Landscape Tips and Techniques Included

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8 Inspiration Ideas Instructions

Burbage Brook Padley Gorge

Looking Down to Matlock Bath

Staithes Yorkshire Coast for youcopy

Featured Artist Geoff Kersey

The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the copyright holder

Jim Black creator and owner of

Watercolor For Me And

Jimrsquos Watercolor Gallery

Copyright 2014

Living and working in the Peak District itrsquos no surprise that many of Geoffrsquos atmospheric paintings feature the diverse and beautiful landscape of the region with its meandering rivers steep dales and valleys farms and villages Geoff who turned professional in 1998 has also been spending time in Suffolk and Norfolk collecting subject material at many of his favorite places along the Heritage Coast where the vast skies fens marshes and coastal clutter provide an ideal contrast to his home region Geoffrsquos traditional style of painting aims to capture the essence of the subject Loose enough to be atmospheric yet containing just enough detail to be both accurate and satisfying on closer more detailed inspection his intuitive use of color in bold flowing washes is underpinned by his firm grasp of perspective and draftsmanship complemented by a strong sense of place Geoff has written 10 books on Watercolour painting and produced over 30 instructional DVDs most of which can be purchased online from his website wwwgeoffkerseycouk along with a large range of the materials he uses including paints brushes paper and his unique palette

NAME Geoff Kersey FAVOURITE SUBJECT Landscapes FAVOURITE MEDIUM Watercolors WEBSITE wwwgeoffkerseycouk See all of Geoffs Classes on Art Tutor

Peak Castle Walk Castleton

Ashness Bridge in Winter

Winter Over Bakewell

Padley Gorge in Winter

The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the copyright holder

Jim Black creator and owner of

Watercolor For Me And

Jimrsquos Watercolor Gallery

Copyright 2014

Living and working in the Peak District itrsquos no surprise that many of Geoffrsquos atmospheric paintings feature the diverse and beautiful landscape of the region with its meandering rivers steep dales and valleys farms and villages Geoff who turned professional in 1998 has also been spending time in Suffolk and Norfolk collecting subject material at many of his favorite places along the Heritage Coast where the vast skies fens marshes and coastal clutter provide an ideal contrast to his home region Geoffrsquos traditional style of painting aims to capture the essence of the subject Loose enough to be atmospheric yet containing just enough detail to be both accurate and satisfying on closer more detailed inspection his intuitive use of color in bold flowing washes is underpinned by his firm grasp of perspective and draftsmanship complemented by a strong sense of place Geoff has written 10 books on Watercolour painting and produced over 30 instructional DVDs most of which can be purchased online from his website wwwgeoffkerseycouk along with a large range of the materials he uses including paints brushes paper and his unique palette

NAME Geoff Kersey FAVOURITE SUBJECT Landscapes FAVOURITE MEDIUM Watercolors WEBSITE wwwgeoffkerseycouk See all of Geoffs Classes on Art Tutor

Peak Castle Walk Castleton

Ashness Bridge in Winter

Winter Over Bakewell

Padley Gorge in Winter

Living and working in the Peak District itrsquos no surprise that many of Geoffrsquos atmospheric paintings feature the diverse and beautiful landscape of the region with its meandering rivers steep dales and valleys farms and villages Geoff who turned professional in 1998 has also been spending time in Suffolk and Norfolk collecting subject material at many of his favorite places along the Heritage Coast where the vast skies fens marshes and coastal clutter provide an ideal contrast to his home region Geoffrsquos traditional style of painting aims to capture the essence of the subject Loose enough to be atmospheric yet containing just enough detail to be both accurate and satisfying on closer more detailed inspection his intuitive use of color in bold flowing washes is underpinned by his firm grasp of perspective and draftsmanship complemented by a strong sense of place Geoff has written 10 books on Watercolour painting and produced over 30 instructional DVDs most of which can be purchased online from his website wwwgeoffkerseycouk along with a large range of the materials he uses including paints brushes paper and his unique palette

NAME Geoff Kersey FAVOURITE SUBJECT Landscapes FAVOURITE MEDIUM Watercolors WEBSITE wwwgeoffkerseycouk See all of Geoffs Classes on Art Tutor

Peak Castle Walk Castleton

Ashness Bridge in Winter

Winter Over Bakewell

Padley Gorge in Winter

Fishing Port

Staithes in Yorkshire was once one of the largest fishing ports on the north east coast of England and it was an important source of minerals such as jet iron alum and potash Today it is an attractive tourist destination very popular with holiday makers and particularly with artists Whenever I go there usually as part of a trip to several of my favorite locations along this coast I take too many photographs I suppose digital photography encourages this because it is so easy to print just the ones we want and discard the rest The downside of this is that you can snap away all day without taking too much care over what you are photographing

I chose this view looking up the beck from the raised elevation of a footbridge I particularly liked the clutter of beached boats to the left of the water with the network of criss-crossed ropes I find beached boats like this more interesting than floating ones because of the juxtaposition of shapes and the varying angles at which they rest In a scene that is full of natural earth colours the hulls of the boats provide a welcome break with the splashes of blue red and white

This was brought home to me recently when I heard a professional photographerrsquos opinion that there is no such thing as a lsquopoint and shootrsquo camera just lsquopoint and shootrsquo photographers Recognizing this fault in myself I have recently started to take fewer photographs but to consider more carefully those I do take trying to make every one count

To get a feeling for the shapes and angles of these boats I produced the pencil sketch shown here deciding to leave out the two foreground ones that are only partly in the scene In a situation like this I sometimes move some of the boats at the drawing stage to create a pleasing composition but in this instance I felt that they were positioned perfectly I liked the way the shapes diminished in size thus reinforcing the perspective that leads the eye from the foreground to the middle distance

Even though I felt that the basic composition didnrsquot need changing you can see that there is a big difference between the finished painting opposite and the photograph (left) The sun was getting fairly low with the result that the cliff on the right was quite dark and heavy in tone You can see from the painting that I have lightened this side and at the same time simplified it omitting a lot of the detail and rendering it in a more misty unresolved way

This is an extract from Geoffrsquos latest book ldquoPainting Successful Watercolours From Photographsrdquo You can obtain this book along with another 8 other books Geoff has written on the subject of watercolour painting plus a large selection of DVDs and his preferred choice of materials from wwwgeoffkerseycouk

Compare this detail from the photograph and with the detail from the painting and you can see that the dark foliage on the hillside is very similar in tonal value to the distant buildings This makes the buildings look like part of the hill rather than several meters in front of it This strong color on the hill also brings it forwards which I didnrsquot want in a background feature so I painted it in a lighter softer tone than the buildings to push it back and prevent it from competing with them When the hill had dried I faded it with clear water to enhance the feeling of distance (see Fading colours page 10)

I chose a limited palette of colours to create harmony in the painting aiming for a much softer more painterly image than that of the photograph where the light is more harsh I thought all the masses of dark green were a little heavy so I reduced these considerably but didnrsquot eliminate them altogether as I liked the way the dark on the bottom of the right-hand bank reflected in the water I thought the stonework on the left-hand wall and the rocks and stones in the mud added some much needed texture but rather than paint these with too much detail I suggested them with a few brush marks again keeping them soft in parts and slightly unresolved (see right) I noticed from the photograph (see detail) that the stones and mud in this area were covered in moss so I introduced a hint of bright green

Even though I felt that the basic composition didnrsquot need changing you can see that there is a big difference between the finished painting opposite and the photograph (left) The sun was getting fairly low with the result that the cliff on the right was quite dark and heavy in tone You can see from the painting that I have lightened this side and at the same time simplified it omitting a lot of the detail and rendering it in a more misty unresolved way

You can see from the photograph (left) that the whole area in the middle of the scene where the boats rest is mud I often joke to my students that mud is the easiest color to mix since in watercolor we often get muddy colours when it is the very thing we were trying to avoid usually due to over-working You can see from the painting (below)that I have not attempted to match the mud colours in the photograph preferring instead to use the same colours as those used in the buildings and stonework thus preserving that important feeling of warmth and light I also introduced a touch of blue from the sky in the foreground to suggest that it is wet See the Colours mixes opposite

Here is another photograph of the same scene but from a lower viewpoint looking down the jetty to the beck and muddy shoreline If you compare this with the painting I did from it you can see that I moved in a bit closer taking out a bit of foreground and added a bit more sky I removed the boat from the right-hand foreground as I considered it acted as a barrier preventing the viewer from mentally walking down this walk-way towards the jumble of lobster pots and benches which I felt added some foreground interest

Color mixes

Cadmium red Cobalt blue and cerulean blue Cobalt blue and viridian Cobalt blue and French ultramarine

Colours for the boat hulls

Burnt umber and Naples yellow for the muddy area where the boats are beached also used on the sea wall and buildings The hint of green added is a mix of aureolin and cobalt blue The brown color softens into a mixture of cobalt blue and rose madder Raw sienna and burnt sienna for the brick-built buildings in the background

THINK SHAPES NOT OBJECTS

This should greatly improve your painting

Let me explainwhen you choose a subject to paint you need to look for simple shapes to use as building blocks Its not in my power to make a leaf However I can paint or draw a symbol that will represent a leaf By recreating distinctive symbols I can suggest leaves rocks stones or any subject I choose I am a shape maker You can become one too You can improve and simplify your art work by painting shapes rather then objects Closely examine the photos and the corresponding diagrams below Discover how a shape is frequently repeated in nature Focus on a small area and try to ignore all the confusing details See each object as a single shape Next explore the whole photo Search for shapes that are similar or the same The illustrations below will help you begin the process of shape-making

The daisy petal produce an unmistakable silhouette Upon closer examination you will notice that each daisy is unique with subtle differences yet maintaining the characteristic daisy shape It is not necessary to paint in veins or dewdrops or ladybugs Even without the yellow center this shape reads as a daisy If you use one type of shape you can create unity and mood So how do you do that

SETTING THE MOOD

The type of line and shape used throughout your painting can set the mood Round or curvilinear shapes are non-threatening and suggest nature Vertical shapes are spiritual and uplifting Horizontals are stable and peaceful To evoke a feeling of drama or danger try using angular shapes Their diagonal thrust is exciting Lets look at some shapes you might find in nature

These beach pebbles are flat smooth ovals They are varied in size and they range in value from light to dark Some ovals are partially hidden Others extend beyond the edges of the photo Round oval shapes are comfortable shapes Curvilinear forms suggest organic objects flowers rolling hills and the human body

Vertical shapes are spiritual and uplifting but they can be made boring as shown

I know you know this point But somehow in painting things have a way of ending up in the middle or in neat rows or the same size See images above If you find that happening in your work slow down a bit and pay more attention to rhythm and variety when youre designing your composition Unfortunately you have to keep coming back to check this point while you paint because as you get immersed in everything else things start creeping back to the middle and lining up again

Be attentive to the character of your shapes Think of everything as little portraits Find the unique proportions and angles of things to make them come alive As said before when youre painting things have a way of sliding toward the generic if youre not careful

Boring group of trees above and below These are far more interesting

Tall thin vertical shapes are strong and active They seem to defy gravity Vertical lines and shapes are found in trees and plants as they reach for the sun Manmade structures such as church spires and skyscrapers are another source of vertical shapes As the verticals move towards the heavens they evoke an uplifting feeling

Shapes can be either positive or negative The illustrations below are shown as negative shapes the silhouette of the subject below left white the surrounding area made dark The symbol has been painted around rather than being filled-in as a positive shape would be

IMAGES CREATING VARIETY

Monotony - Here I have repeated the exact same shape 10 times You can see that this shape when repeated without any variation creates a monotonous design

VARIETY IN PLACEMENT

The spaces between the shapes can become as important to the design as the leaf shapes Variety is achieved by adjusting the size of the surrounding spaces and overlapping Objects placed high on the picture plane have greater pictorial weight

VARIETY BY COMBINING

By overlapping and combining leaf shapes I have created new shapes that provide interest and variation to my design

VARIETY IN HUE

In this illustration I have changed only the hue of the leaf shape - from green to yellow orange to blue I did not attempt to change the value or intensity

VARIETY IN SIZE

To entertain the viewer present various sizes of your shape Dissimilar sizes can suggest distance or growth Larger shapes are generally imposing and demand more attention than smaller ones The size of a shape can also influence the balance of your painting Strive for a harmonious relationship in the sizes of the symbols in your painting

VARIETY IN DIRECTION

The viewers eye moves around the painting according to the direction of the shapes In this sample notice the changing angles of the leaf shape The last two shapes have been flipped to a mirror image or upside down Perhaps the leaves are being blown by the wind or moving toward the sunlight

VARIETY IN TEXTURE

The texture of a shape may be described as smooth rough soft or hard Texture may affect the outside edge of the shape With watercolor you can create many different surfaces by crosshatching scratching and scraping the paint or by dropping color onto wet paper A word of caution adding texture to your shapes may become addictive Too much of a good thing can be very distracting

VARIETY IN A SINGLE SHAPE

Variety may apply to the transition from one shape to the next or within the individual shape Gradual transition within the shape is referred to as gradation It can apply to all of the above elements but is most often used with color The value may change from light to dark and the hue could change from green to orange and the intensity move from clean to sullied The transition in texture can be smooth to rough or from hard to soft

Review these two pages on creating variety in repeating shapes Notice how many different versions of the same shape I have made This is just the beginning When using repeated shapes you should limit yourself to one or two of the approaches Ive described If you attempt to employ all of these approaches in the same painting your work will lack unity and be very confusing

