Projects, Skill Level 4
Project 4-1: Cuc Lux Clan
Last Updated: 23 December 2018
Skill Level 4: A watercolor requiring advanced skill
Source Photo
Photo of Watercolor
Cuc Lux Clan
Pigments
Red: Perylene Maroon (PeM — PR170, Daniel Smith)Yellow: Nickel Azo Yellow: Nickel Azo Yellow (NiAzY — PY150, M. Graham)
Green: Phthalo Green, Yellow Shade (PhG YS— PG36 , Daniel Smith)
Elements
Cucumber 1a, b: NiAzY + PhG YS (conc. and dilute)
Cucumber 2a, b: NiAzY + PhG YS + PeM (conc. and dilute)
Cucumber 3a, b: PhG YS + NiAzY (conc. and dilute)
Cucumber 4a, b: PhG YS + NiAzY + PeM (conc. and dilute)
Cucumber shadow: PhG YS + PeM
Paper
9 1/2 x 12", hot press side, cut from Arches En-Tout Cas roll, 280 gsm (134 lb)
Painting Time
About six hours over three days.
Techniques
I used the RCPT technique to generate a sketch.
I began by laying down a dilute wash of NiAzY. To this I added NiAzY + PhG YS for non adjacent cucumbers, coming back to adjacent cucumbers only when the former were dry.
I then began reinforcing the shaded parts of the cucumbers with a darker green (NiAzY + PhG YS + PeM) and then darker still (PhG YS + NiAzY) followed with PhGYS + NiAzY + PeM.
Working with these greens I began strengthening the shades.
To add the striations in the cucumber I used a #2 rigger loaded with the Cuc 4b mixture wet into damp to allow for some spread of the line.
Finally, I used a shadow mixture of PhG YS + PeM, mixed quite dark and placed it under the cucumbers.
Differences Between Sourec Photo and Watercolor
I did not use the background of the source photo, as I was pleased enough with the cucumbers on the white paper and I did not want to distract from them.
Project 4-2: Pasta, Tomato, and Basil
Source Photo
Photo of Watercolor
Pasta, Tomato, and Basil
Pigments
Yellow: Nickel Titanium Yellow (NiTiY — PY54, Daniel Smith)
Quinacridone Gold (QAu — PO48, M. Graham)
Brown: Burnt Umber (BtU — PBr7, Daniel Smith)
Red: Quinacridone Coral (QC — PR209, Daniel Smith)
Perylene Maroon (PeM — PR170, Daniel Smith)
Blue: Phthalo Blue (PhB — PB15 , Daniel Smith)
Green: Phthalo Green, Yellow Shade (PhG YS — PG36 , Daniel Smith)
White: Watercolor paper
Elements
Pasta: QAu + NiTiY,
Pasta Shadow: BtU + QAu
Tablecloth Blue: PhB, dilute
Tablecloth White: Watercolor Paper
Tablecloth Shadow: PeM + PhB
Tomato: QC followed by QAu overwash applied after QC was dry
Tomato Shadow: PeM
Leaf Green Light: PhG YS + NiTiY
Leaf Green Dark: PhGYS + PeM
Leaf Highlights: QAu + PhG YS
Paper
9¼" x 6¼" paint size with ½ border (cut from 52.5”-width roll of Arches 356 gsm/156 lb paper).
Painting Time
About ten hours over three days.
Techniques
I used the RCPT technique to generate a sketch.
Pasta
I began by laying in some QAu + NiTiY for the pasta, reserving white space for the highlight.
After a minute or so, I laid clear water in the highlight to diffuse the edges of the highlight a bit.
I continued by laying in some BtU + QAu for the darker parts of the pasta.
After the pasta was dry, I very gently scrubbed out the highlight in the pasta using a small wet nylon scrubber. I dabbed the highligh with a paper towel immediately after scrubbing it out.
To add shadow, I used an initial application of BtU followed by a PeM + PhB mixture to adjust the shadow color to my liking.
Tablecloth
After allowing the pasta to dry, I moved on to the table cloth by laying down a dilute solution of PhB: first I painted the horizontal lines, then the vertical. I continued in this manner to more fully develop the colors. This took three or four applications. With each application, I used a slightly stronger mixture of PhB.
I used more PeM + PhB between the pasta pieces to more fully develop the shadow there.
I then used PeM + PhB to begin highlighting the tablecloth shadow.
Once I was happy with the shadows, I added a general wash of PeM + PhB to the background tablecloth which I graduated to be lighter in the foreground. This helped to recede the background and make the foreground more noticeable.
