Week Four
The Use of Black Pigment in Watercolor, Figure Notation,
and Other Combined Media

• Proportional Anatomy and Canons of Proportion (faces and figures)
• Sandy Allnock Ode to a Tiny Palette (Creative Commons Video)
• Other Media: Ink and Gouache in Watercolor
• Figure notations in Black and Color:
  
• Week Four Exercises (4 Tasks) – even in figure notations light comes from one side!
  • Task 1: Figure Notations
    Make a page of figure notations doing activities. Consider sports, dancing, sitting, groups, solo figures. Include line with some and some completely drawn with brush. Make a shadow for each. You can work from observation at a common place such as the beach OR by Googling various activities that include figures to get images.
    Pixabay.com is a royalty-free photo sharing site that is searchable by the subject matter. Put in fishing, sports, etc. and you will find plenty of figures to paint.
  • Task 2: Watercolor and Ink
    Using a black pen or a dip pen and India Ink if dry try drawing one or two fruits and vegetables in pencil, make your watercolor, allow it to dry then add in inked accents.
  • Task 3: Clouds with Gouache, Pro-White or Titanium White Acrylic
    Lay down a heavy gradient wash of blue then while wet blot out the clouds. Then when fully dry add white highlights with white gouache, Pro-White or white acrylic (thin but opaque).
  • Task 4: For Pastel Users
    Underpaint your pastel in complementary watercolors then overpaint with pastels in the local (natural color). This may have to be more sizeable due to the size of your pastel especially if you are using Terry Ludwig brand pastels. Please see demo below on toning and then drawing on cold press Arches paper with pastels. (See Pastel on Watercolor Ground Color Demo below.)
  • This Week’s Resources:
    • Katherine Kelly Design – Watercolor Paper Review (Creative Commons Video)
    • Make Your Own Sketchbook (Creative Commons Video) Note: I personally would not number pages but the design is very easy to do.
  • Suggested Figure Notation and Dark Manner, Limited Palette (Dark Colors) Watercolor Artists to Look At:
    • Google Search of Alvaro Castagnet
    • Google Search of Mike Barr’s Cityscapes
    • Google Search of Dusan Djukaric
    • Google Search of Joseph Zubick
    • Google Search of Charles Reid’s Sketchbook Pages
    • Google Search of Jamie Wyeth’s Watercolors (mostly with combined media)
  • Demos
    • Real Time Demo of Figure Notations on Top of Line Drawings
    • Pastel on Blue Watercolor Ground Color on Arches (From my drawing class at the start of the pandemic in March. Made for my drawing students. Chalk Pastels NOT Oil Pastels (ever)
• Books:
  • Watercolor Impressionists (Recommending again due to variety of styles, techniques and subject matter.)
  • David Webb – Painting in Watercolor: The Indispensable Guide
  • Ray Smith – The Complete Guide to Watercolor
  • Joseph Pennell – Pen Drawing
  • Charles Reid’s Watercolour Secrets
• List of Cheryl’s_Watercolor_Supplies. List of colors, supplies and my commonly used materials.

Thank you for a wonderful workshop! I hope you enjoyed it. To keep track of my upcoming workshops, courses, lectures and exhibitions, please visit ckharts.com/blog and ckharts on Facebook. knowlesharrigan on Instagram. Always be artful! AND please stay in touch!

 

All lessons are the property of and copyright of Cheryl Knowles-Harrigan except where attributed.