Art Demonstration - 2

Looking at this picture carefully you will see the under-drawing in pencil. I like to draw with some care. This may be because I simply enjoy the process, or it may be that I feel the comfort of a certain graphic framework within which to work. Unless the character of the picture demands otherwise, I am happy for pencil lines to remain showing in the final outcome. (I have even been known to add a few additional ones - to convey the impression of careless mastery of my medium (all art, and most artists, are an illusion.)

Many artists (including myself on many occasions) like to work from the outside in. That is they like to cover the whole surface loosely, blocking in the light and shade, the main colour patterns and so on. But you may remember that I have already focused my mind on the uplifted branches of the tree.As Ruskin said, memorably, you have to get a tree right at the armpits. So that is why I have started with the main shape that interests me.

Some less experienced watercolourists may see this as a hazardous approach.  After all watercolours can't be corrected, and a mistake at this point may turn out later to have ruined the picture. I disagree. First of all I think that watercolours should be planned in advance stage by stage - always remembering of course to allow for those happy accidents which are one of the features of watercolour. That enables one to work up a chosen section, without detriment to the remainder.The second is that the belief that watercolour cannot be altered is an illusion carefully fostered by watercolourists. There are 1001 ways of altering watercolours - most of which I have used, and some of which I will undoubtedly use before this picture is completed.

Since there is a sky in the background of this picture I am given the opportunity to grumble a little about the watercolour wash and the graded wash. I do so because the new watercolourist, at early classes, will gain the impression that all art turns around the ability to produce lovely washes. This is tripe. Interesting skies (which are another subject) by definition don't require washes; background skies - like this picture - require only the simplest of washes. I use plenty of water, an old shaving brush and about 25 seconds of time.

Unlike many artists' demonstrations, you will not hear much from me about the names of the colours I use. That's because I can never remember the names. My wife refuses to write down her cooking recipes because she uses a little bit of this and a little bit of that - a combination of experience and instinct. I find colours much the same, and the occasional disaster can lead me down a new and exciting path.

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