I have been trying to emphasise some aspects of water colour. Just the fact that is doesn't have to be faded and so subtle as to be barely visible! I know that I overstate the case, but I just believe that if you can control the materials enough to produce vibrant colour when you choose, and strong and dense colour and elegant marks when you choose, then the versatility of the medium means that every aspect will enhance each other, so that delicacy and strength, and every level in between will make your work more expressive and delightful.
I have also been promoting the idea that every inch of a painting counts. Spaces can be powerful, but one of the unusual delights of the professional water colours we have been looking at this term, Shirley Trevena's in particular, is that the 'backgrounds', subtle as they are, fill the entire page. So that ghost shapes and sheets of light and colour, and implied volume and distance, or perhaps just gorgeous colour fill every single inch of the painting.
These are by Audrey B, Kathleen S and Sarah W I think, (I can't always read the signatures) from the Cawston group, and there have been many paintings that work really well, but I haven't managed to get good photos of yet.
Keep practising, and enjoy the vibrance of the paint!
And don't forget homework for next week, our last week, theme Festive Season, the challenge here being to use the idea in a non obvious way, trying to avoid cliches!
No comments:
Post a Comment