Free Watercolor Painting: A Comprehensive Approach to Mastering the Medium by Tom Hoffmann Page A
Authors: Tom Hoffmann
result is usually a flattening of the space. Since all the shapes are surrounded by little hard-edged halos, they all have equal prominence. The painting looks like a collage of cut and pasted components, or a mosaic, with white grout lines between the tiles. With so many gratuitous whites, the few that are trying to represent important lights cannot stand out.
In Craigville Phantom on this page , the relatively small whites are no bigger than the “halos” in the orchard scene below, but they are there to fill a pictorial need.
There is no right way to paint, but there is a best way to learn: the way that gives you the most options.
ANONYMOUS (SORT OF), CHANNEL ROAD ORCHARD MOSAIC STYLE, 2011
WATERCOLOR ON ARCHES COLD PRESS PAPER
11 × 15 INCHES (28 × 38 CM)
----
Even though our brains know where the elements of the scene are relative to each other, our eyes are getting a different message. The mosaic quality of the painting creates the sense that each shape is in the same plane as its neighbors. Please tell me you don’t like this painting.
TOM HOFFMANN, CHANNEL ROAD ORCHARD, 2010
WATERCOLOR ON ARCHES COLD PRESS PAPER
11 × 15 INCHES (28 × 38 CM)
----
Allowing adjacent shapes to touch contributes to the feeling of space. It seems possible to walk around the trees without bumping intowhite lines.
TOM HOFFMANN, CRAIGVILLE PHANTOM , 2010
WATERCOLOR ON ARCHES COLD PRESS PAPER
14 × 20 INCHES (36 × 51 CM)
----
The slivers of white on the right-facing surfaces of the fence do much of the work of describing the sunlight.
All this discussion hopefully underscores why it is so important that you ask: Are there whites to reserve? If you have decided to save some white paper, it remains for you to choose the appropriate technique. Please don’t automatically reach for the masking fluid every time you want to save part of the previous layer. That stuff makes a very distinctive kind of highlight—one that can be spotted from across the room. It may be just right for the window reflected on an eggplant, but it would be all wrong for the highlight on a pear.
When it comes to reserving lights, you have several options, and each produces a somewhat different look. Practice and become confident with lifting, scraping, masking, applying wax resist, and, most of all, simply painting around your lights. As your familiarity with the range of possibilities grows, you will be able to decide which one is right for the job, rather than always choosing the same technique by default. You may think masking fluid is easier than painting around the light area, but in fact it takes much longer, interrupts the flow of painting, and creates a calculated look.
Generally, I prefer creating lights by simply leaving them. I can pre-wet the area if I want a soft edge, or leave it dry for a hard edge, but in either case, I put the paint where I want it and leave it alone. For me, the default approach to reserving lights comes down to this: If you don’t want paint somewhere, don’t put it there.
Right now, someone somewhere is probably saying, “Tom says never use masking fluid.” It is true that I don’t use it, but you should do whatever works best for your painting. There is no right way to paint, but there is a best way to learn: the way that gives you the most options. So, by all means, mask away, when it is appropriate. Just don’t become a junkie.
And one more small rant: Do not paint with a brush in one hand and a paper towel in the other. How confident will your stroke be if you are already thinking about removing it? If you are unsure of the mark you are about to make, you have more awareness work to do. Where’s your practice paper? Remember, the goal is to actually become a better painter, not to appear to be one.
R ESERVING N ON -W HITE E LEMENTS
For every new layer you apply, some of the previous layer probably needs to be reserved. Locating these relative lights by drawing with pencil or pale paint makes it easier to
In Craigville Phantom on this page , the relatively small whites are no bigger than the “halos” in the orchard scene below, but they are there to fill a pictorial need.
There is no right way to paint, but there is a best way to learn: the way that gives you the most options.
ANONYMOUS (SORT OF), CHANNEL ROAD ORCHARD MOSAIC STYLE, 2011
WATERCOLOR ON ARCHES COLD PRESS PAPER
11 × 15 INCHES (28 × 38 CM)
----
Even though our brains know where the elements of the scene are relative to each other, our eyes are getting a different message. The mosaic quality of the painting creates the sense that each shape is in the same plane as its neighbors. Please tell me you don’t like this painting.
TOM HOFFMANN, CHANNEL ROAD ORCHARD, 2010
WATERCOLOR ON ARCHES COLD PRESS PAPER
11 × 15 INCHES (28 × 38 CM)
----
Allowing adjacent shapes to touch contributes to the feeling of space. It seems possible to walk around the trees without bumping intowhite lines.
TOM HOFFMANN, CRAIGVILLE PHANTOM , 2010
WATERCOLOR ON ARCHES COLD PRESS PAPER
14 × 20 INCHES (36 × 51 CM)
----
The slivers of white on the right-facing surfaces of the fence do much of the work of describing the sunlight.
All this discussion hopefully underscores why it is so important that you ask: Are there whites to reserve? If you have decided to save some white paper, it remains for you to choose the appropriate technique. Please don’t automatically reach for the masking fluid every time you want to save part of the previous layer. That stuff makes a very distinctive kind of highlight—one that can be spotted from across the room. It may be just right for the window reflected on an eggplant, but it would be all wrong for the highlight on a pear.
When it comes to reserving lights, you have several options, and each produces a somewhat different look. Practice and become confident with lifting, scraping, masking, applying wax resist, and, most of all, simply painting around your lights. As your familiarity with the range of possibilities grows, you will be able to decide which one is right for the job, rather than always choosing the same technique by default. You may think masking fluid is easier than painting around the light area, but in fact it takes much longer, interrupts the flow of painting, and creates a calculated look.
Generally, I prefer creating lights by simply leaving them. I can pre-wet the area if I want a soft edge, or leave it dry for a hard edge, but in either case, I put the paint where I want it and leave it alone. For me, the default approach to reserving lights comes down to this: If you don’t want paint somewhere, don’t put it there.
Right now, someone somewhere is probably saying, “Tom says never use masking fluid.” It is true that I don’t use it, but you should do whatever works best for your painting. There is no right way to paint, but there is a best way to learn: the way that gives you the most options. So, by all means, mask away, when it is appropriate. Just don’t become a junkie.
And one more small rant: Do not paint with a brush in one hand and a paper towel in the other. How confident will your stroke be if you are already thinking about removing it? If you are unsure of the mark you are about to make, you have more awareness work to do. Where’s your practice paper? Remember, the goal is to actually become a better painter, not to appear to be one.
R ESERVING N ON -W HITE E LEMENTS
For every new layer you apply, some of the previous layer probably needs to be reserved. Locating these relative lights by drawing with pencil or pale paint makes it easier to
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