David Curtis: Light & Mood in Watercolour

The British have such a rich history in landscape painting in the medium of watercolor. From the golden age of watercolor which spanned the mid-eighteenth century through the mid-nineteenth century, many accomplished painters emerged. Some of these watercolorists include Paul Sandby, John Constable and John Sell Cotman. Meanwhile, that tradition has carried on through the modern day.

One contemporary British painter which I have come to admire is David Curtis. This led me to purchase his book, David Curtis: Light & Mood in Watercolour several years ago. I like both his studio and plein air approach. Many of his recommended color combinations I have put to use.

These British watercolor painters are noted for their expression of warm, soft light, strong neutral colors(warm & cool grays & browns etc.) and limited in areas of strong contrast.  

I have painted some watercolors based on his approach. Some of these most likely will find their way into a future post.

Mount Desert Island

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

There is no better place to hike than on Mount Desert Island. I truly mean that. Except this year the trails were overpopulated. My wife and I read the National Park Service is going to limit private vehicle access by instituting an extensive bus service in the future.

This is one of those late afternoon hikes we took to escape the heat of the day. This year in particular, the heat felt unrelenting day after day, even in Maine. 

The views of the water are always captivating. It always a pleasure to see one of the large schooners glide by with their mast peeking above the tree line or glide behind a clump of evergreens.

This is a classic landscape subject with sky, trees, rocks and water. There is an intimate quality to the foreground space with the larger landscape in the background. I like it when the whole story is not revealed in one glimpse. It is better to leave something for the imagination.

A little more progress....

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

There is a lot of color in this painting, which I like. There is also a lot of space above my head which is important in this composition. It gives this picture context with all it's urban lines. In fact, there are few soft materials expressed in this watercolor.

However, it is good to take on new subject matter. Not only is it a self portrait, which is a challenge in of itself, but the perspective is complicated. 

This watercolor is painted on a full sheet which measures 22" x 30". On this scale the viewer is immediately drawn into the scene.

The building behind me is One Monument Square. Thus, this location feels rich in history. A cross roads, literary, of travelers, fire and cultural relevance.

Sketchbook drawings

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

This is the time of year when I truly dig into my sketchbook as the days become shorter.
I am always eager to improve on capturing the human anatomy. Or at least I aim to.

Lately, I have been adding watercolor washes to some of my portrait studies done in pencil. This gives life to the drawings. I am usually thinking about composition and which color combination to consider when working on these. 

This is also the time of year when I do the bulk of my book reading. In the last month I have been actively reading six books. Two that I finished. One, Grant, by Ron Chernow, is nearly one thousand pages long. Often information from these readings seeps into my drawings. For example, how can you not sketch Grant without considering his involvement during the Civil War.

Charles Wilson Peale

Photograph Dale DiMauro

Last April my wife and I took the Amtrak to Philadelphia, PA. We toured the city largely by foot, primarily exploring the historic sites. I had won two free nights at a hotel of my choosing. So Philadelphia seemed like a logical destination as Spring would be further along than here in Vermont.

While touring some of the old buildings we came upon an exhibit featuring the portraits of Charles Wilson Peale(1741-1827). I learned that he was not only a painter, but a scientist, inventor, politician and naturalist.

However, we learned that he was a prolific, portrait painter. He is best known as a painter of the leading figures of the American Revolution including close to sixty portraits of George Washington.  In addition, Peale painted Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton amongst others. 

Recently, I learned that Peale's full-length portrait, Washington at Princeton, painted in 1779, sold for $21.3 million. This sale, in January 2005, set a record for the highest price paid for an American portrait.

These paintings are not watercolors but done in oil. 

Sketchbook drawing

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

This weekend in southern Vermont we had our annual Brattleboro Literary Festival. Writers and readers from all over converge on our small town. I worked this event setting up and taking down venues all weekend. As a result, I am tired and did not do much painting lately.