You buy the kit mix the colors fill in each number with a color and it will match the painting on the cover of the kit Its easy but not very creative IS IT PAINTING Real painting requires a little more thought and decisions Here is an idea you will find helpful to think about numbers when planning the shape size and placement of objects in your next painting DO TRY IT Its an easy way to understand the concept of positive and negative spaces By visualizing your subject matter as numerals you can more easily see and judge the relationship of positive and negative shapes in your design Most of the negative is the same very boring

Just look at all the BORING SPACE around the number

The small red number 5 is the positive object (it could be a barn a vase of flowers or a figure) It occupies less than 25 of the pictures space and is surrounded by a large amount of negative space The viewer sees only the positive object The negative space provides no visual interest

Here the number 5 has been enlarged and the negative space reduced to create better visual balance When there is less negative space it becomes a stronger visual force in the design Of course making the negative space a warm color makes it visually stronger The viewer is now interested in the negative as well as the positive space

SOME LANDSCAPE PROBLEMS ARISE FROM TIME TO TIME

Our first inclination when we see an exciting subject is to record it (as accurately as possible) in the middle of the page well worry about backgrounds later The examples illustrate the problem with this approach too much uninteresting negative space By simply enlarging the thing I like I have created more interesting negative shapes and a better design Remember if the thing you like doesnt occupy at least 50 of the page youre going to have to do a lot of work to make an effective design

SOME PROBLEMS IN FIGURE PAINTING

When trying to accurately record the figure you can easily forget about designing the space around the figure Too much negative space produces an uninteresting composition By simply enlarging the figure you can create a more dynamic design This seated figure (above) has some interesting negative shapes around him but the seated figure (next page) with the dynamic negative shapes is just what makes Master Pieces stand out from good paintings Just those little things we tend to overlook What you might want to do is look at some Old masters work this week paying attention to Negative shapes Degas is a good place to start He did a drawing of a ballet dancer adjusting her shoe( hope thats what those slippers are called )

How many times have I seen this croppingrdquo with Scissors

Cropping with a device we all use one time or another to improve the design of a finished painting Using L-mats (thats a mat cut into two L-shaped pieces) we reduce the borders of our painting until we discover a more appealing design Then we cut away the excess with a pair of scissors to change the paintings format designing with scissors I have taken a full size painting 22x30 and found four small paintings inside the larger one Theres no law against it and it often works By reducing the negative space (and thus enlarging the positive image) we create a more effective composition

Of course anything you can do to improve a painting is acceptable (Edgar Degas did the reverse of this process he would sometimes add extra strips of paper to the edge of his pastels to enlarge his composition) But if you find yourself constantly relying on this device you probably are starting your painting before you have given sufficient thought to what you want to paint and why Its easy to develop the bad habit of gathering a lot of visual information before you have clearly identified the direction or concept you want to convey Been there done that When youre unclear why you are painting a subject youre unable to decide what to emphasize and what to subdue what to put in and what to leave our Youre simply postponing these decisions until youve finished your painting Its better to think and plan before you paint and not rely on scissors to design your finished painting Why dont you do this take some large paintings that did not please you take a small mat and see if you can find some really great gems inside Im betting you will

Now look hard and you will see a number 4 on a slant leaning to the right The figures asymmetry gesture and position make it a highly effective work of art Now put your thinking cap on think Negative spaces to go from a plain old building flower arrangement still life landscape what ever you are going to paint next from plain good to dynamically great Your can do it if you change your thinking Separate yourself from the crowd DO IT If you just learn and apply the above you dont need to read any more of this lesson it is that important

TO TRY

Started with 12 sheet of 140lb Cold Press Arches Paper House drawn in No other pencil marks Used very large round brush to wash weak coat of Raw Sienna on all the whole area

This will give some idea of the size of the brush shown above on the left is a number 12 round on the right is a number 4 round

Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue for the sky brushed on still wet paper Used Burnt Sienna with Ultra Marine Blue for any Grays you might see

Paper was dried clump of trees painted behind house Masking fluid added for the tops of the blue bonnets

Worked on foreground as I dont carry a tube of green all greens were mixed in the palette or on the paper

My palette Is Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue and Antwerp Blue

YELLOWS Winsor

Yellow and Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) Winsor and Newtons Never any other manufacturers they might fade

REDS Permanent

Alizarin Crimson Winsor Red Cadmium Red Light Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey Antwerp Blue and one of the Yellows produced 75 of the greens in the picture

Trees on the left side painted in

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

You can see from the photograph (left) that the whole area in the middle of the scene where the boats rest is mud I often joke to my students that mud is the easiest color to mix since in watercolor we often get muddy colours when it is the very thing we were trying to avoid usually due to over-working You can see from the painting (below)that I have not attempted to match the mud colours in the photograph preferring instead to use the same colours as those used in the buildings and stonework thus preserving that important feeling of warmth and light I also introduced a touch of blue from the sky in the foreground to suggest that it is wet See the Colours mixes opposite

Here is another photograph of the same scene but from a lower viewpoint looking down the jetty to the beck and muddy shoreline If you compare this with the painting I did from it you can see that I moved in a bit closer taking out a bit of foreground and added a bit more sky I removed the boat from the right-hand foreground as I considered it acted as a barrier preventing the viewer from mentally walking down this walk-way towards the jumble of lobster pots and benches which I felt added some foreground interest

Color mixes

Cadmium red Cobalt blue and cerulean blue Cobalt blue and viridian Cobalt blue and French ultramarine

Colours for the boat hulls

Burnt umber and Naples yellow for the muddy area where the boats are beached also used on the sea wall and buildings The hint of green added is a mix of aureolin and cobalt blue The brown color softens into a mixture of cobalt blue and rose madder Raw sienna and burnt sienna for the brick-built buildings in the background

THINK SHAPES NOT OBJECTS

This should greatly improve your painting

Let me explainwhen you choose a subject to paint you need to look for simple shapes to use as building blocks Its not in my power to make a leaf However I can paint or draw a symbol that will represent a leaf By recreating distinctive symbols I can suggest leaves rocks stones or any subject I choose I am a shape maker You can become one too You can improve and simplify your art work by painting shapes rather then objects Closely examine the photos and the corresponding diagrams below Discover how a shape is frequently repeated in nature Focus on a small area and try to ignore all the confusing details See each object as a single shape Next explore the whole photo Search for shapes that are similar or the same The illustrations below will help you begin the process of shape-making

The daisy petal produce an unmistakable silhouette Upon closer examination you will notice that each daisy is unique with subtle differences yet maintaining the characteristic daisy shape It is not necessary to paint in veins or dewdrops or ladybugs Even without the yellow center this shape reads as a daisy If you use one type of shape you can create unity and mood So how do you do that

SETTING THE MOOD

The type of line and shape used throughout your painting can set the mood Round or curvilinear shapes are non-threatening and suggest nature Vertical shapes are spiritual and uplifting Horizontals are stable and peaceful To evoke a feeling of drama or danger try using angular shapes Their diagonal thrust is exciting Lets look at some shapes you might find in nature

These beach pebbles are flat smooth ovals They are varied in size and they range in value from light to dark Some ovals are partially hidden Others extend beyond the edges of the photo Round oval shapes are comfortable shapes Curvilinear forms suggest organic objects flowers rolling hills and the human body

Vertical shapes are spiritual and uplifting but they can be made boring as shown

I know you know this point But somehow in painting things have a way of ending up in the middle or in neat rows or the same size See images above If you find that happening in your work slow down a bit and pay more attention to rhythm and variety when youre designing your composition Unfortunately you have to keep coming back to check this point while you paint because as you get immersed in everything else things start creeping back to the middle and lining up again

Be attentive to the character of your shapes Think of everything as little portraits Find the unique proportions and angles of things to make them come alive As said before when youre painting things have a way of sliding toward the generic if youre not careful

Boring group of trees above and below These are far more interesting

Tall thin vertical shapes are strong and active They seem to defy gravity Vertical lines and shapes are found in trees and plants as they reach for the sun Manmade structures such as church spires and skyscrapers are another source of vertical shapes As the verticals move towards the heavens they evoke an uplifting feeling

Shapes can be either positive or negative The illustrations below are shown as negative shapes the silhouette of the subject below left white the surrounding area made dark The symbol has been painted around rather than being filled-in as a positive shape would be

IMAGES CREATING VARIETY

Monotony - Here I have repeated the exact same shape 10 times You can see that this shape when repeated without any variation creates a monotonous design

VARIETY IN PLACEMENT

The spaces between the shapes can become as important to the design as the leaf shapes Variety is achieved by adjusting the size of the surrounding spaces and overlapping Objects placed high on the picture plane have greater pictorial weight

VARIETY BY COMBINING

By overlapping and combining leaf shapes I have created new shapes that provide interest and variation to my design

VARIETY IN HUE

In this illustration I have changed only the hue of the leaf shape - from green to yellow orange to blue I did not attempt to change the value or intensity

VARIETY IN SIZE

To entertain the viewer present various sizes of your shape Dissimilar sizes can suggest distance or growth Larger shapes are generally imposing and demand more attention than smaller ones The size of a shape can also influence the balance of your painting Strive for a harmonious relationship in the sizes of the symbols in your painting

VARIETY IN DIRECTION

The viewers eye moves around the painting according to the direction of the shapes In this sample notice the changing angles of the leaf shape The last two shapes have been flipped to a mirror image or upside down Perhaps the leaves are being blown by the wind or moving toward the sunlight

VARIETY IN TEXTURE

The texture of a shape may be described as smooth rough soft or hard Texture may affect the outside edge of the shape With watercolor you can create many different surfaces by crosshatching scratching and scraping the paint or by dropping color onto wet paper A word of caution adding texture to your shapes may become addictive Too much of a good thing can be very distracting

VARIETY IN A SINGLE SHAPE

Variety may apply to the transition from one shape to the next or within the individual shape Gradual transition within the shape is referred to as gradation It can apply to all of the above elements but is most often used with color The value may change from light to dark and the hue could change from green to orange and the intensity move from clean to sullied The transition in texture can be smooth to rough or from hard to soft

Review these two pages on creating variety in repeating shapes Notice how many different versions of the same shape I have made This is just the beginning When using repeated shapes you should limit yourself to one or two of the approaches Ive described If you attempt to employ all of these approaches in the same painting your work will lack unity and be very confusing

You buy the kit mix the colors fill in each number with a color and it will match the painting on the cover of the kit Its easy but not very creative IS IT PAINTING Real painting requires a little more thought and decisions Here is an idea you will find helpful to think about numbers when planning the shape size and placement of objects in your next painting DO TRY IT Its an easy way to understand the concept of positive and negative spaces By visualizing your subject matter as numerals you can more easily see and judge the relationship of positive and negative shapes in your design Most of the negative is the same very boring

Just look at all the BORING SPACE around the number

The small red number 5 is the positive object (it could be a barn a vase of flowers or a figure) It occupies less than 25 of the pictures space and is surrounded by a large amount of negative space The viewer sees only the positive object The negative space provides no visual interest

Here the number 5 has been enlarged and the negative space reduced to create better visual balance When there is less negative space it becomes a stronger visual force in the design Of course making the negative space a warm color makes it visually stronger The viewer is now interested in the negative as well as the positive space

SOME LANDSCAPE PROBLEMS ARISE FROM TIME TO TIME

Our first inclination when we see an exciting subject is to record it (as accurately as possible) in the middle of the page well worry about backgrounds later The examples illustrate the problem with this approach too much uninteresting negative space By simply enlarging the thing I like I have created more interesting negative shapes and a better design Remember if the thing you like doesnt occupy at least 50 of the page youre going to have to do a lot of work to make an effective design

SOME PROBLEMS IN FIGURE PAINTING

When trying to accurately record the figure you can easily forget about designing the space around the figure Too much negative space produces an uninteresting composition By simply enlarging the figure you can create a more dynamic design This seated figure (above) has some interesting negative shapes around him but the seated figure (next page) with the dynamic negative shapes is just what makes Master Pieces stand out from good paintings Just those little things we tend to overlook What you might want to do is look at some Old masters work this week paying attention to Negative shapes Degas is a good place to start He did a drawing of a ballet dancer adjusting her shoe( hope thats what those slippers are called )

How many times have I seen this croppingrdquo with Scissors

Cropping with a device we all use one time or another to improve the design of a finished painting Using L-mats (thats a mat cut into two L-shaped pieces) we reduce the borders of our painting until we discover a more appealing design Then we cut away the excess with a pair of scissors to change the paintings format designing with scissors I have taken a full size painting 22x30 and found four small paintings inside the larger one Theres no law against it and it often works By reducing the negative space (and thus enlarging the positive image) we create a more effective composition

Of course anything you can do to improve a painting is acceptable (Edgar Degas did the reverse of this process he would sometimes add extra strips of paper to the edge of his pastels to enlarge his composition) But if you find yourself constantly relying on this device you probably are starting your painting before you have given sufficient thought to what you want to paint and why Its easy to develop the bad habit of gathering a lot of visual information before you have clearly identified the direction or concept you want to convey Been there done that When youre unclear why you are painting a subject youre unable to decide what to emphasize and what to subdue what to put in and what to leave our Youre simply postponing these decisions until youve finished your painting Its better to think and plan before you paint and not rely on scissors to design your finished painting Why dont you do this take some large paintings that did not please you take a small mat and see if you can find some really great gems inside Im betting you will

