Masking & Watercolor

Lately I’ve been struggling to find the time to paint and when I finally carve out some me time in the studio my next challenge is to actually be able to share my love of watercolor with you here on my Blog. I thought I would give you a quick visual of another painting in which I used masking tape to save the white of my paper in these 2 tree shapes.

In this first image I already removed the masking tape which created the white tree shapes. Prior to removing the tape tape I painted the background. Saving the white of the trees give me the opportunity to paint a colorful background in a darker value than the trees.

After removing the tape I begin to paint the trees bringing them to life with shape & color

I added the tree on the right which sits in the sunlight and gives the painting a warm glow. Now that I’ve had time to really look at this painting I think I will add a warm color to the right side of the trees and a little more warmth where the sun is reaching the ground.

It’s so easy to use masking tape on your watercolor paper to save the white. Think of where you could use this technique and give it a try.

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Watercolor Painting – Using Masking Tape Pt 2

I’m back in the studio completing my painting using masking tape to save the white tree shapes.

I have finished arranging the masking tape into tree shapes on my paper, now I will start painting the background. I am using blue & green paint and I am mixing the colors on my paper. I love the way my pigments flow and mingle as I paint. I am painting the wash over the entire paper including the taped areas.

 

The background wash is complete.

I carefully use a tissue to clean off the excess paint that puddled on the tape. I do not want it to run back into the painting.

When the paper was completely dry I removed the tape. You may use a blow dryer to speed up the drying process.

Now it’s time to paint the trees, have fun and be creative. Remember not to paint the trees too dark. If you wanted dark trees there would be no reason to safe the white of your paper.

This is the completed painting. Notice how clean and colorful the background wash is. The edges of the trees look natural because of the torn tape effect.

I used the masking with tape technique to save tree shapes but there are plenty of usages I could think of where I would use this to save my whites. A rooftop covered in snow. The sunny side of a flower pot. A fence in a garden. Flower petals.

Let me know how you used this technique in your painting.

If you missed Masking with tape pt 1 click here

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Watercolor Painting – using Masking Tape Part 1

I’ve been back in the studio trying to catch up on all the months I have missed because of family obligations. Now it’s my time to paint and share more exciting techniques of painting with watercolor

Knowing how to save the white of the paper is essential in watercolor painting. You can purchase a masking fluid or frisket to save the white. It’s easy to apply the frisket to the areas you want to maintain the  white, let it dry and paint right over the frisket. When the paper is dry you peel off the frisket and you have the white areas or shapes you intended to save.

You can negative paint around the areas you want to remain white. I prefer this technique because I love negative painting but sometimes it’s not the best option for saving the white of the paper.

Here’s where masking tape comes in handy. I’m referring to the plain old making tape you have lying around your home or studio. You know the beige colored tape you might have bought at the dollar store.

Watch how I use it to save the white trees in this painting

First I need to tear the tape into long strips. I’m using a 1 inch tape tearing it length wise. Do not cut the tape, you must have a ragged torn edge for this technique to work.

Place the strips of torn tape on the paper shaping it to form a tree. The second piece of tape is placed back to back with the first strip. It is extremely important to place the uncut edges against each other and the torn edges, or straight edges, on the outside or bark edge of the tree. The placement of the torn side of the tape will give your trees and branches a rough edge making it look like the uneven surface of the tree bark. You don’t want to have a perfectly straight tree shape.

 

With practice you can learn to tear the tape again to create even thinner branches. There is no limit to the size of the trees & branches you can make.

Take you time and place the torn pieces of tape onto the watercolor paper creating tree shapes. Make sure you press down all the edges so no paint gets underneath the tape. Once you have all your trees shaped out of tape you are ready to start the painting process. You can paint right across the entire paper while preserving the white tree shapes.

In part 2-  I will show you the painting process and removal of the tape.

To go directly to part 2 click here __________________________________________________________________________

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Watercolor Artisan not Architect

When I took my first baby steps as a watercolor artist I had no drawing skills. My beginner paintings didn’t contain much except sky & water. I wasn’t confident enough to add a tree, a road or the most frightening subject of all a building. Through the years I’ve challenged myself and discovered I loved painting animals and landscapes. Dogs became a joy to paint. But I shied away from the dreaded structure of buildings. Mostly because I felt that I had to study perspective and understand viewpoints to draw it correctly.

I’m not sure why I felt this way. I never worried about a dog or chicken painted in unrealistic colors or missing body parts, like half a head. I’m fine with that lost & found look. Buildings just alluded me.

In my recent class with Fabio Cembranelli I was fascinated by his paintings of doors and windows. Using his reference photo I gave it a try.

This is my painting

 

I’m not sure why I felt so intimidated to paint a structure. It’s really no different from painting any other subject. Transfer the image to paper and have fun with the values, shapes & colors.

Knowing I’m a designer not an engineer allows me to create the doorway in a style of my own using the colors that I like. Flowers are the same whether they are growing in a garden, in a pot or on a wall.

This may not be my best painting but it was a painting process filled with all the things I like best about painting. My palette containing beautiful colors, friends around me working on their art and a teacher encouraging me to go for it.

Thanks Fabio for a wonderful classroom experience. I will attempt to paint the beautiful windowers you demonstrated for us. Your shuttered windows and balconeys were breathtakingly beautiful.

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Lorraine Rimmelin

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http://www.watercolorartisan.com

Improving My Watercolor Paintings

Attending a workshop, with a highly regarded artist/teacher excites me on 2 levels. First as an artist I am stimulated by seeing an artist I admire painting. Watching the movement of the hands as he creates each brush stroke is delightful to see. It’s like watching a great conductor leading a orchester. Beautiful art being created right before your eyes. Second, as a teacher of watercolor I learned so many tips and simple ways to help my students understand the information pertaining to advancing as a watercolor artist.