This drawing I did many years ago. It is in essence a planting plan for a small, local garden with a new retaining wall. Most landscaping you find around peoples homes use a limited variety of plants. The selected plants here are allowed to grow to their natural state instead of being hacked back all the time. In addition, these plants bloom at overlapping times, throughout the growing season.

I posted this image because it demonstrates the power of drawing. A drawing can move people in ways no other means of communication can. It leaves an indelible print on the mind. In fact, I have had people attempt to steal my landscape drawings as they were so compelling in expressing ideas. 

With a solid drawing your watercolors are so much more impressive. You can address problems areas earlier in the painting process or eliminate them altogether.

Not far from Camden

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

A few summers ago, my wife and I were taken by a relative, to this prime blueberry picking field in Maine. The landscape was lush with moisture in the air and on the ground. There was even an old, stone structure commanding the high point in the field, capped with a green roof. In the distance is the site of the notorious dragon concrete plant.

Capturing the atmospheric qualities of this landscape may perhaps, best be achieved in watercolor. If I exaggerated the misty horizon, you the viewer, may have had a better sense of what this place was like on this particular mid-summer afternoon.

One of the challenges to communicate in this picture is a sense of depth or perspective when there is
no road or river to draw the viewer into the scene. If done well, the patterns of growth and coloration
will meander across the field and upon the dark green foliage taking you to the distant body of
water.

Revolutionary War re-enactment

(C) 2018 Photograph Dale DiMauro

It was a beautiful morning on Saturday, September 29, 2018 when my wife and I headed out the door. I did not truly grasp in advance what we would experience. We decided to attend a Revolutionary War re-enactment in Charleston, New Hampshire.

I suppose it was somewhat like going to Gettysburg without the crowds and heat. We basically went back in time which was really neat. The enactors not only dress true to the time period but are approachable and engaging. They came from all over the country and Canada. Some even slept over night in tents of the period.

This photograph was from the battlefield re-enactment which played out before our eyes. The vivid colors of the uniforms and the troop movements caught my imagination. Not to mention the smoke from all the shooting. Before we left I thought this would be a great scene to capture in watercolor. 

The figures set against the cloud of smoke with their individual postures, casting strong shadows on that green grass make for a strong composition. I was thinking it might be best to go with a horizontal composition with added lawn to the right enhancing their presence. What do you think?

Saxtons River Art Group Exhibition

(C) 2018 Photograph Dale DiMauro

Members of the Saxtons River Art Group will be exhibiting their paintings for the month of October at the Moore Free Library(Crowell Gallery) in Newfane, VT. This Sunday, October 7, 2018 from 1-3 PM, will be our opening reception, held during the Newfane Heritage Festival. The public is encouraged to attend.

With the help of my mom and another kind volunteer, I helped hang the forty odd paintings. The three paintings on the right are the watercolors I have on exhibit. The three watercolors on the left are my moms. Regardless, it is great to see all the paintings hanging in a gallery, as there is such a wide range of subjects and styles to take in.

This exhibit is not limited to watercolors as their are many done in oil, pastel and in multiple media. Simply noticing all the different kinds of frames and approaches to mounting ones work is quite eye opening.

Living Memorial Park

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

When I started this picture it seemed to me this might be a gem of a watercolor. I loved how the road meandered over the land and drew the eye into the picture. The colors seemed pleasing and I liked the warm shadows in the foreground cast from the dense growth.

This plein air painting was started in June and by the end of my outing the light had changed so much that the shadows were in a different place than when I started. When the paper dried the picture looked very different than when it was painted. The vivid colors and shimmering paper dried flat with bleached out colors.

As a result, the question is whether I want to carry it further. I figure there is something learned each time I work outside as the weather is so variable from one outing to another. In addition, working out in the elements makes the painter simplify their process, painting and composition.