Now look hard and you will see a number 4 on a slant leaning to the right The figures asymmetry gesture and position make it a highly effective work of art Now put your thinking cap on think Negative spaces to go from a plain old building flower arrangement still life landscape what ever you are going to paint next from plain good to dynamically great Your can do it if you change your thinking Separate yourself from the crowd DO IT If you just learn and apply the above you dont need to read any more of this lesson it is that important

TO TRY

Started with 12 sheet of 140lb Cold Press Arches Paper House drawn in No other pencil marks Used very large round brush to wash weak coat of Raw Sienna on all the whole area

This will give some idea of the size of the brush shown above on the left is a number 12 round on the right is a number 4 round

Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue for the sky brushed on still wet paper Used Burnt Sienna with Ultra Marine Blue for any Grays you might see

Paper was dried clump of trees painted behind house Masking fluid added for the tops of the blue bonnets

Worked on foreground as I dont carry a tube of green all greens were mixed in the palette or on the paper

My palette Is Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue and Antwerp Blue

YELLOWS Winsor

Yellow and Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) Winsor and Newtons Never any other manufacturers they might fade

REDS Permanent

Alizarin Crimson Winsor Red Cadmium Red Light Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey Antwerp Blue and one of the Yellows produced 75 of the greens in the picture

Trees on the left side painted in

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Cadmium red Cobalt blue and cerulean blue Cobalt blue and viridian Cobalt blue and French ultramarine

Colours for the boat hulls

Burnt umber and Naples yellow for the muddy area where the boats are beached also used on the sea wall and buildings The hint of green added is a mix of aureolin and cobalt blue The brown color softens into a mixture of cobalt blue and rose madder Raw sienna and burnt sienna for the brick-built buildings in the background

THINK SHAPES NOT OBJECTS

This should greatly improve your painting

Let me explainwhen you choose a subject to paint you need to look for simple shapes to use as building blocks Its not in my power to make a leaf However I can paint or draw a symbol that will represent a leaf By recreating distinctive symbols I can suggest leaves rocks stones or any subject I choose I am a shape maker You can become one too You can improve and simplify your art work by painting shapes rather then objects Closely examine the photos and the corresponding diagrams below Discover how a shape is frequently repeated in nature Focus on a small area and try to ignore all the confusing details See each object as a single shape Next explore the whole photo Search for shapes that are similar or the same The illustrations below will help you begin the process of shape-making

The daisy petal produce an unmistakable silhouette Upon closer examination you will notice that each daisy is unique with subtle differences yet maintaining the characteristic daisy shape It is not necessary to paint in veins or dewdrops or ladybugs Even without the yellow center this shape reads as a daisy If you use one type of shape you can create unity and mood So how do you do that

SETTING THE MOOD

The type of line and shape used throughout your painting can set the mood Round or curvilinear shapes are non-threatening and suggest nature Vertical shapes are spiritual and uplifting Horizontals are stable and peaceful To evoke a feeling of drama or danger try using angular shapes Their diagonal thrust is exciting Lets look at some shapes you might find in nature

These beach pebbles are flat smooth ovals They are varied in size and they range in value from light to dark Some ovals are partially hidden Others extend beyond the edges of the photo Round oval shapes are comfortable shapes Curvilinear forms suggest organic objects flowers rolling hills and the human body

Vertical shapes are spiritual and uplifting but they can be made boring as shown

I know you know this point But somehow in painting things have a way of ending up in the middle or in neat rows or the same size See images above If you find that happening in your work slow down a bit and pay more attention to rhythm and variety when youre designing your composition Unfortunately you have to keep coming back to check this point while you paint because as you get immersed in everything else things start creeping back to the middle and lining up again

Be attentive to the character of your shapes Think of everything as little portraits Find the unique proportions and angles of things to make them come alive As said before when youre painting things have a way of sliding toward the generic if youre not careful

Boring group of trees above and below These are far more interesting

Tall thin vertical shapes are strong and active They seem to defy gravity Vertical lines and shapes are found in trees and plants as they reach for the sun Manmade structures such as church spires and skyscrapers are another source of vertical shapes As the verticals move towards the heavens they evoke an uplifting feeling

Shapes can be either positive or negative The illustrations below are shown as negative shapes the silhouette of the subject below left white the surrounding area made dark The symbol has been painted around rather than being filled-in as a positive shape would be

IMAGES CREATING VARIETY

Monotony - Here I have repeated the exact same shape 10 times You can see that this shape when repeated without any variation creates a monotonous design

VARIETY IN PLACEMENT

The spaces between the shapes can become as important to the design as the leaf shapes Variety is achieved by adjusting the size of the surrounding spaces and overlapping Objects placed high on the picture plane have greater pictorial weight

VARIETY BY COMBINING

By overlapping and combining leaf shapes I have created new shapes that provide interest and variation to my design

VARIETY IN HUE

In this illustration I have changed only the hue of the leaf shape - from green to yellow orange to blue I did not attempt to change the value or intensity

VARIETY IN SIZE

To entertain the viewer present various sizes of your shape Dissimilar sizes can suggest distance or growth Larger shapes are generally imposing and demand more attention than smaller ones The size of a shape can also influence the balance of your painting Strive for a harmonious relationship in the sizes of the symbols in your painting

VARIETY IN DIRECTION

The viewers eye moves around the painting according to the direction of the shapes In this sample notice the changing angles of the leaf shape The last two shapes have been flipped to a mirror image or upside down Perhaps the leaves are being blown by the wind or moving toward the sunlight

VARIETY IN TEXTURE

The texture of a shape may be described as smooth rough soft or hard Texture may affect the outside edge of the shape With watercolor you can create many different surfaces by crosshatching scratching and scraping the paint or by dropping color onto wet paper A word of caution adding texture to your shapes may become addictive Too much of a good thing can be very distracting

VARIETY IN A SINGLE SHAPE

Variety may apply to the transition from one shape to the next or within the individual shape Gradual transition within the shape is referred to as gradation It can apply to all of the above elements but is most often used with color The value may change from light to dark and the hue could change from green to orange and the intensity move from clean to sullied The transition in texture can be smooth to rough or from hard to soft

Review these two pages on creating variety in repeating shapes Notice how many different versions of the same shape I have made This is just the beginning When using repeated shapes you should limit yourself to one or two of the approaches Ive described If you attempt to employ all of these approaches in the same painting your work will lack unity and be very confusing

You buy the kit mix the colors fill in each number with a color and it will match the painting on the cover of the kit Its easy but not very creative IS IT PAINTING Real painting requires a little more thought and decisions Here is an idea you will find helpful to think about numbers when planning the shape size and placement of objects in your next painting DO TRY IT Its an easy way to understand the concept of positive and negative spaces By visualizing your subject matter as numerals you can more easily see and judge the relationship of positive and negative shapes in your design Most of the negative is the same very boring

Just look at all the BORING SPACE around the number

The small red number 5 is the positive object (it could be a barn a vase of flowers or a figure) It occupies less than 25 of the pictures space and is surrounded by a large amount of negative space The viewer sees only the positive object The negative space provides no visual interest

Here the number 5 has been enlarged and the negative space reduced to create better visual balance When there is less negative space it becomes a stronger visual force in the design Of course making the negative space a warm color makes it visually stronger The viewer is now interested in the negative as well as the positive space

SOME LANDSCAPE PROBLEMS ARISE FROM TIME TO TIME

Our first inclination when we see an exciting subject is to record it (as accurately as possible) in the middle of the page well worry about backgrounds later The examples illustrate the problem with this approach too much uninteresting negative space By simply enlarging the thing I like I have created more interesting negative shapes and a better design Remember if the thing you like doesnt occupy at least 50 of the page youre going to have to do a lot of work to make an effective design

SOME PROBLEMS IN FIGURE PAINTING

When trying to accurately record the figure you can easily forget about designing the space around the figure Too much negative space produces an uninteresting composition By simply enlarging the figure you can create a more dynamic design This seated figure (above) has some interesting negative shapes around him but the seated figure (next page) with the dynamic negative shapes is just what makes Master Pieces stand out from good paintings Just those little things we tend to overlook What you might want to do is look at some Old masters work this week paying attention to Negative shapes Degas is a good place to start He did a drawing of a ballet dancer adjusting her shoe( hope thats what those slippers are called )

How many times have I seen this croppingrdquo with Scissors

Cropping with a device we all use one time or another to improve the design of a finished painting Using L-mats (thats a mat cut into two L-shaped pieces) we reduce the borders of our painting until we discover a more appealing design Then we cut away the excess with a pair of scissors to change the paintings format designing with scissors I have taken a full size painting 22x30 and found four small paintings inside the larger one Theres no law against it and it often works By reducing the negative space (and thus enlarging the positive image) we create a more effective composition

Of course anything you can do to improve a painting is acceptable (Edgar Degas did the reverse of this process he would sometimes add extra strips of paper to the edge of his pastels to enlarge his composition) But if you find yourself constantly relying on this device you probably are starting your painting before you have given sufficient thought to what you want to paint and why Its easy to develop the bad habit of gathering a lot of visual information before you have clearly identified the direction or concept you want to convey Been there done that When youre unclear why you are painting a subject youre unable to decide what to emphasize and what to subdue what to put in and what to leave our Youre simply postponing these decisions until youve finished your painting Its better to think and plan before you paint and not rely on scissors to design your finished painting Why dont you do this take some large paintings that did not please you take a small mat and see if you can find some really great gems inside Im betting you will

Now look hard and you will see a number 4 on a slant leaning to the right The figures asymmetry gesture and position make it a highly effective work of art Now put your thinking cap on think Negative spaces to go from a plain old building flower arrangement still life landscape what ever you are going to paint next from plain good to dynamically great Your can do it if you change your thinking Separate yourself from the crowd DO IT If you just learn and apply the above you dont need to read any more of this lesson it is that important

TO TRY

Started with 12 sheet of 140lb Cold Press Arches Paper House drawn in No other pencil marks Used very large round brush to wash weak coat of Raw Sienna on all the whole area

This will give some idea of the size of the brush shown above on the left is a number 12 round on the right is a number 4 round

Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue for the sky brushed on still wet paper Used Burnt Sienna with Ultra Marine Blue for any Grays you might see

Paper was dried clump of trees painted behind house Masking fluid added for the tops of the blue bonnets

Worked on foreground as I dont carry a tube of green all greens were mixed in the palette or on the paper

My palette Is Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue and Antwerp Blue

YELLOWS Winsor

Yellow and Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) Winsor and Newtons Never any other manufacturers they might fade

REDS Permanent

Alizarin Crimson Winsor Red Cadmium Red Light Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey Antwerp Blue and one of the Yellows produced 75 of the greens in the picture

Trees on the left side painted in

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

THINK SHAPES NOT OBJECTS

This should greatly improve your painting

Let me explainwhen you choose a subject to paint you need to look for simple shapes to use as building blocks Its not in my power to make a leaf However I can paint or draw a symbol that will represent a leaf By recreating distinctive symbols I can suggest leaves rocks stones or any subject I choose I am a shape maker You can become one too You can improve and simplify your art work by painting shapes rather then objects Closely examine the photos and the corresponding diagrams below Discover how a shape is frequently repeated in nature Focus on a small area and try to ignore all the confusing details See each object as a single shape Next explore the whole photo Search for shapes that are similar or the same The illustrations below will help you begin the process of shape-making

The daisy petal produce an unmistakable silhouette Upon closer examination you will notice that each daisy is unique with subtle differences yet maintaining the characteristic daisy shape It is not necessary to paint in veins or dewdrops or ladybugs Even without the yellow center this shape reads as a daisy If you use one type of shape you can create unity and mood So how do you do that

SETTING THE MOOD

The type of line and shape used throughout your painting can set the mood Round or curvilinear shapes are non-threatening and suggest nature Vertical shapes are spiritual and uplifting Horizontals are stable and peaceful To evoke a feeling of drama or danger try using angular shapes Their diagonal thrust is exciting Lets look at some shapes you might find in nature

These beach pebbles are flat smooth ovals They are varied in size and they range in value from light to dark Some ovals are partially hidden Others extend beyond the edges of the photo Round oval shapes are comfortable shapes Curvilinear forms suggest organic objects flowers rolling hills and the human body

Vertical shapes are spiritual and uplifting but they can be made boring as shown

I know you know this point But somehow in painting things have a way of ending up in the middle or in neat rows or the same size See images above If you find that happening in your work slow down a bit and pay more attention to rhythm and variety when youre designing your composition Unfortunately you have to keep coming back to check this point while you paint because as you get immersed in everything else things start creeping back to the middle and lining up again

Be attentive to the character of your shapes Think of everything as little portraits Find the unique proportions and angles of things to make them come alive As said before when youre painting things have a way of sliding toward the generic if youre not careful

Boring group of trees above and below These are far more interesting

Tall thin vertical shapes are strong and active They seem to defy gravity Vertical lines and shapes are found in trees and plants as they reach for the sun Manmade structures such as church spires and skyscrapers are another source of vertical shapes As the verticals move towards the heavens they evoke an uplifting feeling

Shapes can be either positive or negative The illustrations below are shown as negative shapes the silhouette of the subject below left white the surrounding area made dark The symbol has been painted around rather than being filled-in as a positive shape would be

IMAGES CREATING VARIETY

Monotony - Here I have repeated the exact same shape 10 times You can see that this shape when repeated without any variation creates a monotonous design

VARIETY IN PLACEMENT

The spaces between the shapes can become as important to the design as the leaf shapes Variety is achieved by adjusting the size of the surrounding spaces and overlapping Objects placed high on the picture plane have greater pictorial weight

