Watercolor tries

So I was lucky enough to win the Beaufort Sister Cities mural competition in Beaufort, NC back in May. It is a great event put on annually, in which the winner gets a trip to a sister city in France, and stays with a host family for around 5 days getting a local's view of as many sights around the region as you can take. We are heading down to a Beaufort in the Midi-Pyrenees region of France, near the city of Toulouse in the south. But more about the trip in another post. 

Knowing we had a baby on the way, who would have to make the trip with us, I decided to take a stab at learning a medium I've always loved but never seriously attempted. Due to its ease of packing, I decided soon after the competition that I'd attempt watercolor on site instead of worrying about all of the weight and logistics involved with shipping or carrying my oil painting gear over there. So I pulled out my Cotman watercolor palette and a brush and began taking a small watercolor setup out painting, usually one every couple days. It soon turned into one a day, then 2, sometimes 3. Suddenly, my oils are getting hard in the studio, and I'm out slinging water. I produce and sell oils, but the freedom I feel taking out my watercolor set has gotten me so jazzed about them, I have to make myself continue painting in oils, now mainly larger sizes in the studio. I don't know if it's the lack of pressure, knowing I'm not good enough to sell them or what, but I love the look and feel of watercolor! I am addicted to the immediacy, the quality of the color, the drips and splatters, the drawing process, the speed. 

Watercolor is not called the medium of the masters for nothing. Especially coming from the direction of oils. It seems everything is done in reverse, plus there is little masking of mistakes. It's so easy to overwork them, you need a fairly good idea of where things are going to go before you put color to paper, but with all the challenges, it has gotten to me. I am a complete novice with the medium, but I am willing to put in the effort to get competent, and who knows, I may even produce some worthy of a frame one day. So here are some paintings, in no chronological order, from June through August. Some are better than others, mistakes can be seen in all of them, but each is a step to the next, and the experience is the most important thing right now anyway. Any watercolor artists with suggestions, please slip me some pointers!

It's a boy!

I have the pleasure of announcing the birth of our second bundle of joy over the past weekend! his name is Hopper... guess the inspiration. At any rate, will have a new post up as soon as I can get a few minutes. We are blessed to have him, along with our other son, Ollie! What a pair they will make. A post on my watercolor efforts is coming up.

Again with the cars?!

So this is a little glimpse at how my studio work comes together, I'll try and do more from the beginning. Before I break away from the vehicle motif for a while, thought I'd show my latest hot off the easel endeavor. This is, I believe a 55 Chevy, from the comments on Facebook about it. It's a 24x36" oil on linen panel. With subjects this detailed and on the larger panels, I usually start with a drawing on the canvas. I sometimes work on a toned canvas, but on this one I just started right in. I'll draw over the main lines of the subject with burnt sienna, and immediately wash in my shadow areas with this thinned paint as well. From there it's laying in the background tones to begin playing off the color I want to use in the subject. Now, the fun begins as I take a selection of colors from my palette and work over the car, making sure to keep values in their proper place. Once light and shade are established, work hard to keep them firmly established. As more strokes of paint go on, there is a tendency to lose that relationship, due to the nature of oil paint, and the addition of more subtle value shifts. I'll usually get to about 95% done, and then let the painting rest for a week or so. When I return to it, I have a fresh eye, and can hopefully catch any glaring miscues, though sometimes it takes another set of eyes all together to catch them. Unfortunately, painting is a lonely profession, so I have to do all kinds of tricks to become more objective. I'll flip the painting upside down, look at it through a mirror, take a phone pic and look at it in miniature, I even have a reducing lens (which looks like a magnifying glass but does the opposite). Sometimes you just have to put it out there and see the reaction to it. Anyway, the painting is resting now at 98% done, I'd say... or it may be ready for a signature. I'll know in a week or 2.

24x36" untitled for now.

And...Another of the Chevy 3100

As I said, I like to get pics from all angles when I stumble across any old vehicles. Here is another I did of the same truck, only from the side. This was created in the studio, and I embellished the surroundings a little to create a visual path around the painting. I was going for the light halo effect, with the majority of the truck in shadow, and light rimming the body. Guess it would be easier to say 'backlit'! The pic might not be so good, due to it being from my phone.

Chevy Truck Profile 24x36" o/lp.

Old Chevy 3100, another vehicle portrait

So, in continuing with the rusty car motif, I have finished a few more recently. This one is at Wells Gallery in Charleston. I found this beauty while traveling around the Louisburg area of central NC. If I'm out working on a commission somewhere, I always scout the immediate area for possible painting gold, as well as getting a general feel for the local surroundings. I got a sketch, and pictures from all angles of this Chevy 3100.

Old Chevy 310018x24" o/lp
available at Wells Gallery, Charleston, SC.