DPAVLOFFSTUDIO.COM

HOME      PERSONAL      GALLERY      DEMONSTRATION 1    IN PROGRESS      CLASSES      LINKS


Demonstration 2
An unconventional way to mix colors by attempting to make the colors as 'muddy' as possible

 

Watercolor is a much maligned and misunderstood medium.  Historically it's been considered a lightweight medium that 'real artists' (who were always men) used to make color sketches for their serious paintings, which were mostly all in oil.  With the exception of a few men like Turner and Constable, watercolor was left to women and children for their 'less important' paintings. 

But ironically, while being considered a child's medium by some, watercolor has also suffered a reputation as being a difficult, temperamental, and unforgiving medium by those intimidated by it's fluid transparency.  It's commonly thought that with watercolor you can't make mistakes, and the warning  "You've got to get it right the first time!" has become an accepted cliché.  The three paintings below illustrate how wrong that thinking is, and how wonderfully watercolor lends itself to a spirit of experimentation and adventure. 

The subject is the infamous 'Round Barn' in Santa Rosa, California.  The Round Barn is a favorite victim of plein air painters, and with the exception of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, it's probably the subject of more bad paintings than any other landmark west of the Mississippi River.  Not wanting to add to them, I've never painted it before, but it's a perfect subject for a demonstration like this one so I decided to risk it.  I'm painting it from memory so I apologize for the many details I've surely gotten wrong. 


In this first painting I've used the familiar colors of blue sky, green trees, dry yellow grass, and a traditional red barn.  The image is safe , and the colors are straight out of the tube.  I haven't risked making mud by doing any mixing of any kind.  These are the colors I plan to use in the finished painting, but only after I've under painted them with the complementary colors from the painting on the right.


 

 

 

 

 

In this second painting I've deliberately created a color 'negative' of the painting on the left.  I've painted every area with the color complement of the color I want in the finished painting.  I've gone to all this trouble so I'll have two guides when I start the final painting.  My plan is to under paint each area of the final painting with the colors in the negative below, and then cover them with the finished colors from the painting on the left.

But won't that create 'mud' you ask?  Check out the painting below, and see if it did.



 

 

 

 

The colors in this final painting are far richer and more interesting than the colors straight out of the tube in the first painting above.  By starting each area with an under painting of the complement to the final color, the result is a livelier and more vibrant painting than could ever be achieved by going for the right color on the first application.  The only thing missing is the big ugly "Fountain Grove Ranch" sign that so many painters seem to think they have to include every time they paint the Round Barn.  After all - it's 'there' and how could they leave it out?

 


In the paintings below you can see the same principles hold true for portraits
 

 

In this first painting I've used the colors I want dominant in the final painting with little or no mixing.

 

 

 


 

In the second painting I've created a color negative of the first image.  I'm always intrigued by this step.

 

 

 

 

 

In the final painting I painted each area with the color negative complement first, and then covered it with the color I used in the first painting.  As you can see, a little green in face and some orange eyes and hair never hurt anybody.  In fact a lot of folks would say that in my case it's an improvement.

 

HOME     PERSONAL     GALLERY     DEMONSTRATION 1     IN PROGRESS     CLASSES     LINKS