VARIETY BY COMBINING

By overlapping and combining leaf shapes I have created new shapes that provide interest and variation to my design

VARIETY IN HUE

In this illustration I have changed only the hue of the leaf shape - from green to yellow orange to blue I did not attempt to change the value or intensity

VARIETY IN SIZE

To entertain the viewer present various sizes of your shape Dissimilar sizes can suggest distance or growth Larger shapes are generally imposing and demand more attention than smaller ones The size of a shape can also influence the balance of your painting Strive for a harmonious relationship in the sizes of the symbols in your painting

VARIETY IN DIRECTION

The viewers eye moves around the painting according to the direction of the shapes In this sample notice the changing angles of the leaf shape The last two shapes have been flipped to a mirror image or upside down Perhaps the leaves are being blown by the wind or moving toward the sunlight

VARIETY IN TEXTURE

The texture of a shape may be described as smooth rough soft or hard Texture may affect the outside edge of the shape With watercolor you can create many different surfaces by crosshatching scratching and scraping the paint or by dropping color onto wet paper A word of caution adding texture to your shapes may become addictive Too much of a good thing can be very distracting

VARIETY IN A SINGLE SHAPE

Variety may apply to the transition from one shape to the next or within the individual shape Gradual transition within the shape is referred to as gradation It can apply to all of the above elements but is most often used with color The value may change from light to dark and the hue could change from green to orange and the intensity move from clean to sullied The transition in texture can be smooth to rough or from hard to soft

Review these two pages on creating variety in repeating shapes Notice how many different versions of the same shape I have made This is just the beginning When using repeated shapes you should limit yourself to one or two of the approaches Ive described If you attempt to employ all of these approaches in the same painting your work will lack unity and be very confusing

You buy the kit mix the colors fill in each number with a color and it will match the painting on the cover of the kit Its easy but not very creative IS IT PAINTING Real painting requires a little more thought and decisions Here is an idea you will find helpful to think about numbers when planning the shape size and placement of objects in your next painting DO TRY IT Its an easy way to understand the concept of positive and negative spaces By visualizing your subject matter as numerals you can more easily see and judge the relationship of positive and negative shapes in your design Most of the negative is the same very boring

Just look at all the BORING SPACE around the number

The small red number 5 is the positive object (it could be a barn a vase of flowers or a figure) It occupies less than 25 of the pictures space and is surrounded by a large amount of negative space The viewer sees only the positive object The negative space provides no visual interest

Here the number 5 has been enlarged and the negative space reduced to create better visual balance When there is less negative space it becomes a stronger visual force in the design Of course making the negative space a warm color makes it visually stronger The viewer is now interested in the negative as well as the positive space

SOME LANDSCAPE PROBLEMS ARISE FROM TIME TO TIME

Our first inclination when we see an exciting subject is to record it (as accurately as possible) in the middle of the page well worry about backgrounds later The examples illustrate the problem with this approach too much uninteresting negative space By simply enlarging the thing I like I have created more interesting negative shapes and a better design Remember if the thing you like doesnt occupy at least 50 of the page youre going to have to do a lot of work to make an effective design

SOME PROBLEMS IN FIGURE PAINTING

When trying to accurately record the figure you can easily forget about designing the space around the figure Too much negative space produces an uninteresting composition By simply enlarging the figure you can create a more dynamic design This seated figure (above) has some interesting negative shapes around him but the seated figure (next page) with the dynamic negative shapes is just what makes Master Pieces stand out from good paintings Just those little things we tend to overlook What you might want to do is look at some Old masters work this week paying attention to Negative shapes Degas is a good place to start He did a drawing of a ballet dancer adjusting her shoe( hope thats what those slippers are called )

How many times have I seen this croppingrdquo with Scissors

Cropping with a device we all use one time or another to improve the design of a finished painting Using L-mats (thats a mat cut into two L-shaped pieces) we reduce the borders of our painting until we discover a more appealing design Then we cut away the excess with a pair of scissors to change the paintings format designing with scissors I have taken a full size painting 22x30 and found four small paintings inside the larger one Theres no law against it and it often works By reducing the negative space (and thus enlarging the positive image) we create a more effective composition

Of course anything you can do to improve a painting is acceptable (Edgar Degas did the reverse of this process he would sometimes add extra strips of paper to the edge of his pastels to enlarge his composition) But if you find yourself constantly relying on this device you probably are starting your painting before you have given sufficient thought to what you want to paint and why Its easy to develop the bad habit of gathering a lot of visual information before you have clearly identified the direction or concept you want to convey Been there done that When youre unclear why you are painting a subject youre unable to decide what to emphasize and what to subdue what to put in and what to leave our Youre simply postponing these decisions until youve finished your painting Its better to think and plan before you paint and not rely on scissors to design your finished painting Why dont you do this take some large paintings that did not please you take a small mat and see if you can find some really great gems inside Im betting you will

Now look hard and you will see a number 4 on a slant leaning to the right The figures asymmetry gesture and position make it a highly effective work of art Now put your thinking cap on think Negative spaces to go from a plain old building flower arrangement still life landscape what ever you are going to paint next from plain good to dynamically great Your can do it if you change your thinking Separate yourself from the crowd DO IT If you just learn and apply the above you dont need to read any more of this lesson it is that important

TO TRY

Started with 12 sheet of 140lb Cold Press Arches Paper House drawn in No other pencil marks Used very large round brush to wash weak coat of Raw Sienna on all the whole area

This will give some idea of the size of the brush shown above on the left is a number 12 round on the right is a number 4 round

Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue for the sky brushed on still wet paper Used Burnt Sienna with Ultra Marine Blue for any Grays you might see

Paper was dried clump of trees painted behind house Masking fluid added for the tops of the blue bonnets

Worked on foreground as I dont carry a tube of green all greens were mixed in the palette or on the paper

My palette Is Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue and Antwerp Blue

YELLOWS Winsor

Yellow and Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) Winsor and Newtons Never any other manufacturers they might fade

REDS Permanent

Alizarin Crimson Winsor Red Cadmium Red Light Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey Antwerp Blue and one of the Yellows produced 75 of the greens in the picture

Trees on the left side painted in

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Vertical shapes are spiritual and uplifting but they can be made boring as shown

I know you know this point But somehow in painting things have a way of ending up in the middle or in neat rows or the same size See images above If you find that happening in your work slow down a bit and pay more attention to rhythm and variety when youre designing your composition Unfortunately you have to keep coming back to check this point while you paint because as you get immersed in everything else things start creeping back to the middle and lining up again

Be attentive to the character of your shapes Think of everything as little portraits Find the unique proportions and angles of things to make them come alive As said before when youre painting things have a way of sliding toward the generic if youre not careful

Boring group of trees above and below These are far more interesting

Tall thin vertical shapes are strong and active They seem to defy gravity Vertical lines and shapes are found in trees and plants as they reach for the sun Manmade structures such as church spires and skyscrapers are another source of vertical shapes As the verticals move towards the heavens they evoke an uplifting feeling

Shapes can be either positive or negative The illustrations below are shown as negative shapes the silhouette of the subject below left white the surrounding area made dark The symbol has been painted around rather than being filled-in as a positive shape would be

IMAGES CREATING VARIETY

Monotony - Here I have repeated the exact same shape 10 times You can see that this shape when repeated without any variation creates a monotonous design

VARIETY IN PLACEMENT

The spaces between the shapes can become as important to the design as the leaf shapes Variety is achieved by adjusting the size of the surrounding spaces and overlapping Objects placed high on the picture plane have greater pictorial weight

VARIETY BY COMBINING

By overlapping and combining leaf shapes I have created new shapes that provide interest and variation to my design

VARIETY IN HUE

In this illustration I have changed only the hue of the leaf shape - from green to yellow orange to blue I did not attempt to change the value or intensity

VARIETY IN SIZE

To entertain the viewer present various sizes of your shape Dissimilar sizes can suggest distance or growth Larger shapes are generally imposing and demand more attention than smaller ones The size of a shape can also influence the balance of your painting Strive for a harmonious relationship in the sizes of the symbols in your painting

VARIETY IN DIRECTION

The viewers eye moves around the painting according to the direction of the shapes In this sample notice the changing angles of the leaf shape The last two shapes have been flipped to a mirror image or upside down Perhaps the leaves are being blown by the wind or moving toward the sunlight

VARIETY IN TEXTURE

The texture of a shape may be described as smooth rough soft or hard Texture may affect the outside edge of the shape With watercolor you can create many different surfaces by crosshatching scratching and scraping the paint or by dropping color onto wet paper A word of caution adding texture to your shapes may become addictive Too much of a good thing can be very distracting

VARIETY IN A SINGLE SHAPE

Variety may apply to the transition from one shape to the next or within the individual shape Gradual transition within the shape is referred to as gradation It can apply to all of the above elements but is most often used with color The value may change from light to dark and the hue could change from green to orange and the intensity move from clean to sullied The transition in texture can be smooth to rough or from hard to soft

Review these two pages on creating variety in repeating shapes Notice how many different versions of the same shape I have made This is just the beginning When using repeated shapes you should limit yourself to one or two of the approaches Ive described If you attempt to employ all of these approaches in the same painting your work will lack unity and be very confusing

You buy the kit mix the colors fill in each number with a color and it will match the painting on the cover of the kit Its easy but not very creative IS IT PAINTING Real painting requires a little more thought and decisions Here is an idea you will find helpful to think about numbers when planning the shape size and placement of objects in your next painting DO TRY IT Its an easy way to understand the concept of positive and negative spaces By visualizing your subject matter as numerals you can more easily see and judge the relationship of positive and negative shapes in your design Most of the negative is the same very boring

Just look at all the BORING SPACE around the number

The small red number 5 is the positive object (it could be a barn a vase of flowers or a figure) It occupies less than 25 of the pictures space and is surrounded by a large amount of negative space The viewer sees only the positive object The negative space provides no visual interest

Here the number 5 has been enlarged and the negative space reduced to create better visual balance When there is less negative space it becomes a stronger visual force in the design Of course making the negative space a warm color makes it visually stronger The viewer is now interested in the negative as well as the positive space

SOME LANDSCAPE PROBLEMS ARISE FROM TIME TO TIME

Our first inclination when we see an exciting subject is to record it (as accurately as possible) in the middle of the page well worry about backgrounds later The examples illustrate the problem with this approach too much uninteresting negative space By simply enlarging the thing I like I have created more interesting negative shapes and a better design Remember if the thing you like doesnt occupy at least 50 of the page youre going to have to do a lot of work to make an effective design

SOME PROBLEMS IN FIGURE PAINTING

When trying to accurately record the figure you can easily forget about designing the space around the figure Too much negative space produces an uninteresting composition By simply enlarging the figure you can create a more dynamic design This seated figure (above) has some interesting negative shapes around him but the seated figure (next page) with the dynamic negative shapes is just what makes Master Pieces stand out from good paintings Just those little things we tend to overlook What you might want to do is look at some Old masters work this week paying attention to Negative shapes Degas is a good place to start He did a drawing of a ballet dancer adjusting her shoe( hope thats what those slippers are called )

How many times have I seen this croppingrdquo with Scissors

Cropping with a device we all use one time or another to improve the design of a finished painting Using L-mats (thats a mat cut into two L-shaped pieces) we reduce the borders of our painting until we discover a more appealing design Then we cut away the excess with a pair of scissors to change the paintings format designing with scissors I have taken a full size painting 22x30 and found four small paintings inside the larger one Theres no law against it and it often works By reducing the negative space (and thus enlarging the positive image) we create a more effective composition

Of course anything you can do to improve a painting is acceptable (Edgar Degas did the reverse of this process he would sometimes add extra strips of paper to the edge of his pastels to enlarge his composition) But if you find yourself constantly relying on this device you probably are starting your painting before you have given sufficient thought to what you want to paint and why Its easy to develop the bad habit of gathering a lot of visual information before you have clearly identified the direction or concept you want to convey Been there done that When youre unclear why you are painting a subject youre unable to decide what to emphasize and what to subdue what to put in and what to leave our Youre simply postponing these decisions until youve finished your painting Its better to think and plan before you paint and not rely on scissors to design your finished painting Why dont you do this take some large paintings that did not please you take a small mat and see if you can find some really great gems inside Im betting you will

Now look hard and you will see a number 4 on a slant leaning to the right The figures asymmetry gesture and position make it a highly effective work of art Now put your thinking cap on think Negative spaces to go from a plain old building flower arrangement still life landscape what ever you are going to paint next from plain good to dynamically great Your can do it if you change your thinking Separate yourself from the crowd DO IT If you just learn and apply the above you dont need to read any more of this lesson it is that important

TO TRY

Started with 12 sheet of 140lb Cold Press Arches Paper House drawn in No other pencil marks Used very large round brush to wash weak coat of Raw Sienna on all the whole area

This will give some idea of the size of the brush shown above on the left is a number 12 round on the right is a number 4 round

Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue for the sky brushed on still wet paper Used Burnt Sienna with Ultra Marine Blue for any Grays you might see

Paper was dried clump of trees painted behind house Masking fluid added for the tops of the blue bonnets

Worked on foreground as I dont carry a tube of green all greens were mixed in the palette or on the paper

My palette Is Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue and Antwerp Blue

YELLOWS Winsor

Yellow and Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) Winsor and Newtons Never any other manufacturers they might fade

REDS Permanent

Alizarin Crimson Winsor Red Cadmium Red Light Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey Antwerp Blue and one of the Yellows produced 75 of the greens in the picture