It’s a great feeling to have someone to help guide, critique and offer me direction while I am painting. Fabio was extremely helpful and I will share some of the paintings I did during the class and show you how he helped improve my art.

In this first example Fabio suggested I darken the shadows of the trees and add a little bit darker river bank on the opposite side of the water. I can see the improvement in the finished painting.

 

Bank of Trees – before

Bank of Trees – after

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In this second example Fabio suggested I add a little more background to support the flowers. I do feel it gives the flowers a better foundation to rest on.

 

A pair of Roses

A Pair of Roses – finished

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In this third example Fabio had very good suggestions. He said I needed to separate the birds, they were blending into one another and that they needed a darker background which would help show them off better.

Angry Birds

Angry Birds – finished

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Sometimes during a class a suggestion will be made and if I do not agree with the teacher and I like my painting just the way it is I won’t change a thing. In this class I felt that each critique I was given would help my art so I was happy to make the adjustments and I have to say I’m very pleased with the finished paintings.

I now know a few new things about watercolor painting that I didn’t know before this week-long workshop and I’m going to make a few slight changes in my teaching style in my future classes.

Spending 5 days with Fabio Cembranelli was a gift to myself and I look forward to his next NY workshop in 2019.

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Lorraine Rimmelin

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Watercolor Painting with Fabio Cembranelli – Packing for a workshop

 

It feels so  good to pack my favorite watercolor supplies as I’m preparing to attend a week-long workshop with the master of watercolor Fabio Cembranelli. I booked this class 14 months ago and finally the week to go has arrived.

I started following Fabio’s art on social media sometime during 2016. He is from Brazil and I wished I would be able to attend one of his workshops one day. He amazed me with his beautiful style of painting and I searched to see if he taught anywhere near me in NY. He was teaching a workshop driving distance from me in the summer of 2017. Although the class was sold out I luckily got a spot when someone canceled, YEAH ME! It was a 3 day class and I had a terrific time. Prior to that class I learned that he was coming to Greenville NY to a favorite workshop /artist retreat center called Hudson River Valley Art Workshops – www.artworkshops.com in July of 2018. I booked that program 14 months ago knowing it would sell out fast, and it did.

Today I spent time in my studio deciding exactly which of my prized brushes I would take with me. I then picked my favorite colors of paint and lastly I carefully packed the perfect, purest watercolor paper I had. I do love the stuff I paint with! Next I printed out dozens of reference photos. I have enough pictures to paint at least 30 paintings but I’ll hope to come back with a couple of paintings that I’m excited over.

There was a time that I attended several watercolor classes a year. I use to seem to be searching for the perfect teacher to help make me a great painter. Then one day I decided I wanted to be an artist not a student so I stopped the cycle of classes and focused on painting. Now I am very selective when it comes to taking a workshop.

I am so happy that I have the opportunity to spend a full week painting with my artist friends and to have the guidance of an extraordinary artist like Fabio.

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Lorraine Rimmelin

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Pouring Watercolor Paint

Painting with watercolor involves so many wonderful techniques that I could spend all my days just watching paint flow in ribbons of colors on my paper. The translucency of the pigments lets the white of the paper shine through or when used as a glaze over a dry color allows you to see the glow from the color below. This is one of the reasons I fell in love with watercolor.

Today I decided to explore the technique of pouring watercolor paints. It’s quite simple, you mix a small amount of fresh squeezed pigment with water, mix until it’s completely dissolved and pour it onto your watercolor paper. Sounds easy right? Let me share a few tips so you can be successful when you’re pouring paint.

Start with a small amount of pigment in a tiny cup. The cup shouldn’t hold more than a few ounces of liquid. Always add the water after you squeeze in the pigment. If you try to add pigment to a small amount of water you may have to use way too much paint to get your desired value. If you add a little bit of water and stir well you can control the value level of the paint.  I use an eye dropper to dispense the water and add additional drops as needed. For a small 6″ x 9″ painting I use no more than a half ounce of mixed liquid paint. Keep a piece of scrap paper on hand to test the value. If too dark add more water if too light add more paint. Each time I mix paint to pour the value depends on my preference for that particular painting. For the flowers I painted today I wanted a light value so I used more water.

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Here is my sketch and my red, yellow and blue pre-mixed liquid watercolor paint. 

Aureolin (Y) Crimson Lake (R) Cobalt (B)

Now I’ll have some fun and pour a small amount of paint onto my paper. As I distribute the paint I think of where I want the yellow and blue to mix into a green. And where I want the yellow and red to mix into an orange. I do not allow the lines of my drawing to restrict how I let the paints flow. This is a first wash and as in many of my washes I want the paint to act like watercolor and do it’s mingling with all the other colors. This is part of the joy I love while painting with watercolors. I will touch parts of it with a clean damp brush to push the paint to areas where I want to see the more color and I will splatter some additional paint to enhance the colors, still using only my 3 original colors.

You can achieve so many colors using only red, yellow & blue.

I wait for the paint to completely dry. I don’t use a blow dryer unless I want to push the pigment into other areas. I like to let the pigment settle on the paper as the water evaporates.

If you have followed my blog in the past you already know how much I adore negative painting. Here is where I feel it is especially useful. I negative paint around the petal, leaf & stem shapes.  

Please observe that if I create a beautiful wash filled with crisp colors that flow and have interest you do not need to do a tremendous amount of detail work to have a flower painting that’s fresh and feels spontaneous. I’m constantly aware of my edges while painting knowing I want a combination of both lost & found edges to add interest to my art.

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“Sunflower”

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Pouring paint can be fun and will help you loosen up your painting style. Try this flower painting using the colors of your choice. Enjoy yourself and please share your results with me. 

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