Watercolor Retreat day 5

The Final day we painted a girl on the beach.  This was the most challenging painting of the retreat.  There was moving water, reflections on the sand, and a human form.  

We started by painting the wet sand, leaving the area of the girl’s reflection unpainted.  

Then we painted the shadows on her clothes.  I used a grey green color for the shadows of the skirt.  It doesn’t look right now, but when red is painted on top the shadows will look right. 

Next I painted the ocean:

• Leaving bits of white in the foreground for foam, in the mid ground for waves, and in the background for sun reflections.
• Adding darker shadows under the waves at the shoreline

I then painted the girls skin: 

• Leaving highlights, adding mid tone shadows.
• Adding her reflections on the sand.

I painted the girls hair.  Then masked the dots on the skirt and painted it red. The last item was darkening some shadows and finishing the reflection on the wet sand.  

Watercolor Retreat day 4

The fourth day we worked on a painting of an egret on an oyster bar at sunset.  We used the techniques we had practiced earlier (masking areas of the painting and layering transparent pigments).  

This time we painted the bird and oysters first.  

When the painting was dry we masked the bird.  Making sure to cover all the small feathers.

Then vertical lines of yellow and pink were painted.  Followed by horizontal lines of purple.  The paper and paint were very wet, allowing the paint to flow across the paper and mix.  These lines create the reflections and ripples on the water, as well as the mud of the oyster bar.

When the painting was dry the masking was removed.  Additional shadows were added to the oysters and mud.  The brush used for the masking didn't have a fine tip so the feathers are a bit blunt, but I still was happy with how the painting turned out.

Watercolor Retreat day 3

The third day we worked on a new technique.  Using true transparent yellow, red and blue pigments to paint a marsh at sunset (Aureolin Yellow, Quinacridone Rose & Cobalt Blue).  Most paint is a combination of various pigments.  A true color contains a single pigment.  A transparent paint lets lets you see through one layer of paint to the one below.  

We first painted yellow where the marsh grass, trees and their reflections in the water are.  After the yellow paint was completely dry we painted red on the sky and water.  

After the red was completely dry we painted blue on parts of the sky, trees, marsh, and water.  To darken the trees and make the deep shadows in the marsh I added more blue.  It was amazing to see how well this technique worked.

Ironically, the spring high tide flooded the backyard and the streets around the house we stayed in.

Watercolor retreat day 2

After a wonderful breakfast we started working on the next exercise.  An egret flying over the marsh.  I started by painting the sky and water, the colors are reflections of each other. Then painted the shadows on the bird.  The shadows have shades of color from the water (blue to purple) and sun (pink to yellow).  

When the painting was dry, I masked the bird and painted the marsh, adding yellows and greens to develop depth and distinguish the dry areas of the marsh (yellow to brown) from the wet ones (shades of yellow green).   This was done wet, letting the colors mix.

I masked part of the foreground of the marsh and continued to darken areas of the marsh and painted the distant trees.  Once the painting was dry I removed the masking.  The masked areas of the march now stand out as lighter colored grass blades.  I completed painting the bird, and adding some final shadows to the marsh and tree line.

Watercolor retreat

What is better then spending time at the beach?  Spending time with other watercolorists at the beach!  Eight of us shared a house at Murrells Inlet SC for the retreat.  Leigh Ellis, a local watercolor artist and teacher, lead daily classes working with us on color mixing, painting birds and water.  

I brought my Plein air watercolor prochade box, equipped with the paints I needed for class (and a lot more):

• Cobalt Blue
• Phthalo blue
• Burnt Sienna or quinacridone burnt orange
• Aureolin Yellow
• Quinacridone Rose  or permanent rose
• Paynes Gray
• Qunacridone Gold

For our first exercise we worked on trees along a grassy bank and reflections on the water. I painted the trees and grass first. Then wet the lower half of the page and working very wet added reflections.  

It took several passes to develop the shadows on the trees, grass and the reflection in the water.

While we worked from photos, we were inspired by the marsh outside and trips to Brook Green Gardens.  I had last been there many years ago.  It was wonderful to see how it had grown and all the new sculptures they now have.