Watercolor Sketchbook

                                                                                       (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

It always feels great to paint in my sketchbook. It feels liberating and keeps the juices flowing. Also, I can focus on an area that I can improve upon, such as capturing the figure and work towards improving them.

Looking back through the pages of a sketchbook one can see an artists progress as well their topics of interest. In many ways it is all about experimenting - with newer techniques, a variety of differing surfaces and unlimited pigment combinations.

On this page a landscape doodle became a moody orange scene, while on the bottom, primarily, cool colors describe a summer day by the lake.

For me a sketch book is all about the drawing -training the eye to see what is in front of you so you can make changes or delete elements to make the big picture stronger and simpler.

Brown Madder

                                                                                 (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro

Brown madder is a pigment I do not have much experience with, even though it has been in my paint box for some time. However, I have been using it more, lately.

I welcome it to my palette even if only as needed. It seems to make a lovely, clean dark when mixed with ultramarine blue as in the above painting. Used in darker skin tones with cobalt blue and ultramarine it is excellent.

Brown madder has a reddish tone which I understand makes for richer darks. So far, I have only combined it with ultramarine blue. It may be of use in a limited palette going forward, particularly when painting portraits.

West River Trail

                                                                                  (C)2024 Dale DiMauro
 

Taking a walk often leads to subjects to paint. At least since Covid-19 that is. A large part of the population is still recovering from the pandemic at least financially. So finding an individual to paint is hard to come by. 

I had been struggling to paint a full sheet watercolor. Well, today I managed to finish this landscape painting in my studio. What I like about this composition is that it is very simple and required little pre-painting layout. This enabled me just to paint - but on a large scale.

I used all kinds of techniques on this picture. I used dry on wet, wet on wet, lifting, dry brush and even put my atomizer to good  use. It feels great to look at a large-scale painting as it draws you into the landscape more so, than a smaller picture.

Favorite Winslow Homer Books

 

Winslow Homer certainly is an American icon when it comes to mastering the art of watercolor. Of all the books out on Winslow Homer, these are my favorites.

The book on the left, I believe, was a 1996 catalog as a result of a major exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington D.C. I bought this not long ago, used, for twenty bucks at a local bookstore. It is so well researched and the images are of such high quality - I was thoroughly impressed. It includes watercolors Homer painted I had never seen before.

The newer book, Winslow Homer:American Passage by William R. Cross, while also well-researched, I find provides a clearer glimpse into how Homer went about his painting process.

The next time I visit the Clark Art Museum, in Williamstown, MA which usually is in the summer, I hope to view some of his watercolors in person. They have quite a few of Homer's watercolors in their permanent collection.

Imaginary Landscape

                                                                                 (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

It is a good practice to paint multiple watercolors at the same time. Particularly, when they are different sizes. I find it allows time to resolves issues on other paintings while working on another one.

Also, it can be useful to warm up your brushstrokes on a small painting before diving in at full speed, on a larger picture. In fact, watercolor is a great medium to paint direct and fast.

In addition, I like to experiment with the textures of different surfaces. This little watercolor was painted on a rougher surface than I am used to which takes some time to adjust to.

Panoramic Painting

                                                                                         (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
  

Painting a panoramic landscape is always exciting. A panoramic is a wide view of the surrounding landscape.  It draws the viewer in and gives you a more descriptive feel for the landscape. Plus, it is simply a larger landscape painting, but not always.

The subject here was inspired from past hikes on the Brattleboro Retreat property. There is an upper field with a wide open space and often dramatic skies. You can get lost in this landscape which humbles you, yet broadens your perspective.

I like painting these because I can use one of my larger brushes. It is a great situation for letting pigment mix on the paper by dropping in color in certain areas.

Color Study

                                                                               (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

Painting greens can be bit challenging, at least from my experience. Arriving at the right green when you need it does not come naturally to me. There are warm greens, cool greens, opaque ones and dark ones etc., which when used well can make your watercolor read well and offer a sense of depth. However, they can look weak in your picture or dominate it, too.

Nevertheless, I am constantly thinking of new color combinations to try out and to group with other pigments when setting out to paint.

In this watercolor study I tried sap green with burnt umber a new combination which I really like. In can look rather lush when wet and feels a bit natural in it's value.

For the sky I put down a wash of lavender with payne's gray which gives you a cool, light gray. Afterwards I put in a wash of ultramarine toward the foreground to suggest some sources of water as in a pond or strream.

Imaginary Landscape

                                                                                (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro

Sometimes the best watercolor experience can come from doodling. For me, doodling is playing around with no set expectations or agenda. This gives me the opportunity to try new techniques or tweak the landscape in unexpected ways.

First of all, this watercolor was painted in a bound book with a variety of subject matter from landscapes to portraits and figure studies. It is rewarding to see what other watercolors you have painted over time in this book and how I may have progressed.

In this particular watercolor I was excited because I tried lifting pigment to establish the tree trunks on the left without putting a heavier dark on the paper. In addition, lately I have been increasingly using a sponge to wet the paper or remove puddles of moisture. This sponge is a really helpful tool and can speed the painting along. Finally, I used warm colors throughout this scene and feathered brushwork to create a sunny disposition.

Trying these techniques and others I find really expands my horizon with regards to painting. Also, having a large tool box to draw from can come in real handy at times.

The Season of Browns & Greens

                                                                               (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

Spring is the season of browns and greens. At least that is what I observe when I am out in the natural world. 

The river bottoms are often stirred up with flowing water and brown is the color I usually notice. Of course, there are exceptions but there is a range of browns which I associate with our water channels.

All the vegetation breaking from the ground and the tree leaves re-emerging are loaded with the yellow greens when they first come out.

This lovely woodland path in Maine is full of browns and greens. Also, I appreciate the dappled sunlight and shade provided by the layered canopies.