From Sketch to Final Artwork

I was going to write more information about clouds, but I have been sidetracked by participating in Boulder Open Studios 2008. The past two weekends I invited the public to visit my immaculate studio so that they could view my artwork and learn about my techniques. One of the topics that I talked about was how I create a painting. Most people believe that watercolor artists just work freely with the paint without a lot of planning. Well, that is not how most watercolor artists work. My mantra is "happy accident, carefully planned." In my next couple of blogs, I will talk about the process I use to create a finished painting.

The painting that appears here is a plein aire oil sketch. It was completed in a few hours on site in Rocky Mountain National Park. What I am trying to capture is the feeling of that morning and the colors. I do not have time for detail or to work very large. I take lots of photos so that I can add the detail in the studio when I paint an enlargement of the scene. This oil sketch is only 8" X 10". The final painting will be 22" X 30" or a full sheet of watercolor paper. Why do I paint the sketch in oil and then do the final painting in watercolor? Most artists do their sketches in watercolor and then paint the final artwork in oil. Thomas Moran is an example of an artist who works that way. But every artist is different and has their quirks. I am more comfortable painting with watercolors and I prefer the way watercolors look as final paintings. I do my sketches in oil to challenge myself and force myself to see differently.

So here is the sketch and my next blog will talk about how I carefully plan a final painting from a small sketch and photographs.

Painting Clouds with Watercolor

Whenever I start trying to explain how to paint something, I realize how very complex it is. Clouds are very complex, but so important in painting a landscape. The sky defines the light and mood of a landscape. Albert Bierstadt, the famous landscape painter completed daily cloud studies as part of his training. These were small quick sketches done with pastels.

My next several blogs will be about clouds. I have taught my students some very basic techniques for painting clouds, but I am taking these lessons to a more advanced level. When painting clouds, the artist has to be sensitive to form, color, and perspective. In this small painting, I am showing a stormy sky with a variety of forms, colors, and perspective techniques. I will talk more about form in my next blog and then cover use of color and cloud perspective in later blogs. There are two ways to paint skies: one is a very loose wet-in-wet technique and the other a more controlled rendering of cloud shapes. The painting shown here is the loose wet-in-wet and works great for these stormy skies. But the artist has to work very rapidly and then at a certain point let go of what he or she has painted. Yes, just one more way to add stress into your day!