Trees on the left side painted in

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Shapes can be either positive or negative The illustrations below are shown as negative shapes the silhouette of the subject below left white the surrounding area made dark The symbol has been painted around rather than being filled-in as a positive shape would be

IMAGES CREATING VARIETY

Monotony - Here I have repeated the exact same shape 10 times You can see that this shape when repeated without any variation creates a monotonous design

VARIETY IN PLACEMENT

The spaces between the shapes can become as important to the design as the leaf shapes Variety is achieved by adjusting the size of the surrounding spaces and overlapping Objects placed high on the picture plane have greater pictorial weight

VARIETY BY COMBINING

By overlapping and combining leaf shapes I have created new shapes that provide interest and variation to my design

VARIETY IN HUE

In this illustration I have changed only the hue of the leaf shape - from green to yellow orange to blue I did not attempt to change the value or intensity

VARIETY IN SIZE

To entertain the viewer present various sizes of your shape Dissimilar sizes can suggest distance or growth Larger shapes are generally imposing and demand more attention than smaller ones The size of a shape can also influence the balance of your painting Strive for a harmonious relationship in the sizes of the symbols in your painting

VARIETY IN DIRECTION

The viewers eye moves around the painting according to the direction of the shapes In this sample notice the changing angles of the leaf shape The last two shapes have been flipped to a mirror image or upside down Perhaps the leaves are being blown by the wind or moving toward the sunlight

VARIETY IN TEXTURE

The texture of a shape may be described as smooth rough soft or hard Texture may affect the outside edge of the shape With watercolor you can create many different surfaces by crosshatching scratching and scraping the paint or by dropping color onto wet paper A word of caution adding texture to your shapes may become addictive Too much of a good thing can be very distracting

VARIETY IN A SINGLE SHAPE

Variety may apply to the transition from one shape to the next or within the individual shape Gradual transition within the shape is referred to as gradation It can apply to all of the above elements but is most often used with color The value may change from light to dark and the hue could change from green to orange and the intensity move from clean to sullied The transition in texture can be smooth to rough or from hard to soft

Review these two pages on creating variety in repeating shapes Notice how many different versions of the same shape I have made This is just the beginning When using repeated shapes you should limit yourself to one or two of the approaches Ive described If you attempt to employ all of these approaches in the same painting your work will lack unity and be very confusing

You buy the kit mix the colors fill in each number with a color and it will match the painting on the cover of the kit Its easy but not very creative IS IT PAINTING Real painting requires a little more thought and decisions Here is an idea you will find helpful to think about numbers when planning the shape size and placement of objects in your next painting DO TRY IT Its an easy way to understand the concept of positive and negative spaces By visualizing your subject matter as numerals you can more easily see and judge the relationship of positive and negative shapes in your design Most of the negative is the same very boring

Just look at all the BORING SPACE around the number

The small red number 5 is the positive object (it could be a barn a vase of flowers or a figure) It occupies less than 25 of the pictures space and is surrounded by a large amount of negative space The viewer sees only the positive object The negative space provides no visual interest

Here the number 5 has been enlarged and the negative space reduced to create better visual balance When there is less negative space it becomes a stronger visual force in the design Of course making the negative space a warm color makes it visually stronger The viewer is now interested in the negative as well as the positive space

SOME LANDSCAPE PROBLEMS ARISE FROM TIME TO TIME

Our first inclination when we see an exciting subject is to record it (as accurately as possible) in the middle of the page well worry about backgrounds later The examples illustrate the problem with this approach too much uninteresting negative space By simply enlarging the thing I like I have created more interesting negative shapes and a better design Remember if the thing you like doesnt occupy at least 50 of the page youre going to have to do a lot of work to make an effective design

SOME PROBLEMS IN FIGURE PAINTING

When trying to accurately record the figure you can easily forget about designing the space around the figure Too much negative space produces an uninteresting composition By simply enlarging the figure you can create a more dynamic design This seated figure (above) has some interesting negative shapes around him but the seated figure (next page) with the dynamic negative shapes is just what makes Master Pieces stand out from good paintings Just those little things we tend to overlook What you might want to do is look at some Old masters work this week paying attention to Negative shapes Degas is a good place to start He did a drawing of a ballet dancer adjusting her shoe( hope thats what those slippers are called )

How many times have I seen this croppingrdquo with Scissors

Cropping with a device we all use one time or another to improve the design of a finished painting Using L-mats (thats a mat cut into two L-shaped pieces) we reduce the borders of our painting until we discover a more appealing design Then we cut away the excess with a pair of scissors to change the paintings format designing with scissors I have taken a full size painting 22x30 and found four small paintings inside the larger one Theres no law against it and it often works By reducing the negative space (and thus enlarging the positive image) we create a more effective composition

Of course anything you can do to improve a painting is acceptable (Edgar Degas did the reverse of this process he would sometimes add extra strips of paper to the edge of his pastels to enlarge his composition) But if you find yourself constantly relying on this device you probably are starting your painting before you have given sufficient thought to what you want to paint and why Its easy to develop the bad habit of gathering a lot of visual information before you have clearly identified the direction or concept you want to convey Been there done that When youre unclear why you are painting a subject youre unable to decide what to emphasize and what to subdue what to put in and what to leave our Youre simply postponing these decisions until youve finished your painting Its better to think and plan before you paint and not rely on scissors to design your finished painting Why dont you do this take some large paintings that did not please you take a small mat and see if you can find some really great gems inside Im betting you will

Now look hard and you will see a number 4 on a slant leaning to the right The figures asymmetry gesture and position make it a highly effective work of art Now put your thinking cap on think Negative spaces to go from a plain old building flower arrangement still life landscape what ever you are going to paint next from plain good to dynamically great Your can do it if you change your thinking Separate yourself from the crowd DO IT If you just learn and apply the above you dont need to read any more of this lesson it is that important

TO TRY

Started with 12 sheet of 140lb Cold Press Arches Paper House drawn in No other pencil marks Used very large round brush to wash weak coat of Raw Sienna on all the whole area

This will give some idea of the size of the brush shown above on the left is a number 12 round on the right is a number 4 round

Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue for the sky brushed on still wet paper Used Burnt Sienna with Ultra Marine Blue for any Grays you might see

Paper was dried clump of trees painted behind house Masking fluid added for the tops of the blue bonnets

Worked on foreground as I dont carry a tube of green all greens were mixed in the palette or on the paper

My palette Is Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue and Antwerp Blue

YELLOWS Winsor

Yellow and Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) Winsor and Newtons Never any other manufacturers they might fade

REDS Permanent

Alizarin Crimson Winsor Red Cadmium Red Light Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey Antwerp Blue and one of the Yellows produced 75 of the greens in the picture

Trees on the left side painted in

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

VARIETY IN SIZE

To entertain the viewer present various sizes of your shape Dissimilar sizes can suggest distance or growth Larger shapes are generally imposing and demand more attention than smaller ones The size of a shape can also influence the balance of your painting Strive for a harmonious relationship in the sizes of the symbols in your painting

VARIETY IN DIRECTION

The viewers eye moves around the painting according to the direction of the shapes In this sample notice the changing angles of the leaf shape The last two shapes have been flipped to a mirror image or upside down Perhaps the leaves are being blown by the wind or moving toward the sunlight

VARIETY IN TEXTURE

The texture of a shape may be described as smooth rough soft or hard Texture may affect the outside edge of the shape With watercolor you can create many different surfaces by crosshatching scratching and scraping the paint or by dropping color onto wet paper A word of caution adding texture to your shapes may become addictive Too much of a good thing can be very distracting

VARIETY IN A SINGLE SHAPE

Variety may apply to the transition from one shape to the next or within the individual shape Gradual transition within the shape is referred to as gradation It can apply to all of the above elements but is most often used with color The value may change from light to dark and the hue could change from green to orange and the intensity move from clean to sullied The transition in texture can be smooth to rough or from hard to soft

Review these two pages on creating variety in repeating shapes Notice how many different versions of the same shape I have made This is just the beginning When using repeated shapes you should limit yourself to one or two of the approaches Ive described If you attempt to employ all of these approaches in the same painting your work will lack unity and be very confusing

You buy the kit mix the colors fill in each number with a color and it will match the painting on the cover of the kit Its easy but not very creative IS IT PAINTING Real painting requires a little more thought and decisions Here is an idea you will find helpful to think about numbers when planning the shape size and placement of objects in your next painting DO TRY IT Its an easy way to understand the concept of positive and negative spaces By visualizing your subject matter as numerals you can more easily see and judge the relationship of positive and negative shapes in your design Most of the negative is the same very boring

Just look at all the BORING SPACE around the number

The small red number 5 is the positive object (it could be a barn a vase of flowers or a figure) It occupies less than 25 of the pictures space and is surrounded by a large amount of negative space The viewer sees only the positive object The negative space provides no visual interest

Here the number 5 has been enlarged and the negative space reduced to create better visual balance When there is less negative space it becomes a stronger visual force in the design Of course making the negative space a warm color makes it visually stronger The viewer is now interested in the negative as well as the positive space

SOME LANDSCAPE PROBLEMS ARISE FROM TIME TO TIME

Our first inclination when we see an exciting subject is to record it (as accurately as possible) in the middle of the page well worry about backgrounds later The examples illustrate the problem with this approach too much uninteresting negative space By simply enlarging the thing I like I have created more interesting negative shapes and a better design Remember if the thing you like doesnt occupy at least 50 of the page youre going to have to do a lot of work to make an effective design

SOME PROBLEMS IN FIGURE PAINTING

When trying to accurately record the figure you can easily forget about designing the space around the figure Too much negative space produces an uninteresting composition By simply enlarging the figure you can create a more dynamic design This seated figure (above) has some interesting negative shapes around him but the seated figure (next page) with the dynamic negative shapes is just what makes Master Pieces stand out from good paintings Just those little things we tend to overlook What you might want to do is look at some Old masters work this week paying attention to Negative shapes Degas is a good place to start He did a drawing of a ballet dancer adjusting her shoe( hope thats what those slippers are called )

How many times have I seen this croppingrdquo with Scissors

Cropping with a device we all use one time or another to improve the design of a finished painting Using L-mats (thats a mat cut into two L-shaped pieces) we reduce the borders of our painting until we discover a more appealing design Then we cut away the excess with a pair of scissors to change the paintings format designing with scissors I have taken a full size painting 22x30 and found four small paintings inside the larger one Theres no law against it and it often works By reducing the negative space (and thus enlarging the positive image) we create a more effective composition

Of course anything you can do to improve a painting is acceptable (Edgar Degas did the reverse of this process he would sometimes add extra strips of paper to the edge of his pastels to enlarge his composition) But if you find yourself constantly relying on this device you probably are starting your painting before you have given sufficient thought to what you want to paint and why Its easy to develop the bad habit of gathering a lot of visual information before you have clearly identified the direction or concept you want to convey Been there done that When youre unclear why you are painting a subject youre unable to decide what to emphasize and what to subdue what to put in and what to leave our Youre simply postponing these decisions until youve finished your painting Its better to think and plan before you paint and not rely on scissors to design your finished painting Why dont you do this take some large paintings that did not please you take a small mat and see if you can find some really great gems inside Im betting you will

Now look hard and you will see a number 4 on a slant leaning to the right The figures asymmetry gesture and position make it a highly effective work of art Now put your thinking cap on think Negative spaces to go from a plain old building flower arrangement still life landscape what ever you are going to paint next from plain good to dynamically great Your can do it if you change your thinking Separate yourself from the crowd DO IT If you just learn and apply the above you dont need to read any more of this lesson it is that important

TO TRY

Started with 12 sheet of 140lb Cold Press Arches Paper House drawn in No other pencil marks Used very large round brush to wash weak coat of Raw Sienna on all the whole area

This will give some idea of the size of the brush shown above on the left is a number 12 round on the right is a number 4 round

Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue for the sky brushed on still wet paper Used Burnt Sienna with Ultra Marine Blue for any Grays you might see

Paper was dried clump of trees painted behind house Masking fluid added for the tops of the blue bonnets

Worked on foreground as I dont carry a tube of green all greens were mixed in the palette or on the paper

My palette Is Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue and Antwerp Blue

YELLOWS Winsor

Yellow and Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) Winsor and Newtons Never any other manufacturers they might fade

REDS Permanent

Alizarin Crimson Winsor Red Cadmium Red Light Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey Antwerp Blue and one of the Yellows produced 75 of the greens in the picture

Trees on the left side painted in

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

You buy the kit mix the colors fill in each number with a color and it will match the painting on the cover of the kit Its easy but not very creative IS IT PAINTING Real painting requires a little more thought and decisions Here is an idea you will find helpful to think about numbers when planning the shape size and placement of objects in your next painting DO TRY IT Its an easy way to understand the concept of positive and negative spaces By visualizing your subject matter as numerals you can more easily see and judge the relationship of positive and negative shapes in your design Most of the negative is the same very boring

Just look at all the BORING SPACE around the number

The small red number 5 is the positive object (it could be a barn a vase of flowers or a figure) It occupies less than 25 of the pictures space and is surrounded by a large amount of negative space The viewer sees only the positive object The negative space provides no visual interest

Here the number 5 has been enlarged and the negative space reduced to create better visual balance When there is less negative space it becomes a stronger visual force in the design Of course making the negative space a warm color makes it visually stronger The viewer is now interested in the negative as well as the positive space

