Evolution of an Image- Cambrils series

While we were in Spain this last summer, we spent a number of days in Cambrils soaking in the sun, visiting with friends, and playing on the beach.  Good times!  I started trying to paint a sunset we experienced there, and it was just... very very frustrating.  I'd just taken the Bjorn Bernstrom workshop a week earlier, and I just, honestly, had no control.  In an effort to be an honest artist, I thought I'd share some of the (really) terrible paintings I did at first, as well as where the image went, as I began to get a handle on Bjorn's methods.

This is the first batch of very rough sketches.  All done on a quarter sheet (15" x 11").  I played with different formats and approaches, and learned to figure out the order and timeliness I was going to need to use, if I was going to get have any sort of control.  One of Bjorn's pieces of advice, that "Patience is one of the most important things for a watercolor artist to control" was very true.

I left it like that for about a month, and only came back to it in the States.  I decided to shrink the format to an 1/8th sheet (7.5" 11").  A good choice, as I burned through a lot of iterations, learning the techniques, and thinking about composition and color schemes.

I began to recognize that I really wanted to show that long stretch of horizon more, so I changed the format to little skinny 1/8 sheets (5.5" x 15"), and began to explore different approaches- more chromatic, less chromatic, darker values, more land being show, less land being show, white boat masts, etc.

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It was only when I got to this one though, where I removed the clouds and had the darker masts, that I felt like I was approaching what I was looking for.  I also began to model the mountains, which provided a greater sense of light and directionality.

I'd like to do more iterations with the clouds again later,  but I think I need a taller format, to better balance the composition.  For this dimension, I want to focus on the horizon and the waves.  So, I took that last one and blew it up to a full half sheet (11" x 30") and got the final image-

Evolution of an Image- Granada series

We were in Granada this summer.  I did sketches of the Alhambra, and took many pics.  Above is the final painting (11" x 30"), and below is the first sketch, done from the roof of our apartment-

I tried painting it while I was there, but was dissatisfied with the results.  I got these quick 1/4 sheet sketches done.

 

Too literal for my tastes, and got none of the "feel".  Also not enough variety in value.

 Pure color, really, but I liked it better.  Still, it didn't look much like Granada.  Had more "feel" to it though, IMO.

Once we got back to the States, I started up the series again, here and there, over the month of August.  I got these sketches.

 This one seems better to me, as I'm beginning to get a value range, and use more neutrals.  Still very very loose though.

I ended up deciding that I wanted to see more of the long horizon I liked so much in the original sketch, so I altered the format.  I also started to shrink things, to help me reduce the image down to more essentials.  It all seemed too busy.  So even though these 2 below are 15" long, they're only 5.5" tall, as I went from the 1/4 sheets above to long skinny 1/8 sheets below.

 Eh.  Format's better, but it was time to give up the super-chromatic stuff.

Hey!  Ok, This is starting to seem like something interesting to me.

I took that last semi-success and did a slightly bigger 1/4 sheet- 7.5" x 22".  I varied the colors more, and focused again on that midground that I liked so much.

 

OK! I liked this one.  

Although, interestingly enough, it started out as a failure.  I wasn't controlling the colors enough and various edges were blurring and mixing.  But once I added in a glaze of shadows, I really enjoyed the varied background those "mistakes" provided.  Some spittle and droplets of water later, and .... voila!  

I decided to grow the image and paint a 1/2 sheet (11" x 30"), something I'd wanted to try for a long time.  I ordered a new, extra big sheet of Gator Board for my backing, and got it in the mail a few days later.  Sat down to paint it, and I was finally well versed enough with the image, that it seemed almost playful. This photo is a little more yellow than the original, but it gives the appropriate sense.

Quite a journey!  :)

Evolution of an Image- Mare Island watercolor series

Over the last week, I've posted a series of painting on Facebook that were inspired by a spit of land on Mare Island.  Today, I'm collating them here.

