Category: Teaching – SSWR SEMIAHMOO PAINTING THE COAST Fall 2017

HOW TO CLEAN RUBBER RESIST FROM BRUSHES

I often use rubber resist applied with a brush for watercolors. I used these cheapo brushes for a class and usually would have rubbed soap into them before using to extend life, but this time I didn’t. I would normally give up and throw these brushes away. I know it’s not ‘world peace’ or a ‘cure for disease’ , BUT… I read on the web that someone had success in cleaning rubber resist from brushes with Vaseline. I tried it and I am very pleased to report that it works!  Just immerse the destroyed brushes in ordinary Vaseline. Leave overnight. Clean off with soap and/or , as I did with rubbing alcohol, and voila!  Actually, I repeated it twice, partly because I couldn’t believe it the first time. Try it – you’ll like it!  While they don’t look perfect, they are actually quite pliable and usable!

Drawing Boats & Ships Day 1 – TAS, 1 OF 2 {Oct 4 2017}

Since we live on the coast we need to have ways of drawing boats. Drawing boats can be tricky because they involve ‘compound curves’. This means that traditional linear perspective needs a little help from some other concepts. Here is the way I approach it: I use the ‘infinity sign’ method if the boats are close to eye-level, the ‘leaf’ method if the viewer is above the boats, and the ‘beak’method if the boat is coming directly at the viewer, such as on a beach tide-line.

VILLAGE DEMO ‘ GRISAILLE ‘ UNDER-PAINTING

This is an in-class demo I did recently at The Shadbolt Center (kinda quick and dirty) but shows an interesting method for producing an image. This method may also be of interest to the SSWR group at Semiahmoo, where we are using it for Painting the Coast. First, I did a blue-gray under-painting (slightly grayed down blue to avoid having to deal with intense blues – the blues will also make the toned areas recede, as in shadows, windows, etc. The grisaille method can also be done with warms such as burnt umber or even greens – experiment!). I re-did it because I didn’t photograph it the first time, in which I also masked the figures, intending to save some whites for clothing without using white opaque..  Secondly I over-painted the grisaille with actual hues. Notice that the blue does not show in the final. This is because I used slightly orange-warm washes for the buildings, which cancels out the blue as complementary color. The advantage of this is that it lets you work out the composition and values before committing to color and detail too early. I did this as a demo, but I think the method (which is actually very old and certainly not mine, originally – check out grisaille on Wiki) can be interesting and effective. In the modern era we tend do go directly to full color, but when color was very expensive and precious, it was common to do a grisaille underpainting.

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SSWR SEMIAHMOO PAINT THE COAST DAY 1 – VID 2 OF 2

This is an in-class demo I did recently at the Semiahmoo Art Center.   First, I did a blue-gray under-painting (slightly grayed down blue to avoid having to deal with intense blues – the blues will also make the toned areas recede, as in shadows,  etc. The grisaille method can also be done with warms such as burnt umber or even greens – experiment!).   Secondly, I will over-paint the grisaille with actual hues, such as greens, oranges, violets, etc. The blue does not show much in the final. The advantage of this is that it lets you work out the composition and values before committing to color and detail too early. The method (which is actually very old and certainly not mine, originally – check out grisaille on Wiki) can be interesting and effective. In the modern era we tend do go directly to full color, but when color was very expensive and precious, it was quite common to do a grisaille underpainting. Also check out:  VILLAGE DEMO ‘ GRISAILLE ‘ TO COLOR   .

 

SSWR SEMIAHMOO PAINT THE COAST DAY 1 – VID 1 OF 2

Stage One is to create a “grisaille” underpainting. Use a grayed sown blue. Don’t get too dark. It is essentially a value study, concentrating on identifying 3 to 4 tonal values in the design. This applies to both watercolor and acrylic.

 

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