The other dilemma is that I use a different palette for plein air painting than when painting in the studio. Outside I use a Sennelier paint set consisting of fourteen pigments with rich watery colors. While inside I primarily use Winsor Newton with up to forty tubes to draw upon.

I have become inspired to go back and finish some watercolors started outside. The recent post depicting Robin Hood Park in Keene, N.H was a painting with a satisfying end result. There is an ephemeral quality which is unique to painting outside. To carry forward this spirit of a place captured outside I find exciting.

Gray or is it green?

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

In watercolor painting I find coming up with grays a real challenge. Of course, you have warm and cool grays to utilize. Other painters say green, for them, is problematic. I do find many greens on the low value range synonymous with some grays.

Often I let pigments on my palette run into each other. This way I have pigment mixtures that I would not normally come up with. As a result there is often pools of gray accumulated in my mixing wells that I can draw upon.

I have learned that grays and other neutral colors enable other colors, such as red to sing. Grays if applied skillfully can emit a soft atmospheric quality in your painting. The greenish-gray seen here is a combination of some variety of cobalt blue and burnt sienna.

This is most likely a dull post but I believe it reflects the dreary weather we are having lately. The shorter days with decreased light levels due to this cloudy, rainy patch highlights a limited color scheme. Particularly, if you are an astute observer of nature. At this time of year I look out the window and try to come up a color that matches what I am seeing. 

Coastal Maine study

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

Painting the shoreline has been a fascination of mine for sometime. The coastline with it's wall of trees and sand rich with ocean smells is imprinted on my psyche. This landscape is full of atmospheric qualities such as fog and moisture which are perfect to convey in the medium of watercolor.

I draw inspiration in capturing the coast from some of the great watercolorists of our time. These include Stephen Scott Young, Dean Mitchell and Andrew Wyeth.

In this watercolor I continue to expand my color palette. I applied royal blue for the sky, wet on dry so the hard edges would give variety above the tree tops. The beach has warm and cool pockets where I added olive green or diluted cobalt to emphasize the contrast with areas that are in the sun. Lastly, all kinds of pigment were added when painting the trees to get variation in temperature and massing. These include ultramarine, payne's gray, raw umber, aureolin and quinacridone gold.

Robin Hood Park, Keene, NH

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

This past weekend I played in a tennis tournament in Keene, New Hampshire. After a long Saturday match I found a spot in the shade and started this plein air painting. This watercolor was eventually finished in the studio. 

What is exciting for me was capturing a quality of the spirit of this place. I can't really say that I have done that before. However, I believe between the back lit light, water and figure there is something ethereal about this picture.

There really are few hard edges in this painting which I find difficult to achieve. This made me consider the great tradition of english artists who paint watercolors with a lot of neutral colors and minimal contrast. David Curtis is one such painter who came to mind when I was wrapping up this painting.

Sketchbook paintings

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

Recently, I visited Northampton, Massachusetts with my wife. They have a lovely art store in the downtown area called Guild Art Supply, which I like to frequent when in the area. Up the street is a lovely gallery called R. Michelson Galleries which I believe, in a former life, was a bank with a grand space for exhibiting art. 

When other people travel they may inquire about local fine cuisine which I appreciate. In contrast, I continue to search for new papers to experiment with. Either to draw or paint on.

While in Northampton, I purchased this relatively inexpensive spiral-bound book for watercolors. This paper is called Superfine watercolor, which for me, is useful for quick studies. It is a thinner paper than I prefer which seems best for quick washes as opposed to building up layers of paint. My preferred approach in using this paper is to apply wet brush on to dry paper.

Self-portrait

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

Painting urban subjects I have discovered is a real challenge. This scene has numerous angles from storefronts with projecting signs to reflections in the window, etc. Therefore, if the perspective is off it is obvious and diminishes the painting significantly.

It is a painting where all the focus should be on the individual with the background kept simple. However, all those beautiful colors are wonderful to depict in watercolor. In that regard, this makes it a real watercolor.