SOME LANDSCAPE PROBLEMS ARISE FROM TIME TO TIME

Our first inclination when we see an exciting subject is to record it (as accurately as possible) in the middle of the page well worry about backgrounds later The examples illustrate the problem with this approach too much uninteresting negative space By simply enlarging the thing I like I have created more interesting negative shapes and a better design Remember if the thing you like doesnt occupy at least 50 of the page youre going to have to do a lot of work to make an effective design

SOME PROBLEMS IN FIGURE PAINTING

When trying to accurately record the figure you can easily forget about designing the space around the figure Too much negative space produces an uninteresting composition By simply enlarging the figure you can create a more dynamic design This seated figure (above) has some interesting negative shapes around him but the seated figure (next page) with the dynamic negative shapes is just what makes Master Pieces stand out from good paintings Just those little things we tend to overlook What you might want to do is look at some Old masters work this week paying attention to Negative shapes Degas is a good place to start He did a drawing of a ballet dancer adjusting her shoe( hope thats what those slippers are called )

How many times have I seen this croppingrdquo with Scissors

Cropping with a device we all use one time or another to improve the design of a finished painting Using L-mats (thats a mat cut into two L-shaped pieces) we reduce the borders of our painting until we discover a more appealing design Then we cut away the excess with a pair of scissors to change the paintings format designing with scissors I have taken a full size painting 22x30 and found four small paintings inside the larger one Theres no law against it and it often works By reducing the negative space (and thus enlarging the positive image) we create a more effective composition

Of course anything you can do to improve a painting is acceptable (Edgar Degas did the reverse of this process he would sometimes add extra strips of paper to the edge of his pastels to enlarge his composition) But if you find yourself constantly relying on this device you probably are starting your painting before you have given sufficient thought to what you want to paint and why Its easy to develop the bad habit of gathering a lot of visual information before you have clearly identified the direction or concept you want to convey Been there done that When youre unclear why you are painting a subject youre unable to decide what to emphasize and what to subdue what to put in and what to leave our Youre simply postponing these decisions until youve finished your painting Its better to think and plan before you paint and not rely on scissors to design your finished painting Why dont you do this take some large paintings that did not please you take a small mat and see if you can find some really great gems inside Im betting you will

Now look hard and you will see a number 4 on a slant leaning to the right The figures asymmetry gesture and position make it a highly effective work of art Now put your thinking cap on think Negative spaces to go from a plain old building flower arrangement still life landscape what ever you are going to paint next from plain good to dynamically great Your can do it if you change your thinking Separate yourself from the crowd DO IT If you just learn and apply the above you dont need to read any more of this lesson it is that important

TO TRY

Started with 12 sheet of 140lb Cold Press Arches Paper House drawn in No other pencil marks Used very large round brush to wash weak coat of Raw Sienna on all the whole area

This will give some idea of the size of the brush shown above on the left is a number 12 round on the right is a number 4 round

Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue for the sky brushed on still wet paper Used Burnt Sienna with Ultra Marine Blue for any Grays you might see

Paper was dried clump of trees painted behind house Masking fluid added for the tops of the blue bonnets

Worked on foreground as I dont carry a tube of green all greens were mixed in the palette or on the paper

My palette Is Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue and Antwerp Blue

YELLOWS Winsor

Yellow and Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) Winsor and Newtons Never any other manufacturers they might fade

REDS Permanent

Alizarin Crimson Winsor Red Cadmium Red Light Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey Antwerp Blue and one of the Yellows produced 75 of the greens in the picture

Trees on the left side painted in

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Our first inclination when we see an exciting subject is to record it (as accurately as possible) in the middle of the page well worry about backgrounds later The examples illustrate the problem with this approach too much uninteresting negative space By simply enlarging the thing I like I have created more interesting negative shapes and a better design Remember if the thing you like doesnt occupy at least 50 of the page youre going to have to do a lot of work to make an effective design

SOME PROBLEMS IN FIGURE PAINTING

When trying to accurately record the figure you can easily forget about designing the space around the figure Too much negative space produces an uninteresting composition By simply enlarging the figure you can create a more dynamic design This seated figure (above) has some interesting negative shapes around him but the seated figure (next page) with the dynamic negative shapes is just what makes Master Pieces stand out from good paintings Just those little things we tend to overlook What you might want to do is look at some Old masters work this week paying attention to Negative shapes Degas is a good place to start He did a drawing of a ballet dancer adjusting her shoe( hope thats what those slippers are called )

How many times have I seen this croppingrdquo with Scissors

Cropping with a device we all use one time or another to improve the design of a finished painting Using L-mats (thats a mat cut into two L-shaped pieces) we reduce the borders of our painting until we discover a more appealing design Then we cut away the excess with a pair of scissors to change the paintings format designing with scissors I have taken a full size painting 22x30 and found four small paintings inside the larger one Theres no law against it and it often works By reducing the negative space (and thus enlarging the positive image) we create a more effective composition

Of course anything you can do to improve a painting is acceptable (Edgar Degas did the reverse of this process he would sometimes add extra strips of paper to the edge of his pastels to enlarge his composition) But if you find yourself constantly relying on this device you probably are starting your painting before you have given sufficient thought to what you want to paint and why Its easy to develop the bad habit of gathering a lot of visual information before you have clearly identified the direction or concept you want to convey Been there done that When youre unclear why you are painting a subject youre unable to decide what to emphasize and what to subdue what to put in and what to leave our Youre simply postponing these decisions until youve finished your painting Its better to think and plan before you paint and not rely on scissors to design your finished painting Why dont you do this take some large paintings that did not please you take a small mat and see if you can find some really great gems inside Im betting you will

Now look hard and you will see a number 4 on a slant leaning to the right The figures asymmetry gesture and position make it a highly effective work of art Now put your thinking cap on think Negative spaces to go from a plain old building flower arrangement still life landscape what ever you are going to paint next from plain good to dynamically great Your can do it if you change your thinking Separate yourself from the crowd DO IT If you just learn and apply the above you dont need to read any more of this lesson it is that important

TO TRY

Started with 12 sheet of 140lb Cold Press Arches Paper House drawn in No other pencil marks Used very large round brush to wash weak coat of Raw Sienna on all the whole area

This will give some idea of the size of the brush shown above on the left is a number 12 round on the right is a number 4 round

Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue for the sky brushed on still wet paper Used Burnt Sienna with Ultra Marine Blue for any Grays you might see

Paper was dried clump of trees painted behind house Masking fluid added for the tops of the blue bonnets

Worked on foreground as I dont carry a tube of green all greens were mixed in the palette or on the paper

My palette Is Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue and Antwerp Blue

YELLOWS Winsor

Yellow and Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) Winsor and Newtons Never any other manufacturers they might fade

REDS Permanent

Alizarin Crimson Winsor Red Cadmium Red Light Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey Antwerp Blue and one of the Yellows produced 75 of the greens in the picture

Trees on the left side painted in

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

How many times have I seen this croppingrdquo with Scissors

Cropping with a device we all use one time or another to improve the design of a finished painting Using L-mats (thats a mat cut into two L-shaped pieces) we reduce the borders of our painting until we discover a more appealing design Then we cut away the excess with a pair of scissors to change the paintings format designing with scissors I have taken a full size painting 22x30 and found four small paintings inside the larger one Theres no law against it and it often works By reducing the negative space (and thus enlarging the positive image) we create a more effective composition

Of course anything you can do to improve a painting is acceptable (Edgar Degas did the reverse of this process he would sometimes add extra strips of paper to the edge of his pastels to enlarge his composition) But if you find yourself constantly relying on this device you probably are starting your painting before you have given sufficient thought to what you want to paint and why Its easy to develop the bad habit of gathering a lot of visual information before you have clearly identified the direction or concept you want to convey Been there done that When youre unclear why you are painting a subject youre unable to decide what to emphasize and what to subdue what to put in and what to leave our Youre simply postponing these decisions until youve finished your painting Its better to think and plan before you paint and not rely on scissors to design your finished painting Why dont you do this take some large paintings that did not please you take a small mat and see if you can find some really great gems inside Im betting you will

Now look hard and you will see a number 4 on a slant leaning to the right The figures asymmetry gesture and position make it a highly effective work of art Now put your thinking cap on think Negative spaces to go from a plain old building flower arrangement still life landscape what ever you are going to paint next from plain good to dynamically great Your can do it if you change your thinking Separate yourself from the crowd DO IT If you just learn and apply the above you dont need to read any more of this lesson it is that important

TO TRY

Started with 12 sheet of 140lb Cold Press Arches Paper House drawn in No other pencil marks Used very large round brush to wash weak coat of Raw Sienna on all the whole area

This will give some idea of the size of the brush shown above on the left is a number 12 round on the right is a number 4 round

Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue for the sky brushed on still wet paper Used Burnt Sienna with Ultra Marine Blue for any Grays you might see

Paper was dried clump of trees painted behind house Masking fluid added for the tops of the blue bonnets

Worked on foreground as I dont carry a tube of green all greens were mixed in the palette or on the paper

My palette Is Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue and Antwerp Blue

YELLOWS Winsor

Yellow and Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) Winsor and Newtons Never any other manufacturers they might fade

REDS Permanent

Alizarin Crimson Winsor Red Cadmium Red Light Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey Antwerp Blue and one of the Yellows produced 75 of the greens in the picture

Trees on the left side painted in

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

TO TRY

Started with 12 sheet of 140lb Cold Press Arches Paper House drawn in No other pencil marks Used very large round brush to wash weak coat of Raw Sienna on all the whole area

This will give some idea of the size of the brush shown above on the left is a number 12 round on the right is a number 4 round

Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue for the sky brushed on still wet paper Used Burnt Sienna with Ultra Marine Blue for any Grays you might see

Paper was dried clump of trees painted behind house Masking fluid added for the tops of the blue bonnets

Worked on foreground as I dont carry a tube of green all greens were mixed in the palette or on the paper

My palette Is Ultra Marine Blue Cobalt Blue and Antwerp Blue

YELLOWS Winsor

Yellow and Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) Winsor and Newtons Never any other manufacturers they might fade

REDS Permanent

Alizarin Crimson Winsor Red Cadmium Red Light Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey Antwerp Blue and one of the Yellows produced 75 of the greens in the picture

Trees on the left side painted in

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Foreground developed there was some masking fluid to save the white paper (top of Blue Bonnets) House painting in

Removed trees completely from behind house This was done with Magic Eraser see the website for details under Technique Replaced trees behind house and developed more of the foreground Added sky and other details Finished Painting

Have fun copying this study Try to finish this in about 3 to 4 hours The sky was painted with a large brush and NO FUSSING Try ( going back and forth) to put the colours down with large broad brush strokes I started in the top left corner and worked very rapidly with diagonal brush marks across the sheet

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

WHY WITH BIG SHAPES

There is no element in designing a painting that is more important than the size relationship of the shapes you employ One of the generally accepted principles of design is variety in the division of space A page is more visually interesting when divided into different size shapes No one ever looked at a checker board and proclaimed its beauty In order to achieve variety bit shapes are necessary to play against smaller shapes

It is only by comparison that size differences are made clear Dominance is another principle of design Dominance is achieved when there is enough of one element to dominate other elements The minute you create a big shape of similar color value or texture a dominance is made Andrew Wyeth created a warm neutral color dominance in Christinas World by making the field occupy three quarters of the painting In Taking on Wet Provisions Winslow Homer make a light value dominance by painting the sky and water a light value against the smaller darker shadow portion of the schooner Lines dominate the majority of the paintings of John Marin and make a textural dominance by their overwhelming size

Small shapes seem weakbig shapes generous Big shapes appear generous and big spirited They convey certainty and commitment to the subject matter and to the viewer Small shapes seem weak and lack conviction I am not saying that you should only paint huge objectselephants and aircraft hangers Big shapes can be made from many small shapes Just as it takes hundreds of trees to make a forest so too can houses people trees and cars be joined to make on generous shape from what might be portrayed as 15 stingy shapes I often begin a class by encouraging students to think big Big hopes big brushes big ideas big shapes big colors big prices and big expectations To do otherwise is to flirt with defeat One needs only to be a student of great art and artists to appreciate this approach I ask you to test this concept by looking at your favorite art and artists Painting big is the result of thinking big I have seem students make little shapes with huge brushes and monumental shapes with two haired brushes Charles Reid makes beautifully generous figure shapes with 10 and 12 round brushes while Christopher Schink paints beautiful shapes with a 2 inch bristle brush I even saw the palette and brushes of Winslow Homer on display at the National Gallery and there was not one brush bigger than a 8 round Certainly there is a lesson to be learned from these examples Big shapes are make with your head

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

EDGES

Forget about the middle work on the edges If you miss getting a silhouette correct all is lost

If you draw say a flower with the correct silhouette but get the interior wrong viewers will know its a flower

Get the interior right silhouette wrong no one will recognize it as a flower Forget about the middle - GOT IT Keep this thought in mind when drawing or painting EDGES TELL THE STORY INCIDENTS AT THE EDGES Means something should be happening at the edges of a SHAPE things should stick out or down into it These ups and downs at the edge should be varied

Its important that you do this to the edge of a shape because we pay more attention to a shapes silhouette than to anything in its interior

FADING OUT EDGES There are many occasions in Watercolor when you want to fade out or soften the edge of a colored area For example you may want more eye movement throughout your picture You can do that by softening a few of the hard edges on shapes as it is being painted

Clouds Rocks are a perfect examples Control what the viewer sees Fading out edges can direct the eye to see what you want them to see If you dont want them to notice an edge fade it out This can and is used by doing the following

