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"Hendrick's Head Beach"
Contrast is the name of the game in painting. Contrast of warm and cool, smooth vs. rough, and light and dark. And the greatest of these is value.
When you are trying to create the feeling of bright sunlight, the best thing you can do is place some really dark shapes next to the sunlit areas.
In this painting of Hendrick's Head Beach on the island of Southport, Maine, the dark shadow across the foreground wasn't really there, but to dramatize the light on the beach, I invented the shadow. Additionally, I placed one of the boats right on the edge of the shadow to break up the fairly unbroken line formed by the shadow.
The dark shapes in the painting also act as a frame for where the focal point is.
The trick is to use enough paint. Check your palette to see if you've filled the wells to the brim so you can call on more paint when immediately needed.
If you are enjoying these posts, please share with your fellow watercolorists. And, of course, I always like to hear from you in the comments section or you can "like" a particular post if the information is useful.
And don't forget my workshop in Boothbay Harbor, Maine Sept. 9th - 13!
This is a scene in my second hometown, Boothbay Harbor, Maine. I'm already in countdown mode until I return for my fortieth summer there.
In this painting, I limited my palette to various shades of red, blue and neutrals. Follow the roofline and you'll see that I found ways to make the shapes of the buildings varied. The figures help break up the otherwise straight bottoms of the buildings.
Once again, don't get in a hurry to fill in the details. I'm including a photo of the halfway point in the process to emphasize this point.
The best way to say bright sunlight is to make the shadows dark and in one pass to keep the color from getting muddy. Be brave!
By the way, my workshop in Boothbay Harbor will be Sept. 9 - 13. If interested, contact me at
caroljessen@yahoo.com or call me at 314-706-6333. More information to follow.
Rainy Day in Waldoboro
It was the silhouetted shape of the building that attracted my attention. Most of my interest centered on the interlocking shape of the rooftop with the sky.
So, first I painted the big shape of the building. After that, the road and the far background. The figures were next and had to be dark enough to stand out from the building.
Now a major decision. How much detail did I want on the building? I didn't want windows and doors and dormers to compete with the figures, the wet street and the reflections. So I only hinted at a few windows.
The foliage was done with a fan brush and provides a frame for the major focal points.
Knowing what to leave out is as important as choosing what to include. Remember, it's the big shapes that will tell the story.
Looking at the skyline of the buildings in this painting of an Italian square, you can see that the shapes of the buildings interlock like puzzle pieces with the shape of the sky. As I said in the last post, straight lines are boring. If the skyline is a straight line, the sky shape will tend to be a boring shape, too. The intrusion of the statues and figures into shadow areas help break up rather rectangular shapes. Even the shadow shapes interlock with the sunny parts of the plaza.
In addition I was conscious of the limited palette as well. Warm vs. cool, complementary colors of yellow and muted purples, and grayed mixtures of those two colors provide contrast and interest.
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