper.
• Cold press and rough paper will absorb the paint more and produce more vibrant colours.

Angle of paper

• Gravity can play a significant role.  The greater the angle of the paper, the more the colours will spread. Sometimes that's a desirable attribute, other times you may want the paint to slightly diffuse.
• In some cases, it might be necessary to tilt the paper in various angles to spread the paint. This is useful if you want to mix the colours on the paper.

Timing

• Applying a wash to paper on which water was just applied, will cause the paint to spread quickly and more uncontrollably. This will produce undefined shapes.  Sometimes this is the intent.
• Letting the paper dry until the surface is no longer glossy, but still damp and cool to the touch, will allow the shape to be more controlled while creating beautiful soft edges.

When using this technique, you must paint quickly. Alternatively, sometimes you want to keep the paper damp for a longer period of time. You could spray the surface as you work, but you could also put your paper on a damp thin towel to retain moisture.  Another method includes working a non-absorbant surface like glass or plexiglass. This approach also helps keep the paper flatter.

 

This week's artist find is Michał Jasiewicz:

I had trouble selecting one of his paintings to put in this blog since there are so many that I like.

Have a great week,

Danielle

Dry brush

Many watercolorists enjoy exploring different and creative ways to bring various forms of texture to their paintings. This includes the use of the dry brush technique.

Dry brush is a versatile and creative technique that places more pigment and less water onto the surface of your paper. This technique works best on watercolor paper that has a nice texture to it, such as rough or even cold press.

Dry brushing is a fairly easy technique. To use it,  the brush must be loaded with color, then blot it several times onto a paper towel. Using only the side of your brush hairs, lightly skim over the surface of the paper. To deepen the value, repeat the skimming strokes again, after the surface has been allowed to dry.  This last part is very important.

When you vary the speed the brush movement you have slightly different  effects. Experiment to see the differences. Varying the pressure will also create fun effects. Painting with less water will have greater variety of edges.

Dry bush marks add a great deal of energy and interest to a painting.  This type of  brush stroke creates a range of broken edges implying neither hard nor soft edges. It can be used to create sparkle on water in seascapes and river paintings or creating impressions of foliage on trees or creating rough bark on tree trunks.  There are so many different uses for this technique.

Another variation on the application of his technique that I like to use, is to dry brush an area and then apply a spray and letting some of the edges soften and merge.

This weeks artist find is Cathy Hillegas

Have a great week
Danielle

Tips for painting loose

Last weekend I attended a workshop with Doug Mays. He is a talented Canadian watercolourist. He has a loose style that I admire. Of course I won’t be painting loose after just one workshop. However, I did learn a few tips that I should work on and thought I’d share them with you:

Tip: Paint standing up
Painting while standing makes it harder to add details.  By being further from the paper, you are required to make broad strokes that flow.

Tip: Use a big brush
Painting with a big brush makes it harder to add details. A big brush encourages you to use your whole arm to make broad and sweeping strokes. Preferably, use a flat brush instead of a round one because you're wanting to paint strokes with greater impact.  I use mostly round brushes so this one is not easy.

Tip: Leave stuff out
It’s more interesting for the viewer if he or she uses his brains to fill in missing details. Therefore, there is no need to put down every single thing. Take a long hard look at your subject, trying to decide which are the essential bits.

Tip: Step back often
Step away from your painting often and then decide whether you want more detail or not. You'll be surprised at how little can be necessary to capture the essence of something.  Try squinting the eyes to see large shapes - to see essential shapes.

Tip: User fewer strokes
If you look carefully at a loosely painted watercolour, you’ll often note there are few stokes. Each stroke looks confident. These artists put down paint once, correctly, and then leave it. Any touching up kills it. This means you have to go slowly and deliberately. Loose looks fast, but as far as I can tell, it is slow.  I've also notice that these artists tend to work with a thicker consistency of paint than I do - it's been described as buttermilk consistency and in some areas butter consistency.

I'm sure that there are many more tips out there. However, why not go at it slowly as it is not easy to learn a new style.

Here is a painting from Doug Mays:

Have a great week,
Danielle

Are there differences between Asian and Western style of painting?

Early last fall a friend, who lives in Spain, remarked after attending a watercolour show, how different some of the European styles were to the North American tendencies.
 
