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.

Plein Air Watercolor

                                                                                       (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

This morning I had a great start while plein air painting. It was a beautiful morning to paint, too. I had the sky washed in and the vegetated landscape all sketched out. 

When suddenly two dogs appeared out of nowhere and knocked me off my park bench. I was sitting on one end of the bench when the larger dog jumped up to where I was sitting and the bench slid like a seesaw to the ground.

After the dogs left I wiped the dirt off my supplies and tried to carry on but it was not the same. The trauma of that moment lingered on. Before long I gathered my supplies and headed home. 

Regardless, of the experience, I was focused and had a great approach to painting this particular subject matter. It makes me want to get back to painting even if this picture didn't turn out so well.

Farmer's Market

                                                                             (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

Yesterday my wife and I went to the local farmer's market for the first time this season. It was a beautiful day and well attended. When I was there I realized this is a great site for plein air painting. 

Now to be clear, I did some plein air painting at that site in the past. However, there are many subjects to paint from the river setting, to musicians, people galore and lovely natural settings.

So today I went back and painted this plein air. This is the first plain air I have paint outside in quite some time. It may come across as a bit crude but it developed rapidly and I felt good about the overall experience.

Maine Landscape

                                                                                          (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

Maine for me is a state of mind as well as one of the fifty states. I am beginning to yearn for that Maine coast particularly with today's temperatures topping out around ninety degrees. Just the sight and smell of the ocean brings relief to my senses. Last year my summer trip to Maine was less enjoyable as I had an eye infection the entire time my wife and I were away.

I have gotten more comfortable painting a wider range of skies while holding the block and letting the paint run across the sheet with less fussiness. Using gravity to your benefit is something I have embraced.

Painting or drawing on the interior cover of my watercolor blocks is something I do on a regular basis. It is a nice space to work out compositional details or record notes on painting.

Landscape Painting in Process

                                                                                           (C)2024 Dale DiMauro
 

Every painting has it's own unique process from my experience. There are certain parameters put on some pictures, particularly, if you are painting outside, have limited time or size constraints. 

This picture I started a little while back and did some more work on it recently. Perhaps, it might seem complex but I differ on that perspective. Often, I make refinements along the way, even though the composition is essentially unchanged.

What appealed to me most about this watercolor other than the colors is the view down across the landscape with an inviting contour on the far side of the pond. This very contour draws you more into the landscape.

However, I may tweak this far pond edge of the pond as it seems too exaggerated but other than that I am okay with things at this point.

West River Trail

                                                                                (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

After numerous interruptions it was great to get back to painting - in earnest. This spring has come quick even though we had a relatively late winter - at least in southern Vermont.

This image has stuck with me since late last fall. I feel a lot of temperature and even humidity in this picture. There is something about the quality and scale of local fields which draw my attention.

This was painted on Monday from a photograph I took early last fall. This watercolor developed rapidly and was complete in a little over an hour.

The Grays Have It.......

                                                                                         (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

The more I paint in watercolor the more I appreciate the color gray. Gray steps backstage for the other flamboyant colors that want to shine up front. For example, a vibrant red will be striking when positioned in a sea of cool grays. It's like a red 'stop sign' on a pavement of gray.

However, there is a huge spectrum of grays at the watercolorists hand. There are warm to cool temperature grays and everything in between those two. You can stick with transparent pigments or introduce some opaque pigments, too.

On the right in this photograph is a gray created by combining pthalo blue with burn sienna. This combination makes the warm, peachy yellow 'glow' above it(winsor lemon/burnt sienna).

Ashuelot River Walk

                                                                                           (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

After working in Keene, NH, earlier this week, I took a jog on the Ashuelot River Walk. Tuesday was a glorious day and the trail was well used with walkers, cyclists and joggers, Birds and peepers were chattering about, too.

I have plein air painted in Keene before, but am always looking for new sites to capture in paint. In addition, I like to paddle along the Ashuelot River.

As the photograph shows, the landscape is really greening up. However, many of the trees are yet to leaf out.

Ivory Black

                                                                                          (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

Recently, I have rediscovered ivory black as a color to include in my studio palette. Maybe not for use all the time but when necessary. 

I have several Charles Reid books in my library which I consider classics. They were bought used. However, at times he seems to have advocated using black to help achieve a dark with other pigments but not on it's own.

Anyway, I looked through my tubes of paint and discovered, in fact, I had a tube of ivory black. This tube remains largely unused, so I figured it was worth experimenting with.

I have experimented with ivory black and winsor violet for a rich, foreboding dark. Also, I have combined burnt sienna with ivory black and come up with a rich dark brown. The above green here is the result of combining permanent sap green with ivory black. To me this image has the quality of a late afternoon light.

Else Ware Watercolor Paper

                                                                                           (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

There is so much joy in watercolor painting. Part of it is what one learns along the way. There are so many different surfaces one can paint on from paper to illustration board to aquabord. In addition, there is a vast number of pigments to choose from, not to mention the range of brushes at one's disposal.

I love this new watercolor paper I have been using, so much, I am posting another image from that book.  The paper is called else ware and I just received a shipment of this paper in a larger book which is 7" x 10". 

It is difficult to find 300 lb Cold Press watercolor paper that is in a bound format. I simply love the texture of this paper and how it retains the fresh pigmentation.

Dark Brown

                                                                                (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro

It is exciting to arrive upon a new color combination. In particular, for me, to discover a rich dark brown is truly a revelation. The dark brown shadow on the water, above, is from combining ivory black with burnt sienna. 

This color adds so much to a watercolor painting. Sepia is another dark brown but I don't find it to have the freshness of this new combination.

With the light gray and greens of this image, the brown adds a crispness which clarifies the scene. This picture nearly has all neutral colors yet there is a lovey quality of light nonetheless..

Watercolor Book

                                                                                   (C) 2024 Dale DiMauro
 

After two days of traveling I came home to this watercolor book by elsewaresupply.com with eager anticipation. Most watercolor paper buckles but this paper is simply different. It may depend, in part, on how wet you paint.

First, I bought it locally at the Brattleboro Food Coop in town. It is marketed as 300 lb paper. I don't know if it is or not, however it has a wonderful texture. Also, when the paper is wet the pigment seems rich and vivid unlike any other paper I have used.

I have only found it in these smaller sizes: 4.25" x 5.75" and 7" x 10 1/8". Regardless, it is a great portable paper for plein air or direct painting. 

I keep adding little landscapes to this watercolor book. I truly am impressed with the results.