JTex101
25jan14 Dawes Point NSW 2000: Park Hyatt and Opera House sydney
A4 Milini 150gsm sketchbook, graphite pencil and W&N watercolor, 60mins mid-morning
I was attracted to the dense verticals of the trees. The strong shadows and general darkness make it singularly unsuitable for watercolor (which should only really be for scenes with a high key, in my opinion). I worked strictly within a 4x5" Albertian veil for a while but moved beyond it to include the foreground tree. Aiming for the dominant grays and blacks in the trees was quite futile in terms of watercolor. I failed to convey any sense of solidity in the tree trunks. I need to watch this propensity of mine for dark shadows and work with toned paper with this sort of subject matter. I keep forgetting that working on white paper is a very modern thing - really only invented by the French impressionists, who wanted to convey openness and light, not the dark shadows beloved of the pompier artists (who worked in bitumen and acid yellow).
The scene was entirely new and unanticipated. I need to work on the "mid-third" of trees, beyond just the trunks.
I need to check to see how Thomas Girtin and J.M.W.Turner handled dark shadows.
Not shown here, I overlaid this with a frame of tracing paper to isolate the original 4x5" rectangle of the Albertian veil.
sketchblog gasp2011.wordpress.com
25jan14 Dawes Point NSW 2000: Park Hyatt and Opera House sydney
A4 Milini 150gsm sketchbook, graphite pencil and W&N watercolor, 60mins mid-morning
I was attracted to the dense verticals of the trees. The strong shadows and general darkness make it singularly unsuitable for watercolor (which should only really be for scenes with a high key, in my opinion). I worked strictly within a 4x5" Albertian veil for a while but moved beyond it to include the foreground tree. Aiming for the dominant grays and blacks in the trees was quite futile in terms of watercolor. I failed to convey any sense of solidity in the tree trunks. I need to watch this propensity of mine for dark shadows and work with toned paper with this sort of subject matter. I keep forgetting that working on white paper is a very modern thing - really only invented by the French impressionists, who wanted to convey openness and light, not the dark shadows beloved of the pompier artists (who worked in bitumen and acid yellow).
The scene was entirely new and unanticipated. I need to work on the "mid-third" of trees, beyond just the trunks.
I need to check to see how Thomas Girtin and J.M.W.Turner handled dark shadows.
Not shown here, I overlaid this with a frame of tracing paper to isolate the original 4x5" rectangle of the Albertian veil.
sketchblog gasp2011.wordpress.com