Most of these images are small- 1/8th sheet (7.5" x 11" or 5.5" x 15")- but I've found this the best size for me to iterate things with.  1/8th sheet is just big enough to compose something on, but no so big I get lost in the details.  I don't worry about messing up or wasting paper either- I've got 7 other sheets available.  What this has really allowed me to do is iterate with abandon, try stuff out, experiment, and not worry to much about whether I was successful or not.  They were all "tests" anyways, right?

I did this first one in Bjorn Bernstrom's workshop (which I'll be posting about later).  It's actually quarter sheet (15" x 11").  I loved the dark blue greens, but it's really very raw and shadows were a bit "chunky" for me.  I was looking for cleaner washes.


Then I did these next two ones.  1/8th sheet.  Playing with wet into wet techniques, deliberate back runs, and figuring out the technical sequence I needed to use to get the paint to do what I wanted.

 

The more I painted it, the more I wanted to play with the sky.  So I opened it up to vertical 1/8th sheets, and got these.  It's hard to keep that back bleeding, wet into wet stuff in order!  Took a couple of tries.

After that, I began to "grow" the composition. I felt like I was getting some sense of control over the backbleeds and the composition.  I wanted to stretch the image vertically more and more.  This next one was a vertical quarter sheet- (7.5" x 22").

Urban Sketching in Paris

We were incredibly busy in Paris, but after a few days I got to get out and do a bit of sketching. This one took about 45- 60 minutes.  I did it at the little cafe right outside of our apartment, while waiting for Kat and Tasha to get back.  Got a cappuccino, sat under their awning as it started to rain, and worked on a composition. 

I did these others while waiting on a boat and while waiting at the train station and airport.  Tasha joined in too, at the end.  You can find the little portrait she did of me, while I was listening to music at the Orly airport.  ;)

Plein Air studies from Barcelona

I did a number of small plein air studies and paintings in Barcelona, and I sold a few to my old friend Ine.  As I no longer have them, I wanted to share them.  Thanks for your interest Ine!  :)

This one was done plein air, at Rauric St., Barcelona.  1/8 sheet.

This was a smaller study, also 1/8 sheet. I haven't finished the larger version yet.  At the Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona

 

She also picked up these two earlier pieces.

 

Urban Sketching in Barcelona and Grenada, Spain

This first one is from Grenada.  This was the view from our rooftop terrace.  Below is some of the initial sketching I did on the subject too, as I got to know the subject.

I didn't do much sketching in Barcelona-- just a day or two.  I did more plein air painting, but was unsatisfied with the work.  I decided to go back to basics, and work on my value studies first-- creating the composition, learning the subject in and out, etc. Then, when I went to go do some paintings, I could improvise a bit more, as I had a more thorough understanding of the image.

These are some of the other skethes I did-- Barcelona first, then an additional one form Grenada.

This is the view from the cafe where we often went for breakfast in Grenada.  A great view of the Alhambra in the distance, and real busy in the mornings.  The Quatro Gatos was a great place to sit and soak the sun up.

Urban Sketching in Cambrils, Spain

Over the last month, I did a lot of sketching while we were traveling in Europe.  I painted too, of course, but there were often times when painting simply wasn't an option-- at the beach, killing time at an airport or train station, mornings at coffee, etc.  That's when sketching stepped in.

Sketching serves a few functions for me.  One, I enjoy paying attention.  Two, it helps me begin the process of reducing the onslaught of detail real life provides, as I decide what I think is important enough to include in a painting.  I compress various values into a smaller range, I combine objects, I find silhouettes, I edit and crop.  Even so, I often include more info in a drawing than I do in a painting, and the sketch seems to help me get that "bug" out of my system, as I boil the image down to more of its essentials.  Three, I'm still working on drawing Alvaro's almost ridiculous, off the cuff declaration that we "draw 2000 figures and then get back to (him)".  Each page is about 20 figures, and I did about 200 before I went on the trip, and 200 while on the trip.  Only 1600 more to go!  LOL!  :D

To give you a sense of what I've been doing, most figures take about 20- 60 seconds. I'm most interested in body posture, and how it expresses a mood, situation, or interaction between people.  I even got Tasha to do some sketching too!  :D