Workshop dates January 13 & 20, 2015 – Landscapes using your Imagination and Drawing using your Imagination.
Both workshops are designed to show playful fun methods that help develop and rediscover your imagination.
It is the unchained imagination that releases an infinity of possibilities, inventions and creations. Every invention began with someone’s “wild” imagination!
Imagination….. Where to start? Perhaps a doodle, or a photo of a doorway might ignite a flicker of an idea that can be fanned into a creative fire. Sometimes, just the way the paint moves and flows unimpeded can be the catalyst you need.
Loose bold free impressionistic watercolour mountains and hills! Bold bright cobalt sky emphasizes the top of the hill providing a sense of heat, summer and sun to the landscape.
Mountain in Blue is an inspired mix of cerulean blue, prussian blue with a bit of umber; then allowing some of the paint to drip down the mountain sides using gravity to help things along.
Mountain in Blue watercolours debiriley.com
Outback hill with features the trees set against a brilliant cobalt sky, in watercolours.
Watercolour Outback Trees debiriley.comwatercolour palette knife by EleanorWatercolour impasto student work ‘The Ledge’
Zoom into a flower with just the stamens, or zoom into a glass vase with just its reflections, maybe take a photo of just clouds only, or the ripples in a pool, perhaps in black and white, or sepia.
In other words, take photos in a way you have not tried before nor have seen done before. BE Different!
With a selection of your own, unique photos to use as reference material you’ll find it much easier to begin to paint bolder, freer, and in a distinctive voice that expresses what you want to convey.
A great way to develop your artistic creativity
is to take photos with the “specific intent” of Originality.
Use your photos, as Springboards, into creativity.
Whether you’re painting in pastels, watercolours, oils, acrylics, mixed media the single most crucial aspect for more successful artwork is Tonal Values.
Making sure that you first observe and see those variations in tone is key in order to then be able to obtain those tones on your painting. The tricks I use to see Tone vs. ‘object’ is to squint til all the colour and details fade, leaving only variations of Light, Mid, and Dark Tones.
Freedom in Skies, watercolour wet in wet technique, debiriley.com
Most of us will see colour & detail first, as its usually harder in the beginning to see ‘tones’. You might also find it useful to print out in black and white the image in order to better see where the tonal variations are.
Acrylics and oils typically use white paint in order to create light & mid tones; as well as sometimes adding a bit of white into the darker mix to keep it from being too stark, flat.
Light and Shade, having a range of tonal values ensures success in any medium! Oils and acrylic painters rely on the tube of white to create sufficient variations in tone. Watercolourists generally make use of the white of the paper as their white and dilute the paint with water to create the needed tonal variations of light, mid, dark.
A tip to remember as to where to place your light, mid, dark tones: The sky is darker at the top, mid tone in middle, lighter at the horizon. This occurs ‘most’ of the time, but not every time in nature.
Mountains, hills, rocks, shrubbery, rooftops, fields, meadows, table tops, lakes, ponds, etc, will generally …. be lighter on top, mid tone middle, darker at the bottom/base.Darker tones at the base will anchor the shape down, preventing a sense of ‘flatness’ and looking like its ‘floating.’
Always, look before starting to paint, for the light source direction. Jot it down right onto the canvas/paper so that it keeps ‘reminding’ you where to put light, mid, darks. Each shape needs to have tonal variation; exceptions may be a distant mountain range etc.
As you draw your shapes prior to painting keep in mind – Light, Mid, Dark Tone – within that shape, to ensure adequate tonal values. Bear in mind also, the painting needs to read as a united whole and that having clearly visible Light, Mid, Dark tones throughout will help to give the painting better design and balance.
Many new painters wonder which part of the painting to start first. Often beginning with the focal point, or the foreground.
However, this presents a dilemma for beginners, as then it becomes much more difficult to get the tonal values correct.
As well as then its also much harder to obtain a smooth, seamless transition from the background to middleground and into the foreground.
Summer colours debiriley.com
Generally speaking, for most beginners, I recommend that the background is painted first. Then, move forward to paint the middleground, continue on to the foreground. Last of all, paint the focal point.
By practicing this technique, you will achieve stronger designs, more appropriate soft & hard edges, and get much better depth in your paintings.
Depth and perspective in paintings can be tricky at first for beginners.
But it gets a lot easier when you know and follow a couple of logical and simple tips and guidelines.
Salt Pan Lake landscape watercolors debiriley.com
NT Gorge
Simplify The Subject
Break it up into simplified segments.
Divide the scene into divisions of Background, Middleground and Foreground.
Straight away this helps you to identify more easily what to do, in each of these areas.
I’ve listed below some of the most important steps regarding painting the foreground.
1. Foregrounds generally will have warmer colours in front, ie scarlets, terracottas, oranges, golden ambers, olive
2. Foregrounds generally will have sharper, more in focus, harder edges
3. Foregrounds generally will have deeper stronger tonal values
4. Foregrounds generally will have more texture, details, variations, contrasts
(Keep in mind that the further away an object is, it becomes less sharp, less detailed, less bright, contrasty, less textured and less varied.)
Morning Breaks, watercolour landscape
This example shows how dark the foreground is as well as being more sharp in focus than the background.
Green HIlls Watercolor
This example shows how the tones are darker in the foreground, the edges are sharper, there is more detail, more contrasts, and there is more warmth in the colors in the foreground than the background.
Gum Tree in the Bush debiriley.com
This example shows the foreground being warmer, darker, more detailed, more textured, sharper edged than the background.
Wondering what Basic Watercolour Materials to buy and use? Do you want to keep it simple and without hurting the pocket book too much?! With these tips using a minimum of materials you can start off on the right foot with watercolours.
Arches watercolour paper Cold Press debiriley.comTwinrocker Feather Deckle handmade cotton watercolour paper debiriley.comFabriano Rough watercolour paper debiriley.com
I have each those 3 types of paper on hand for when I want to just have some watercolour fun and “play”… but my standard go to watercolour paper is Arches rough 300gsm.
Beginners watercolour materials pared down to the bone – 3 tubes of paint, 1 sheet of paper, 1 brush – makes learning easier, less initial outlay and better results, faster.
Paper: Arches Rough 300gsm (100% cotton paper) 100% cotton paper is really a necessity for the absolute beginner in my opinion. This paper never lets anyone down. This is the paper that will allow for mistakes, permit scrubbing, will easily lift paint mistakes off, provide you with a lovely surface front side and backside to paint on (specifically Arches Rough) which you could…. . Rinse off; dry; and start again, using the specific 3 tubes of paint below.
Also, for more paper information you can go to the December 16, 2014 post on paper.
cobalt pb28; permanent rose pv19; winsor lemon py175 debiriley.com
Paints:
These 3 Tubes of paint create 100’s of mixes. The “pb pv py” numbers are very important ! This lets you know with certainty that the paint is genuine and not a cheaper substitute that will not perform the task required.
Daniel Smith watercolours, Winsor & Newton or Art Spectrum: Cobalt Blue pb28 Permanent Rose pv19 Winsor Lemon py175
Rekab 320S brush
Brushes: 1 Brush a 100% Squirrel hair mop Rekab 320s #2 (Isabey, or Raphael, or Rekab, or Roymac, or Winsor & Newton) are all nice squirrel brushes – the Rekab is my favourite.
The Rekab 320s which is featured (front) in this photo comes to a super fine tight point. It has an excellent paint load carrying capacity, allowing one stroke of paint to glide and stretch across the paper beautifully.
You only will ‘need’ this 1 brush, it is that sensitive and versatile.
For more information on my suggestions for brushes see the December 13, 2014 post on Brushes.
debi riley 
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