Spellbound Among the Trees, Watercolor Lesson # 4

Cougar and kingfisher and muskrat, etc.....4 feet by 8 feet, Ruins ballroom, acrylic on canvas.  Jennifer M. Carrasco

I've heard it said that making art is a way of stopping time. All the creatures, the wind and the water are caught in one still moment.... before the water cascades down, the second before the wind blows the branch where the kingfisher sits, the minute before the cougar leaps. The forest, with all its attendant  mystery and threat, is one of the most ancient metaphors for human search for meaning.

The artist's ability to capture a still moment is a path into power , and like with poetry, photography and dance, the deeper we walk into this forest of images and thoughts, the more we grasp its connections in the universe.In the beginning of learning an art, the artist is struggling with learning technique and strengthening creative muscles. It's important to remember, however, that something  more important calls us from that dark wood.

CandP Watercolor......4th Lesson

1. Show Cam’s idea.  Look at chicken paintings....catch up on the “news”  Review page 68-69

2.  Demo...”Magic forest”  Cool or cold, day or twilight.

3.  Look at forest photos...Vertical compositions...cool, light walues in background, overlapp with second slightly warmer and darker value,  and finishing up with darker and warmest value.  Look also at Placement on format, and amount of detail.  Show demo.  Wash with blue or yellow.

4.  Lay down background intial wash....yellowish, red or orange(warm).....blue, purple(cool)  Let dry.

5.  Please read through 5-8. Then plan out in tissue the background  level in first light  cool value.   Think of negative space and differing tree widths.   Place at least one critter in the background.  ( You can do African, S. American as well as N. American....or fantasy.) Think Avatar! Where do you place the “ground” on the format to make it seem farther away?  Size of animal.  Detail? Show me before you pencil on background on background to  LIGHTLY transfer.

6.  Mix a light blueish or blue violet, mixed either with a little raw umber or a little lunar black for your first “layer” and apply. to background shapes. Check the value on a scrap paper. At this point think mostly silohuette. Only one color!  Establish some ground “slashes” of let the ground softly fade into the forground...No hard lines there!.

Why does the red bird not seem part of this level in the forest ?

7.  While drying, plan next “level” on tissue.  Deeper value, warmer, more detail, more critters.  If you want something to remain white (i.e, stripes on a zebra or magic “lights” in the forest) or a detail to appear in the wash, apply a frisket and cut out shape or apply maskoid.  More creatures...larger relative size! Show me before transfering tissue design.

8.  Apply middle ground level....warmer and colors begin to show up....i’e., a mid value bluish or brownish green in the
foliage....a brownish bunny or deer, a hint of red in a red bird or a giant toadstool. Slightly more detail, lower on the format.

Do plan out levels on paper....note where I DIDN'T plan and "cancelled out " my divine little deer in the background.

Next Class.  What do you want in your foreground....foliage? Animals? Fairies....bring pictures.

Blog Blog Blog