It now was a very very absorbent paper in fact just touching it with water the water was sucked in so fast I never had time to lift the brush off the paper before it had been absorbed Knew I was in deep trouble Where I applied the paint that brush mark stayed right there It could not be removed it did not stay wet longer than 2 to 3 seconds

The large shape was painted first my thinking was with a dark background I could cut into the white shape and produce a series of interesting edges when the background went in The problem was the background did not go in for about six months having left it in the trunk for the car covered by all kinds of stuff that normally is found in an untidy trunk completely forgot about it It was rescued only this week during spring cleaning forgot about spring cleaning also Much to my surprise the papers sizing (most of it) had decided to leave the surface Really dont blame it it gets hot in a trunk

Here is a big shape painted with nothing smaller then a 12 brush

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

GETTING IT RIGHT

As mentioned if two bodies of unequal moisture meet the wetter area will overflow into the drier area in order to balance out the system So if you want an area to fade out you must use a brush that is less wet than the painted area There are a few other things you must also get right One is the direction in which you move the damp brush Follow the shape or contour of the painted area Dont reach into the paint and drag out color Also be careful how close you get to the wet paint with the damp brush All you are trying to do is lay down a damp strip that will attract the wetter paint so just tickle the edge of the paint It may take several passes with the damp brushing in order to moisten the paper enough Once the paint begins to move make your strokes farther and farther out Its best if you have your damp brush ready to go as youre laying in the area you want to fade out If your damp brush is working as soon as the paint is down youre more likely to succeed Remember that the drier the paint gets the less willing it is to flow and the harder it is to get a less wet brush to move it Therefore get to fading out quickly and by all means do some practicing

DOS AND DONT OF FADING OUT

Remember that your brush must be less wet than the painted area youre trying to fade out Follow the contour of the wet paint just tickling the edge of the painted area Dont reach into the paint to put it out If you go too far into the paint your damp brush will just soak it up

Have a damp brush ready before you even put the paint down

Forget the middle work on edges When you are first learning to paint in watercolor you dont think much about edges Youre mostly concerned with control You consider the painting a technical triumph when the dark green leaves youre painting dont run into your roses or your trees bleed into your barn To avoid these disasters you may even leave thin white borders around every object or allow each area to dry before painting an adjoining area Although you didnt make any mistakes the resulting painting had a hard-edged itchy quality to it The edges throughout were monotonously similar You were probably unaware of how variation in edge can serve both as a descriptive device and as an effective design element in your painting SOFT EDGESSoft edges are created by working into moist area with dryer paint or re-wetting dry edges Softening the outside edges of a round form will make it appear more three-dimensional DRYBRUSHA dry-brush effect is created by rapidly dragging the heel of the brush (rather than its tip) across dry paper HARD EDGESharpe edges are created with a loaded brush held perpendicular to the dry paper Cast shadows take a hard edge and help define a form

In Fig 3 are some random marks In Fig 4 you can see what they mean once I soften some of

the edges as I paint in other words tell you where not to look

Fading out also is the method to use to model a shape with shadows

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

TEXTUREThe texture of an object is most apparent at the outside edge of the object and on the edge of the shadow on it We see very little texture in the middle of the illuminated or shaded area of an object VARIATIONA less static relationship between figure and ground is achieved when some edges are soft and some are hard some lost and some found DESCRIPTIVE EDGESWe can most clearly detect the texture and form of an object whether its rough or smooth round or square at its outside edge or at the edge of the shadow on it You dont have to spend the entire afternoon painting every leaf on a tree with a 6 brush to show its bushy Nor do you have to get the Saran-wrap or a credit card out every time you paint a rock You can quickly and effectively suggest the texture and form of an object by making its edges descriptive EDGE AS A DESIGN DEVICE Our eyes and brains are very selective we focus on the things that interest us and everything else becomes soft and vague Unlike a camera our eyes cant bring the foreground middle ground and background into sharp focus at the same time We can only focus on one selected area at a time As painters we select the area (or areas) we want viewers to see by employing hard and soft edges in our composition to create focus By softening (or losing) edges between objects or areas (for example the foreground and background) we create passages that allow the viewers eye to move through the design By sharpening (or finding) edges we attract and hold the viewers attention on areas of importance THE TECHNIQUE -- HOW TO PAINT VARIED EDGES You probably know already how to get hard edges your paintings are filled with them Its soft edges and rough edges you need to learn to paint And control Theyre a basic part of a painters vocabulary Four elements control the quality of edge you create in a painting the texture and moistness of the paper youre working on the moistness of the paint your applying the softness or stiffness of the brush youre using and the angle you hold the brush

HARD EDGES

Paper - Smooth Dry (CP or H P) Paint - Liquid Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to allow paint to flow freely

SOFT EDGES

Paper - Smooth Wet or Moist Paint - Moist Brush - Soft wash or pointed Angle - Brush tip perpendicular to paper to apply moist paint

BROKEN EDGES

Paper - Rough Dry Paint - Slightly Moist Brush - Stiff (bristle) Angle - Brush held almost horizontally so only heel touches paper

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

PAINTING ALL KINDS OF SKIES

We all share the same sky but we all have different horizons The first thing you must keep in mind this is no place to use very small brushes Large brushes can deliver a lot of paint in a hurry with the fewest brush strokes Skies as large as they are normally do not take very long to paint Provided you have your colors already mixed on your palette so you dont have to run around hunting for them during the painting process Think about it this grand atmospheric wonder can create the desired mood and drama in your work RE-CAP generally skies are no place to dilly-dally with small brushes Make some clouds by fading out (losing an edge)

Making Clouds by Fading Out

Mix up a Gray your choice in this case I am going to use Cobalt Blue and Raw Sienna You can manipulate the color cooler add more Blue or warmer with more Raw Sienna

STEP 1

Paint an irregular mark across your paper

Using another damp brush lose an edge Let it dry

STEP 2

Repeat step 1 varying the width and length for each cloud shape Repeat as many times as you feel will work for you

Here is the edge of a cloud

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Then with another damp brush soften some of the edges as in this image

This is how that one mark should finish up

As you proceed up the sky the clouds should be warmer and darker For a professional touch their edges should be more irregular

You might want to paint wet-in-wet skies letting the paint flow and mingle freely across the paper Again have paint color pre-mixed in the palette I cannot imagine the situation in the painting process where you would not pre-mix the paint I am not saying mix the colors together on the palette Just pre-mix puddles of color into separate pools For shadows of clouds use a mixture of Cobalt Blue + Burnt Sienna On wet paper lay in the color in blotches using a well loaded brush It might look better if you placed the blotches in a diagonal pattern

Or you might want a clearer brighter day look So instead use just Blue but remember to make the Blue areas small towards the bottom of the painting

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

STORMY SKIES

How about painting a sky that makes you want to grab an umbrella

1) Paint the base sky and cloud masses Establish a horizon line and wet the paper from the top down to the horizon line With the paper slightly tilted toward you lay a light blue wet wash into the sky with a 1-inch (25mm) flat brush starting at the top of the paper working down to the horizon line While the paper is still wet use the same brush to apply a semi-wet mix of Gray-Violet for the dark cloud mass starting at the top of the paper and working down Overlap some of the brush stokes to give the clouds some movement 2) Intensify the clouds While the paper is still wet use a 1-inch (25 mm) flat brush to apply a drier darker mix of Gray-Violet by adding some reddish brown to the mix Overlap and vary the mixes of paint with a 1-inch (25mm) flat to get a turbulent look in the sky

Graded Wash

A graded wash makes a great sky on its own or is the start for many others The trick to smooth color gradation if thats what you want is to tilt your board so that gravity and the water can do the work Here we are tilting the board

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

When the paint dries and stops running it is going to look like this (above)

Here is another Graded wash

1) START WITH A GRADED SKY Every sunrise or sunset is different The only consistent feature is the gradation from cool color to warm as you approach the sun In this exercise gradate the pale background wash from Cobalt Blue at the top to Permanent Rose then to Indian Yellow Oops lost the yellow There it is (see image below)

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

2) ADD GRADED CLOUDS Gradate the clouds cool to warm but make them duller and darker than the sky Mix all three sky colors to make a mauve-like Gray Use this for the top clouds Gradually work your way down adding more clouds More red into the gray then more yellow as you get to the bottom TIP dont clean the brush as you go from red to yellow

3) ADD THE FINAL TOUCHES The contrast of adding dark land will make the sky seem brighter

FINISHED PAINTING

This is just an idea of the church on the hill from last week and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Skies are also on the move Each one is as different as those of us that admire them Most of us do not spend a great deal of the painting skies in landscapes because I think we all consider them as backdrops of color for the rest of the painting Something as simple as a quick wash of color is often all that is necessary to suggest the sky without having it complete with the main sunset of the painting TIP - this is what I was taught complicated sky simple foreground Simple sky with complicated foreground Here is a painting that I did as a demo in the classroom It was painted with very little brush work What I did was to place the colors into little plastic cups (the type that were in boxes of tide powder Then just poured one color in a top corner of the board on wet paper rocked the board back and forth if the paint does not move fast enough ( very little action) spray the edges with clean water DO NOT SPRAY the interior of the poured area Dried the paper Now re-wet areas where I felt another color would look good and poured on other color dried the paper and continued with other color Might have got carried away with the number of colors but the class including myself had a great time pouring colors drying re-wetting and then manipulated the board directing the flow of the fresh paint moving rocking the board back and forth Looking back on it there is no way I would have the skill to apply the colors with a brush although I have not tried

Complicated sky (to say the least) Simple foreground

Please copy and copy again All the examples giving Remember there has been last time I counted 1289 books written how to ride a bicycle you can read them all BUT you will not learn until you get on one

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

THE ELEMENTS OF PAINTING LANDSCAPES

When you think about it in a landscape you are just painting a series of shapes that the viewer can identify and relate to You might be weak on one or more of these elements perhaps you are proficient at skies but moving water is a problem for you Each will focus on a bite size instruction This is a fact that I have seen repeated time and time again over the last three decades of giving painting instructions You can be great in painting XYZ but a bit weak with ABC spoiling the whole picture If you copy the step-by-step painting instructions three to four times Your confidence level will Soar

Little Church on the hill This is a painting by a student of Painting Weekly Online newsletter It is very well executed showing good command of brush strokes

The winter landscape gives us a wonderful opportunity to see things in a new way We can see how trees are constructed when theyre bare and snow provides dramatic contrasts while softening all forms playing hide-and-seek with everything thats underneath To create a sense of unity she started with a weak yellow wash under-painting Then decided to lead the eye into the woods

Then at the very last minute an idea flashed into her mind to put a church at the end of the fence which has been placed perfectly off center both horizontally and vertically There is a great linear dominance in this painting vertical trees posts and building The only relief to these somewhat monotonous vertical lines is a diagonal fence and snow line but it is not enough Just look at all those trees boring You must learn to put some horizontal lines or shapes just two or three will do

ART PRINCIPLES AT WORK

Achieving unity through color One of the first things you should ask yourself before starting a painting is what do I want the viewer to feel while looking at this scene That will dictate the mood or color dominance In this case a warm color was used in the upper half of the painting but perhaps a cool color choice would have imparted more of a wintry feeling Regardless whatever color dominance you choose this color should be repeated even if it just a hint in other parts of the painting For instance the foreground tree shadow could have reflected some of that warm sky color

CREATING A DOMINANCE OF LINE

Dominance vertical objects require accents of horizontals or as in a landscape like this one diagonals In addition dominant straight lines require the accent of curves A cityscape for example can be softened by placing trees along the sidewalk or in a park Looking at Little church on the hill the advice of 18th century artist William Hogarth comes to mind when comparing the fence posts and trees Hogarth taught that anything alive is best expressed with S curves while straight lines should be reserved for dead material In this case the trees and fence posts are both made of wood but the former is alive and the latter dead Include some curves via the branches which helps but curving the trunks a bit more would create better contrasts with the straight fence posts

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

SUPPORTING YOUR FOCAL POINTS

The title of this painting along with the directional lines of the fence suggested that the viewer is supposed to look at the church

Yet the strongest statement here with the most textural detail is the foreground tree its strong dark value and large shape force us to focus our attention on it The artist admits that the church was an afterthought and with the fence forcing the viewers eye to that area I can see why they felt something was needed at the end of that visual arrow Heres an example of where more advance planning would have helped In my sketch to put the focus back on the church I added more value contrast around it to make its while walls (most New England churches are white) stand out I surrounded the building with more cadmium orange and burnt sienna

To tone down the foreground trees impact I tried to reduce its width (with little luck) I did build up the snowdrift at its base and kept its trunk values warm and light Later took out the snow round the tree Adding textural details was tempting but I forced myself to concentrate only on light and shade Still the tree large and demanding lots of viewers attention(which I did not want)

This is one of thousands of ways to paint the little church on the hill So I decided to give you a sunset going down over snow covered rolling hills AND still remain a winter scene The large tree on the left could have well been left out on second thoughts (I think the large tree shown in the original painting influenced my plan trying to match it) I also had it very dark trunk like the original that immediately took the viewer away from the main center of interest the church So color was lifted out ( scrubbed more like it) with small stiff brush it then became of secondary interest

STEP 1 The only pencil marks on the paper were a tree fence line church and the strong line for the diagonal hill top going left to right The church was masked out so was the sun and a few trees to the right (never did paint them thinking they looked interesting as white so left them alone STEP 2 Wet the sheet from the diagonal line and up to top of paper The board is slightly tilted towards me With a 1 brush (25mm) flat I added a wet mix of Winsor Yellow along the horizon using horizontal strokes moving upward into the sky Next I introduced a wet mix of Red-Magenta Again using horizontal strokes bringing some of the RedMagenta down into the Yellow Quickly follow this wash with Ultramarine Blue with just a touch of Red Starting at the top and moving down into the RedMagenta