Tomato
After the background was dry, I painted the tomato with dilute QC reserving the highlight.
After a minute or two, I added water to the highlight to blur its edges.
I continued developing the color of the tomato with stronger solutions of QC.
After nearly dry, I then added PeM in the shadow.
To deepen the shadows further, I used PeM + PhB
Basil
I began with a dilute solution of PhG + NiTiY to give a light yellow-green. This I applied to the leaf highlights but reserving bare paper for the lightest of highlights.
I then added clear water over the bare paper highlights to achieve good color blend among between the highlights.
For the darker parts of the leaves I used PhG + PeM.
After it was dry, I scrubbed out the lightest highlights.
Final Adjustments
I made final adjustments by adding additional shadow under the tomato, leaves, and to the table cloth using various dilutions of PhB + PeM.
I reinforced veining to the leaves using a dip pen loaded with a thick concentration of PhB + PeM.
Differences Between Source Photo and Watercolor
I first used BtU for the shadows, but they were too brown for my liking, so I wet and lifted much of it and added PhB + PeM for the shadow, which was much more satisfactory to me.
When I added water to the tomato highlight, I didn't wait long enough and paint flowed into the highlight, nearly eliminating it. I had to go back after it was dry and scrub it out. I had similar issues with the leaves.
The veining may be a bit too dark.
Project 4-3: Buttermilk Cookie Bars
Last Updated: 4 August 2018
Skill Level 4: A watercolor requiring advanced skill
Source Photo:
Unavailable
Photo of Watercolor
Buttermilk Cookie Bars
Pigments
Indian Red (InR — PR 101, Daniel Smith)
Yellow Ochre (YOc — PY 43, M. Graham)
Prussian Blue (PrB — PB 27, Daniel Smith)
Elements
Plate Yellow: YOc
Plate Green: PrB + YOc
Brown Cookie top and bits: PrB + YOc + InR
Dish White: Watercolor paper only, no pigment.
Paper
Arches Block: 7” x 10” , 300 gsm, cold press.
Painting Time
4 - 6 hours in a single session.
Techniques
I traced a rough outline using RCPT technique.
I lightened the pencil lines using a gum eraser and erased them whenever I was done with a particular fill.
I applied frisked by flicking it from a toothbrush to preserve white on top of the buttermilk bars to simulate the powdered sugar. I used mat board pieces to shield the rest of the painting from the spatter.
I painted wood grain on the table using a dip pen loaded with PrB + YOc + InR.
I was careful to reserve white space for the plate via negative painting.
I used the brown mixture to lay in the woodgrain of the table with a dip pen, and after it was dry I added more brown to simulate a rich wood stain.
I layered InR over the woodgrain to redden it and bring it closer to the color of the working photograph.
I laid down a dilute wash of YOc for the yellow band on plate
I painted the fine green lines using the green mixture loaded onto a dip pen.
I then layered green paint for the pattern outline on top of yellow ochre.
Finally, I added the shadows — for shadows on buttermilk bar I used a dilute wash of YOc followed by a dilute wash of InR.
For shadows on the table I added more InR pigment to the InR + PrB + YOc mixture.
Differences Between Source Photo and Watercolor
I regret that I am unable to find the source photo. This is regrettable, because this watercolor was one of the closest matches to the source photo I have ever painted. Nonetheless, my original notes follow, recorded from my painting session of 29 Dec 2015.
Despite my best attempts to pick up all the frisket spatter, I missed some spots until after the painting was done. If you look closely you can see the resulting white spots on the table which is what happens when your remove missed frisket after the painting is done.
Note: I dislike frisket, a.k.a. masking fluid, a.k.a. latex emulsion, and use it as infrequently as possible. Despite the use of a rubber pickup it is easy to overlook an occasional spatter. Frisket also tends to turn into a giant dough ball in the bottle over time (don't ever shake the bottle unless you want to accelerate this process); if the frisket is colored then the color tends to separate or dye the paper (the best colored frisket that is most resistant to separation and does not dye the paper in my experience is Pebeo drawing gum.)
In short, in preference to frisket I’d rather negative paint or use masking tape and a scalpel if at all possible. In this case, there was simply no other convenient way to create the powdered sugar effect.
Originally, I used Burnt Umber (BtU, PBr 7 — Daniel Smith) as a shadow, but it lifted from the brown table surface and really messed it up. To fix this, I had to lift the BtU and repaint the entire background with the original InR + YOc + PhB mixture.
