Watercolor Painting: A Comprehensive Approach to Mastering the Medium (10 page)

This detail of
My New Shoes
shows the efficiency with which John Yardley presents his subject, which is part of the appeal of the painting. Everything we need to know is here, with nothing extra. The artist stopped as soon as the story was told. We are presented with the essential information and invited to imagine the rest.

JOHN YARDLEY,
MY NEW SHOES,
2011
WATERCOLOR ON PAPER
16 × 12 INCHES (41 × 30 CM)

There is no question that this is a satisfying painting—both in form and in content. Framing the backlit figures with a cool, dark neutral highlights their radiance and focuses our attention on the dark-haired girl’s fascination with her wonderful new shoes. A closer look, feature by feature, reveals that the painting could hardly have been simpler.

It is an unusual picture that can begin with a first layer wash that covers the whole page. Usually there is some reason to reserve whites, or to refrain from putting the initial color under something that will come later. It is usually necessary, therefore, to consider the image as a collection of shapes and to envision the
progression of
layers for each one. Keeping the overall number of shapes to a minimum will help prevent confusion, for both artist and viewer. Therefore, when you’re assessing your subject, it is important to ask:
How will the image resolve into layers?

However many shapes you can gracefully juggle in your work, I recommend staying focused on the big picture. For me, it does not work to bring one shape out to full realization while the rest of the shapes are still white paper. To help keep the whole picture tied together, block in the entire image with a first layer early in the process. I confess this is where I most often fail to follow my own advice, since I can’t resist seeing how the part I’m painting right now will look with the next layer on. One problem with jumping ahead, though, is that I am making choices about color, value, and amount of detail based on proximity to white paper, which is not what will be there once I finish the first layer. Plus, if I complete each segment of a painting before moving to the next area, the finished picture will be a collection of separate little paintings on the same page.

I try to work the whole page one layer at a time, not putting a second layer anywhere until I’ve put the first layer everywhere. This is not an absolute rule. It is not even always possible. But the idea is to keep the shapes all working together. For instance, in the
photograph opposite, the blue of the sky could not go under the warm colors of the walls, and even the palest pink of the door trim would compromise the purity of the blue. Since neither one would work as a preliminary wash for the entire page, I had no choice with this painting but to work shape by shape.

There are three critical questions that you should ask yourself before you paint each layer. I will pose these questions in turn as we watch a segment of a painting come to full realization. The first:
Is there a way to paint the entire shape with a wash that can underlie everything that will come later?

Blocking in each of the major shapes with its lightest tone leaves the door open to adding middle-value forms later and then applying darks, as needed. It is usually easy enough to tell which of the colors in a major shape will be the best for an overall first layer. Start by looking for the lightest tone. For instance, in the image far right, could you paint the whole shape the lightest pink that shows on the left-facing surfaces of the door trim? If you decided that the light pink could safely underlie everything else on that wall (doorway, blue letters, peach wall, shadows), you are ready to prepare the supply of paint. Be sure to mix up a little more of the first layer color than you think you need, so you won’t run out in the middle of applying the wash.

Before the first layer goes on, however, there is a second question to consider:
Is there anything I need to paint around?
If there are areas within a big shape that must remain lighter than the overall first wash, they need to be reserved. Similarly, if there are areas that would be polluted by the color of the first wash, they must also be reserved, even if they are not lighter. You might be concerned, for example, that the pale green blocks of stone on the left would not turn out green if the pale pink were under them. If you are unsure about the effect your choices will have on future layers, try the color progression on your practice paper. In this case, the pink is so light I am sure it can safely underlie even the pale green. When you know what needs to be reserved you are ready to apply the first layer.

How carefully the initial layer needs to be applied depends on several variables: First, your style. Is it casual or painstaking? Second, your subject. Is it an old, stained stucco wall or a brand-new house? Third, subsequent layers. How much of the first layer will be visible after all the other layers have been applied? And fourth, the areas that need to be reserved. How complex are the parts that cannot receive the overall layer? Thinking and seeing in layers is, in a sense, simply following the path of least resistance. Putting darker, more specific strokes on top of broad, light washes is the easiest way to build a painting, and with watercolor, the easy way is the right way.

Once the first layer is painted, ask yourself:
Is there anything I should do while this layer is still wet?
In many situations, you may want to vary the color of the wash, or touch in a pattern of soft-edged marks while the first wash is still wet. How long you expect these steps to take will determine how wet you need to make the wash.

Evaluate the subject.
This street scene is basically an arrangement of four big rectangles; the sky, the peach-colored restaurant, and the first and second floors of the persimmon-colored house. The main color of each building is different enough from those of the other shapes that it would not be wise to start the painting with a single overall wash.

In this demonstration, we will focus on the largest portion of the scene that can utilize a common underlayer. What would your choice be for the first layer? The lightest area that is the left-facing edge of the doorframe works. It is so pale—almost white—that it could surely underlie all the colors yet to come.

Texture and detail are often more suitably implied rather than specified. If I am unsure how much information the picture will ultimately require, I know I can keep my options open by sticking to soft edges until I see the need for a more specific description. Consider suggesting a texture when the initial layer is wet.
Chapter 5
covers these matters more fully.

When the first layer is dry, you can address these same three questions to the second layer. The difference with later layers is that as the painting gets more complex, more individual shapes may appear. For instance, in the image below right, the area that was one big shape is now three, separated by color differences—pink door, orange wall, and green column. There was no way to use the same color as layer two for all three of these areas. For each of these shapes, however, the same three questions guide how they develop. Try asking the questions for the orange wall, for example:
Is there a way to paint the entire shape with a wash that can underlie everything that will come later? Is there anything I need to paint around? Is there anything I should do while this layer is still wet?

Locate the major shapes and apply the lightest lights.
Since there is no white at all in the scene, the lightest pink on the left-facing sides of the doorframe works as a first wash on the whole façade of the restaurant. Almost all of this layer will eventually be covered. Even so, I chose to put it everywhere, since it is much easier to paint the next layer
on top
, rather than
next to
the pale pink.

With each successive layer, when you ask if there is anything you should reserve, less of the picture gets painted. When the first layer is applied, some of the white paper may need to be reserved. When the second layer goes on, these same whites will be saved,
plus
however much of the first layer you wish to reserve. And so forth. You can think of the layers as sheets of paint with holes that reveal some of each of the previous layers.

Add the second layer, shape by shape.
Because the door, wall, and column are such different colors, they cannot share the same second-layer wash. Once the second layer is applied, all that is left of the first layer are the thin strip of light on the left face of the doorframe and the highlights on the lamp. The variation in the orange wall color is added while this second layer is still wet.