Watercolor Painting

                                                                                       (C) 2021 Dale DiMauro
 

In the summer when the days are long, there are many distractions to keep you from painting. Continuity is essential to continued progress. Observing, recording and painting the colors out in nature I find valuable. This process seeps into your developing palette.

When outside you must learn to simplify your composition. You can't cram every little detail into your paintings. With the changing light you develop a greater connection with the natural flow of life. Ultimately, I find this experience relaxing.

I hope my paintings in my watercolor-bound book express some of these qualities. It has sixty-four pages to paint on and I have painted on four pages thus far. There are portraits in addition to landscapes and color studies. However, the portability of this painting surface is most appealing, particularly as time is limited in the busy summer months. Also, it fits neatly in my bag without taking up much space.

Color Studies

                                                                           (C) 2021 Dale DiMauro

Just as pencil sketches are great aids in finalizing your compositions, color studies can be helpful in figuring out which pigments you will use. Even quick little studies can jog your memory when you are back in the studio. If painted out in the field you may match colors you would not normally combine which can really broaden your horizons and palette.

In landscape painting I prefer to convey depth in my watercolors. I try to achieve this through color saturation in the foreground and by utilizing drawing skills. If you can convey sunlight on the land or conversely shadows cast from trees or buildings it adds much to your painting.

It is always fun to see how the paper reacts when the pigment is applied. These color studies were done on rough Fabriano watercolor paper. The warm orange color on the image to the right is burnt sienna. I try not to waste paper so there is an image on the back, too.

Plein Air & Unleashed Dogs

                                                                                      (C) 2021 Dale DiMauro
 

This morning I was painting outside by the Pleasant Valley Reservoir, in Brattleboro, Vermont. And it truly was a beautiful morning to be outside and painting. 

My watercolor was rapidly developing when I was accosted by two unleashed dogs. One was a black Labrador who showed me his teeth and circled around me for twenty minutes while the other was an older dog who was of no threat. After some time had passed, a woman walked by apologizing for not having any control of her dogs. 

I find this behavior absolutely inexcusable and becoming a real problem. Dogs are required to be leashed in public and this is a town property. Nevertheless, I was ready to tie that woman on a leash to a tree. 

In the last eighteen months I have been accosted by unleashed dogs on four separate occasions. Twice I have been bitten by dogs and each time the 'master' was an unscrupulous woman.

After this experience I could not resume painting, so I packed up my stuff and left. I have since added a coaches whistle and pepper spray to my plein air bag and am considering other lines of defense.

Arches-Bound Watercolor Book

                                                                                      (C) 2021 Dale DiMauro
 

Yesterday I received this Arches watercolor-bound book in the mail. Today I did this painting on the first page. 

I purchased this book, which has sixty-four pages, so I could develop more color swatches. This way instead of having loose sheets of paper they could all be contained in one area. This is not unlike a writer expanding their vocabulary. Also, it happens to be a good travel size.

The first page is stained with a wash of burnt sienna and ultramarine blue. I did this landscape on top of that initial wash. The combination of burnt sienna and ultramarine is a useful pairing for watercolor painters, as one can develop a wide range of coloration with these two pigments alone. 

I have learned that it is always good to experiment with the pigments, media and brushes. This practice gets your juices flowing. As the water and pigments dry the paper is left with marks which suggest atmospheric affects or even subject matter. If you are flexible in your approach you can achieve much satisfaction in your painting.

Living Memorial Park

                                                                            (C) 2021 Dale DiMauro
 

The plant kingdom all around us outside is growing rapidly. Trees, shrubs, and vines are taking off. I planted a tree on my property last month and it has already grown nine inches in height. It is ironic because we have had a relatively dry spring.

This watercolor was originally started outside in our local park. However, it just had not developed enough to my liking so I put in the time and it has more color than most woodlands scenes that I can recall.

I even put in some of the old agricultural relics which you can see in the foreground. This implement reminds me how much the fields have filled in with woodlands since it was once open farmland.

PLEIN AIR: Stickney Brook

                                                                          (C) 2021 Dale DiMauro
 

Last week during the heat wave I painted this watercolor on my way home from work. It felt great to sit with my feet in the water while the sound of the falls were quite soothing. It was a plus to be in the shade too.

I spent about one and a half hours on this watercolor. Often I feel a bit rushed at the end of my session due to other time commitments but this seemed about right.

Reflecting back on this painting - it has a Neil Welliver feel to it. Neil Welliver(1929-2005) is known for painting large scale oil paintings of river scenes found deep in the woods of Maine. He would take his backpack and hike into the woods where he would paint plein air watercolors which were the basis for his oil paintings.

Green on Brown

                                                                                      (C) 2021 Dale DiMauro

Returning to a painting I have set aside for a period of time can be a challenge. Often it is not an issue at all, but this one I had not had the time to return to. Regardless, I returned to the painting earlier in the evening. I was not so excited about it while working on it, but after I had stepped away for a period of time I was rather pleased.

I like the glint of water through the trees on the left and the edge of the contour on the right before the distant hill. Recently, I have been combining quinacridone gold with manganese blue for spring tree foliage. I think it works. 

I was pleased that I matched the color of the dirt in the foreground. Brown can be an elusive color to mix and when it dries it can lose some of it's charm. Browns and greens seem to be an important color found out in the natural world, at least here in Vermont, in spring.

West River Trail(Watercolor Study)

                                                                                      (C) 2021 Dale DiMauro

John Singer Sargent used wax resist as one of his watercolor techniques. After studying up on some of his watercolors I figured I would give it a try.

It dawned on me that I had four wax resist pencils in my studio. On my desk I have white, ultramarine, black and burnt sienna. You can see that I used the white and ultramarine in the upper left corner. I am still figuring out how to best use them but for the right application they look promising.

Wax resist can be used to preserve the white of the paper in some areas or to provide texture or to strengthen your drawing. I think they are best used as an accent in your painting but I suspect other uses will reveal themselves.

Richard Schmid

 

Richard Schmid(1934-2021) passed away just as I started to read his book, ALLA PRIMA: Everything I Know About Painting. This timing added value to my reading. In particular, I admired Schmid's work, primarily for his artistic skill but at times because he featured local subject matter.

In fact earlier today, in the local used bookstore, this very same book I saw displayed on sale by the checkout counter. His books always seem to be in great demand and thus hard to find and pricey.

Schmid, certainly well known for his oil paintings, did paint in watercolor and gouache. However, of the few watercolors from him, that I have seen, look like his oils with vibrant colors and such a painterly touch. I suspect he used a palette knife in his watercolors as well.

Several years ago I took an oil painting workshop in Putney, Vermont where a group called the Putney Painters would gather, along with other fine artists from across the country and globe. It was not a workshop that he offered but his presence dominated the experience with samples of his drawings and oil studies on hand and discussions of his techniques.