Last November, I subscribed to "L'art de l'aquarelle" (also available in English under the name of Art of Watercolour) from France.  This wonderful magazine features artists from around the globe and it's so interesting to see their approach and results.  At a recent local watercolour workshop, someone had brought a copy of this magazine and the facilitator asked participators what they thought about the painting on the cover which was from Adisorn Pornsirikarn. I was so surprised to see how quickly people jumped at the opportunity critique this painting which I thought was wonderful (I can only dream of painting something as beautiful). It's only afterwards when replaying the comments in my head did it occur to me what criteria they were using to judge this painting. Many commented on the lack of a unique focus and the lack of many colours.  Here is that painting on the cover of the magazine. What do you think about it?

 

In North America and mostly likely also in Britain, there are "established" composition guidelines to create what we have deemed to be esthetic paintings.  I've listed some of these criteria in previous blogs.

Not only can these differences in style be seen in compositions and materials but also in the creative process and in particular in the use of perspective. Most Western painters commonly use single-point perspective (a scene seen from a specific point in space). However, many Asian artists will use multiple perspectives as well as multiple focus points especially in large landscapes, where the viewer is encouraged to "travel" through the painting moving from one focus point to another.

In addition, Asian watercolour is based on simple brush strokes.  If you go to YouTube and check out Adisorn Pornsirikarn, you'll quickly see what I mean.  When I look at an Asian watercolour landscapes, they do not appear to emphasize the three dimensionality or perspective as much as Western art does.

I wish I new enough to distinguish beyond that. At the end of the day, are there esthetics criteria that are better than others?  What differences in style have you noticed from watercolour artist from various countries?

Today's artist find is Mia Feigelson.

Have a great week,

Danielle

Painting Loose

Firstly, this will be a discussion on painting Loose and Loosening up. For the sake of discussion let me clarify these two terms which at times are used interchangeably while I consider them as referring to two different issues.

Painting loose refers to the act of painting i.e the physical effort (standing, positioning your easel/drawing board, location, making strokes) , the hardware i.e type and size of brush, support/paper, palette, paint, masking fluid etc.,the technique applied.

Loosening up relates to the painter. A major factor or actor playing a leading role. Mainly: the mental state of the painter, tendency to a certain approach in composition or color choice, preference (love of) of a given subject. Attitude. Smile

"Tips for painting loose" will sound like : Give yourself a time limit, paint quickly, "use a ridiculously long brush" among others. And there lies the pinch. That painterly loose painting we strive for is: "the sum of all parts". No amount of or any particular tip will give us that result. But each does contribute.to the process.

Give yourself a time limit, paint quickly.

Let's ask why? Won't that result in random and uncontrolled strokes? Anything done haphazardly cannot masquerade as spontaneity, which is what we are after. Spontaneous strokes appear dynamic and suffused with energy. Fewer strokes preserve freshness and bring out the transparency of pigments. Randomness will appear sloppy. Makes sense, but with speed accuracy is affected. We should not take speed literally.

What is implied: the painter can only achieve speed if he/she can do it with confidence. Confidence meaning that the stroke is visualized and executed at the spot it is intended and look the way it is visualized, and having the effect desired,...by the painter. And the painter knows he/she can do it. For the simple reason that he/she has done it more times than they care to remember.

Exercise...practice...booooring. Sian Dudley's "Dictionary of marks" was one of the earlier vids on AT. For a reason Smile It is the FIRST in my favorites folder.

Now that sweeping slashing brush stroke is driven by the painters belief in being able to pull it off. That is a big step towards "looseness". Most likely "tight painting" is a result of being tidy and a commitment to precision. That was how I started out and watercolor was the toughest medium to try to do it that way. Mind you wonderful results can come out of it, often with a high degree of realism, however it won't be "loose". At times it appears "documentary", done "by the book" . But not the kind "you can't put down".

Making a sketch is one of the first steps to get a feel for the composition. Once paint is put to paper the lines become only indicators, beacons as it were and it is here that a precise carefully made stroke will lose against that spontaneous slashing stroke delegating accuracy to nether levels Smile Trading it off for speed but gaining "character". Much like the character lines on my face LOL.

Joseph Sbukvic in one of his videos used the term "...and so, once more into the valley of death", he was putting finishing touches that would "finish" the painting. In the sense: make or break it. It’s been hardwired in my brain ever since. I'll close this comment by summing up that we need to work on confidence in handling brush and paint so we can make the stroke we want, when we want and know where to put it.

Jen (aka Jaka)


Jen, thanks for this article on painting loose.  I hope other AT members will contribute articles of their choice in the future. 
Note that you can subscribe to the blog using the functionality on the right of this text.
Danielle (aka dbeaulieu)