Remember every part is still wet so try to blend them together with a few strokes Dont overwork and just before it dries use a small damp brush to suggest a few trees on the horizon in front of the sun As the trees get farther away from the sun their shapes will get darker (you can do that later if you wish) STEP 3 Create the row of bushes and trees in the background Reds Yellows and Burnt Sienna will work Be sure to wet the area in front of the sun you dont want the above paint settling in there If it does blot with a tissue

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Now using a fairly dry brush paint the three colors pushing the brush away from you holding it horizontal to the paper Dry Then repeat with darker colors painting only about 50 of the area previously painting While this is still wet drop in some darker color paint right on the line of the large diagonal Dry and spray water about 1 wide across the sky area (just above the top of the church) then drop in a weak Red giving you the impression of a floating clouds

STEP 4 Painted in a few trees with a rigger brush I tend to paint these with the brush hairs pointing towards me the brush is horizontal to the paper and pushed upward away from me STEP 5 A weak wash of Cerulean Blue indicating the snow

Burnt Sienna took care of the fence posts I then removed the frisket from the church and used a small brush for doors and windows

The big tree still bothers me I am going to re-paint it without the tree I will also make it more colorful It will be fun

This is just an idea of the church on the hill and we had an ugly tree on the left side This was just a fun painting very easy to do without the ugly tree I think you get the idea that there is snow on the ground even though its a bright painting

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Dramatic changes can add interest to any scene

This painting by Barbara a student presents a mood of solitude and seclusion

It was a copy of an exercise in some book or magazine (she could not remember) These are just a few of the major points that I felt needed changing First lets describe the painting

House is set back giving it some depth in the picture plane Trees are grouped as a backdrop which added some contrast to the house The overall saturation of the warm greenish tone sets the mood and holds the painting somewhat together The house was intended to be the star attraction Id say that was because the ugly gate has taken over The big dark trees also appear to take something away from the house Lets look at the barrier Barbara erected stopping the viewer dead in their tracks The fence and gate is clumsy and obtrusive enough to set up a barrier between the viewer and the rest of the composition

Granted the foreground is often the trickiest part to handle So the thinking might have been put in a gate and fence that will fill it up Include too much detail and you discourage the viewers eye from moving back into the picture place and exploring the rest of the composition The viewer will not even linger to look and pass right by your effort not giving it a second look Put in very little detail on the other hand and the foreground becomes an empty monotonous area I am not too happy how the path- way from gate to house was painted straight diagonal paths and also streams and rivers are difficult to pull off How many rivers have you seen going uphill - it happens all the time if you paint in a straight diagonal river etc etc Zigzag or curve them Move the small tree thats in front of the corner of the house its too conveniently lined up with the corner

Correcting awkward intersections of lines

There is a bad awkward line in this picture Dont read any further can you see it Heres a clue for you - the gate The corner of the house touches the diagonal of the gate creating a tangent that makes the house rise up off the ground Also does the house appear to you as if its glued to the gate The house itself would benefit from varying shades of color and texture to show its age A change in value from one side of the house to the other is a good way to show dimension also suggesting a light source

LESSONS LEARNED

Reducing the size of a known object as it goes into the distance plays a big part in creating depth See the sizes and height of the fence posts in the study painting also the width of the road decreases Overemphasize the strong contrasts and put unexpected colors in your painting Dont over do it I must admit maybe I just went a little overboard in the following painting but I enjoyed doing it knowing full well that I might use the study for a future painting Above all its always good to have a plan and thumbnail sketches will save you frustration and confusion Youll find that you enjoy your painting experiences much more

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

That being said I have a confession to make in the painting below I found myself painting to correct obvious errors not paying any attention to what the final result would look like First thought get rid of that fence and produce a way for the viewer to go to the house

Applied frisket to the fence posts and roof of house Painted yellow and orange foliage

Painted shadows across the drive way mixture perm alizarin crimson and Phthalo green

So in went the roadway This showed great depth to the picture plain In went a decreasing fence Now from the foreground to the house it to me looks about 500 yards Previously put some colors you did not expect so in went Reds and Oranges

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Dont detail the foliage in the trees so small cut-out stencils were made Actually napkins with holes torn in them and taped to the painting Then the paint was thrown onto the paper surface by loading a round brush with a very dark green and the loaded brush tapped sharply against the handle of another brush producing a group of large dots some were joined by a spray bottle held very close (Not a mist bottle)

DETAIL OF THE TREE TRUNKS

This is what I did Wet the trunk with water then only painted about 25 of the width and tilted the board to make the paint slowly go across the other 75 of the wet trunk

I painted very loose around the fence in the foreground

HERES THE FINISHED STUDY

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment onto a palette dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder in this case the binder will be the yolk of a egg and mixing with watercolors Some pigments require slightly more binder some require less Distilled water is added This painting technique is TOTALLY different to the above examples which is about as loose as I paint This will make you think outside the box which will not hurt you one bit

Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is egg tempera For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used The white of the egg and even the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside) The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a greasy and watery consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk As tempera dries the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air

Application

Tempera paint dries rapidly It is normally applied in thin semi-opaque or transparent layers Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes applied in a cross-hatching technique When dry it produces a smooth matte finish On the other hand tempera colors do not change over time whereas oil paints darken yellow and become transparent with age

Ground

Historically wood panels were used as the substrate and more recently un-tempered Masonite and modern composite boards have been employed I have had good luck with Clay-board a manufactured painting panel which simplifies the painting process a great deal It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with

Having said that it would seem though that you have to be of a certain personality type to use it The nature of egg tempera is to work with small bits of information you cannot blend brush strokes and you cannot brush out large flat or graded areas of color without difficulty You also have to make it separate the yolk from the white Heavy paper is also used I have used 140-lb Hot press paper that has been stretched

Tempera artists

George Tooker Robert Vickrey Peter Hurd and Andrew Wyeth Egg Tempera is one of the earliest forms of paint It reached its peak usage during the middle ages its popularity as a painting medium was replaced by oil paint

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Egg tempera is not like acrylics gauche or oil paint It is unique with its own appearance and working properties and has proven to be one of the most permanent of paints available to an artist Its precise nature and flow off the brush make it ideal for highly detailed work It dries to the touch almost immediately and does not lift into succeeding layers of paint making it an easy paint to work with There are tube egg tempera paints available but these are actually eggoil emulsions (oil added for shelf life) and a very different paint

Paint is combination of two elements pigment the color and binder the adhesive It is the binder that gives paint its working properties and in egg tempera paint the binder is an egg

First separate the yolk from the white Crack open an egg over a bowl discarding the egg whites Separate the yolk from the egg white by transferring yolk to the other half of the egg shell carefully while letting the egg white dribble out and away Handle the egg yolk gently transferring it back and forth between the egg shells until most of the white is gone Try not to break the egg yolk at this stage

Roll the yolk onto a paper towel Gently roll the egg yolk on the paper towel to remove any excess egg white You should see the egg white residue on the towel Try not to break the egg yolk Puncture the yolk sack into a container (discarding the yolk sack) and add water (1 to 1) this is the egg yolk binder

Release the egg yolk from its egg sac by poking a small hole in the egg yolk with a knife Hold the egg over a container to catch the egg yolk Continue holding the egg yolk sac until all of the egg yolk has been transferred to the container Discard the egg yolk sac Add one teaspoon of distilled water to the egg yolk This will create the egg yolk medium This is the basics for making egg tempera paint I remember when I first started and trying to find an exact recipe for making paint Eggs vary as do personal preferences The strength of preparing your own paint is that you can make it as you wish There is a wide range of paint in-between I have two friends also working with egg tempera and when we first got together to compare notes we found that we all worked with the paint differently

There is no one way of painting with egg tempera Much of its history has been guessed since little knowledge of mixtures or techniques have survived to the present day Blend the egg medium and the paint pigment on a white or gray paint palette Play with the amounts until the egg tempera is a workable consistency Test the color by dipping a paint brush into the egg tempera paint and painting a test stroke Glaze paintings with egg tempera paints by increasing the amount of distilled water in the mix Create layers of paint letting each layer dry in-between Experiment with different egg temper artists that normally use oil painting or watercolors avoid black pigments because they produce muddy colors This is not true in egg tempera painting Egg tempera works very well for producing wonderful glazes without ever lifting the color below it See the large florals below

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Apply the tempered mixture to the surface in thin layers usually using a sable round brush The nature of egg tempera is that the painting surface is built up thin strokes in many layers of alternating translucent or opalescent (halfway between transparent and opaque) paint film that gradually build up the forms of the scene Several layers of a color such as cadmium yellow create an opaque layer of yellow Layers of different colors produce subtle mixtures of those colors with the colors of the top layers dominating Alternating layers of yellow and blue for instance will produce subtle greens although you can of course mix your pigment to produce the green you want Normally you work from the background objects in the scene gradually forward to the foreground objects Working this way you gradually build up the painting until you achieve the image you want

Making the Paints

Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above Because of the gum Arabic in the watercolors the paint will be more slippery than traditional egg tempera and harden somewhat differently but it will give you a feel for how egg tempera handles Traditional egg tempera is made with powdered pigment Do not recommend that you do this Powder pigment is a health hazard dont panic when mixed into watercolors NO PROBLEM The dust is the thing to avoid Specifically it allows building up transparent glazes that dont lift the underlying layers Getting the right ratio of pigment to egg-water medium is not scientific again each pigment requires a different amount of medium The correct proportion of yolk medium can be determined with a few trial strokes of your paint mixture Egg tempera has a characteristic slight sheen which can be seen by looking at dry strokes from an angle A chalky or dull look means more medium is needed If the paint strokes take more than a few seconds to dry or look greasy theres too much medium in the mixture Squeeze dabs of watercolor onto your palette and mix with egg yolk-water medium as described above

Painting with Egg Tempera

Egg tempera paints demand a more delicate application than most other paints Usually sable red sable or soft nylon brushes are used with good points and long bristles Once loaded with paint the brush is wiped on a rag or tissue or between thumb and forefinger to remove excess paint which could create blobs at the end of each stroke or slow the drying time of the stroke Each stroke is laid down quickly and precisely and should dry to the touch in four or five seconds The action is more like using a pen or pencil than typical brushwork Each stroke remains separate and must be allowed to dry before applying another one on top of it Use water freely to rinse brushes and thin color but wipe the brush before applying strokes so that the brush and stroke are fairly dry The paint should appear translucent rather than opaque that translucency plus the gradual build-up of thin layers of paint gives egg tempera its characteristic clarity and luminosity So how does it look now you wasted two or three eggs broke the yolk didnt you Here is a few examples of paintings or I should say just parts of a painting it is not good business practice to have a painting all over the internet So I can in this instant show only part

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Charlene Patton Biography I was born and raised in the Chicago area I come from a long line of artists and china painters so painting seemed to be naturally inside of me and as a child I reached for crayons and paints first to entertain myself As I got older my main source of entertainment was books about art and sculpture I found color stimulating and creating with color felt natural to me Even though I had two years of art training in school I still consider myself self taught I started painting with oils when my children were grown I migrated to watercolor and never looked back To me each and every painting I complete has a portion of my heart and soul tucked in there

Stargazers 11x14 Watercolor on 140 lb cold press 300 Series paper

As a fine artist I always rely on my design background while composing a watercolor painting By this I mean focusing on the elements My main focus for my art is flowers Being a gardener I know their habits well and painting flowers always seems to be a labor of love

Day 1When I start a painting I start with a detailed sketch of the main elements and take artistic license later when I start adding color I generally wet the area and add color washesand when dry I will add more washes with deeper intensity

Day 2I now define what areas need more color and also proceed to fill in the blank areas with light washes

Day 3the painting is almost finished as I have now used even deeper color in main areas I decided to let the Lily in the center and the two buds remain the natural pink while I deepened the surrounding flowers and buds with more violet to send them into the background and make the subject pop

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Day 4The dark background by now has had many washes of Paynes Grey It provides a pleasing depth that I prefer over black

Day 5The painting is allowed to dry overnight and then signed

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

See more of Charlene Pattonrsquos artwork on her Facebook page Here a just a few of her watercolor paintings

Jim Black was born in London England where he studied commercial art and engineering at the Northern Polytechnic School in London Working as a design engineer Jim traveled widely and diversified his work He and his family moved to the United States where he sought out Masters of Watercolor Medium - notability Michael Atkinson Darryl Trott Tom Lynch and Nita Engle studying with them in workshops

For several years Jim lived in Southern Mexico where he taught at the Art Institute in San Miguel de Allende Then five years later Jim had an opportunity to teach in the USA where he held on-going classes and workshops year round until he retired in 2010 Jim started a website wwwjims-watercolor-gallerycom in 2007 which he and his family put together Jim has become a great success both as a professional watercolorist and watercolor instructor but its helping others improve their watercolor painting skills that he finds most rewarding Jim has earned a reputation as a First Class Artist and Instructor Many of his students have gone on to become world famous watercolorist in their own right - including Beatrice Uribe who was one of Jims students from 2002 to 2004 and now has many of her paintings hanging in Galleries all over the world She is known as one of the best watercolor artists specializing in painting people in watercolor and credits Jim with much of her success

Jims Watercolor Gallery

The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the copyright holder

Jim Black creator and owner of Watercolor For Me

And Jimrsquos Watercolor Gallery

Copyright 2014