Clearly, this painting has a long way to go. However, it has a strong composition and is like no other watercolor I have attempted. The setting is outside, during the summer season, along a cafe in Portland, Maine. 

Nature at it's finest

(C) 2018 Photograph Dale DiMauro

This photograph was taken last week, while paddling on Lowell Lake, which is in Londonderry, Vermont. With a small group of people whom I'd never met, we sought to escape the hot, humid weather by kayaking and swimming. This was a chance to truly get out in nature. Isn't that why we live in Vermont anyway?

I was struck by the stillness of the water and the overall timeless quality of the composition. Perhaps this scene would have been similarly found one hundred years ago. There still remains a pristine quality to this lake as development has not been allowed to encroach on it's shores. In fact, it now is a lovely state park.

The other quality I saw within this photograph is a painting in watercolor. As if it painted itself. First of all, I could not improve upon it's composition. Therefore, all an artist has to do is get his or her paints out. I would paint a blue wash over the whole paper as the sky is reflected in the water. Then I would paint in the yellows and greens of the tree line. Next, I would put another clean wash of blue over the water, followed by the shadow from the vegetation. A total of three pigments could accomplish this. Perhaps winsor blue, aureolin and shadow green will do it. What do you think?

Another skinny watercolor

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

This watercolor was inspired after going on a local paddle. After all, this hot summer has put me on and in the water more often than most summer seasons. 

As you can see I am continuing to explore all kinds of landscape formats. With the length of day decreasing, I have observed the shadows moving in, earlier across the landscape. This seems to make for increased color saturation.

At the same time I have been painting with larger brushes, bigger sheets of paper and a more natural approach. In particular, I like the shadow across the shoreline which makes that sliver of green pop out. The warmer vegetation in the middle provides some depth to the shore scene. 

Unfortunately, the paper would not lay flat when taking the photograph, which makes the painting look smaller. 

Art in the Park

2018 Photograph Dale DiMauro

This afternoon, my wife and I attended the local Art in the Park, which is held in Keene, N.H. In the past I have set-up a vendor tent, but not this year. This year's artists were fortunate as the hot and wet weather held off for the weekend

We saw many familiar faces and met some new folks. Many people retain the same location in the park year after year. This way we can search for people we know.

Of note, for me, was a fellow watercolorist from the Nashua, NH area with winter painting scenes. He used ink when painting some of his trees, scraped paint away with his razor blade for interesting effects and used white gouache in depicting animals against the snow.

A ripple in time.....

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

In my travels I am always seeking to capture the light on the landscape or an object. When some element of the landscape is awash with natural light you notice things you normally wouldn't. 

Often I start a painting seated in a chair and get up to view my work from a different perspective. At some point along the process I often do quite a bit of the painting from a standing position. In this instance, I was struck by the graphic nature of this piece. 

The absence of pigment created this movement of water on the surface of this pond. The other thing I noticed was the unified mass of washes which tie the image together. It has been said it is best to keep things simple and leave out the details until the end. Well these are some of the thoughts that have been going through my mind lately.

This watercolor was inspired from a popular, yet local swim spot here in Vermont. When I hop in my kayak I always bring my camera with me as I don't want to miss anything.

late summer heatwave

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

When I walked on the tennis courts in the late afternoon you could feel the increased humidity in the air. Mind you, this is not the site of flushing meadows(aka, the United States Open), but southern Vermont. This latest waft of humidity, reminded me, of what we are in for, the next several days.

My mind immediately returned to this watercolor painted not long ago. There is something enticing about cool green foliage and the sound of lapping water along the shoreline.

High humidity stifles my creative output. My arm sticks to the paper while the pigment can be slow to dry. In addition, my attention span wanders while I work on smaller paintings.

I long for a day, most likely in September, when I won't perspire as much as I have this summer. When that days comes I have all sorts of ideas to put down in paint. With a rapidly evolving palette I feel like my best days are ahead.