Watercolour Paintings (21)

Here  are the latest watercolour paintings I've downloaded. Once again a varied collection  with something I would hope for everyone.

 N.B Gurung

Gerard Hendriks

Charles Reid

Catherine Rey

David Taylor

Jan Velhuis

Josef Zbukvic

Yoko Nagayama

Catherine Rey

Charles Reid

 

Trevor Lingard

Bhira Painting

Robert Wade

Ewa Ludwiczak

Christian Couteau

That's it then folks.

Watercolour Painting on a Budget - 2016 Update

I've just purchased some art materials, mostly paints and paper, for my Avon Valley Art group.  Two relatively small parcels cost just under £300 and brought home again how expensive watercolour painting can be.

My previous posts on this subject have been very popular and the 2011 one still is to some extent. Not a lot has changed except everything has got more expensive. The main change has been the introduction of a number of cheaper paints as the artist quality prices have continued to climb with the introduction of QoR and Lutea raising them to ridiculous levels.

The principal items are paints, paper and brushes. These are the main ones. I know you can spend a lot more when you get into easels and other accessories like palettes, but in this latter case there are many cheap options which are perfectly adequate. I propose therefore to cover paints, paper and brushes only.

Paints
There has actually been more movement on paints than either paper or brushes.  This has taken three forms. The introduction of Korean paints plus Turner from Japan, more house brands plus QoR and very recently Lutea. Both these latter are excruciatingly expensive.

Shin Han, Mijello and Turner have upwards of 70 paints, compared to the more normal 40 of budget makes like Venezia from Maimeri, Van Gogh from Talens, and Cotman from Winsor and Newton. I have covered all three makes in separate posts so I suggest you read those if you are interested. I have analysed the ranges and concluded they are not equivalent to the top makes. However it is perfectly possible to find 20/30 paints in each group that have decent pigments. They are being promoted as artist quality and I would say they are somewhere between student quality and artists quality. Some of my artists friends use Shin Han and are very happy with them. They seem to me to be on the opaque side, rather like Chinese makes like Maries, described by a well-known Chinese artist as 'somewhere between watercolour and gouache'. Make no mistake though Cotman, Van Gogh and Venezia contain some excellent paints. Prices are much cheaper than the top makes and the recently introduced Turner the cheapest. The Winsor & Newton Cotman range in the USA comprises 50 paints, including genuine Cobalts and Cadmiums but they refuse to make them available in the UK. The St Petersburg range remain very popular and have recently added tubes as well as the normal pans.

The other change has been the introduction of more house brands both in the UK and USA. We have recently caught up in the UK with Ken Bromley, Jacksons and Great Art all having house brands. Initially Jacksons was made by Sennelier and still may be. I haven't tried any of them but they are well priced and have had good reviews - have you ever seen a bad one in a trade magazine? - but the only worthwhile one is to try a small sample - say three paints - yourself.

I mentioned  QoR and Lutea. My only comment is to say I won't even consider them because of the ridiculous prices when there are many excellent makes available at far better value. In the UK the much lauded Daniel Smith has made an impact with a huge range - far too many - including some lovely colours but prices are high and I suggest equivalents to many of the colours are available in cheaper makes like Lukas and Daler Rowney, while Winsor & Newton are frequently on offer. Don't rule out Maimeri, Sennelier  or Rembrandt. You don't  have to buy only one make. Others may tell you different so this is my opinion based on my own experience.

Paper.
No real change here. Without a doubt Bockingford remains the best budget option and I have  just purchased a pack of 50 sheets(11" x 15") for a member of my group at £21,50p. This from Jacksons. Other options include several papers in the Hahnemuhle range like Brittania. Great Art do several budget papers under the Gerstaecker name. I tried a couple but was not impressed. They do offer a good 100% cotton paper called Centenaire, in both sheets and blocks, which is good value for a cotton paper. Sheets work out much cheaper than blocks.

Brushes.
Again no real change here although prices have risen steadily. With Kolinsky sables prices jump into the stratosphere beyond size 8 but Rosemary & Co are well priced compared to some the others. Escoda are also competitive although size by size they are usually smaller. They do however offer an increasing range of synthetic fibre brushes that are used and promoted by some well-known workshop artists. In the UK Pro Arte have a virtual monopoly in art shops and are good, but also have a look at what Rosemary offers.  A very good alternative are the mixed sable/synthetic brushes most list and the Da Vinci Cosmotop range of mixed hair/synthetic , used by some top artists, are worth considering. See the article on synthetic brushes by John Softly.

That's basically it. The index for the blog is July 2014 and will tell you where to find the articles mentioned in the text.

Eskiminzin

Eskiminzin was the chief of the Aravaipa band of the Western Apache. The painting is from a photograph taken when, in his later peaceful period,  he had become a prosperous farmer with a ranch, ranch-type house, cattle and cultivated land. He was so succesfull that avaricious white settlers soon found a way to return him and his family to the reservation and steal his property and possessions.

Eskiminzin 16" x 12" watercolour paper 140lb not but not sure what make

I commenced with a pencil drawing the day prior to my Thursday AVA session as I find this is the best way. I can then concentrate straight away on painting and take more time. 

As usual I start with the eyes then the nose followed by the mouth. I use my Isabey travel brush size 6 together with the other Isabey size 4 and 6 Kolinsky sables. If you think this odd the reason is that the travel brush is nothing like a normal size 6, being much smaller in body but quite long and slim. Why  it is called a 6 I can't imagine, I don't strictly adhere to the above straying into adjacent areas when painting these features but in general this is the procedure. As I've said many times before this is based on what Charles Reid teaches. Since viewing Gerard Hendriks DVD I have been trying a slightly different approach in that I, rather than rushing straight through, have been using a hair dryer to thoroughly dry the paint before proceeding to the 2nd stage. Gerard paints in three or even four stages thoroughly drying the painting in between. This he says is one of the ways that ensures transparency when overpainting.

Colours used were mainly Translucent Brown (Schminke Pbr41) with Ultramarine Blue and a touch of Permanent Rose. I also introduced Lukas Cobalt Violet (PV14) as a trial. This particular brand of Cobalt Violet is quite  weak, as Cobalt Violet is generally and the shade a pale violet grey. See the piece about Cobalt Violet with comments from John Softly (INDEX JUNE 2014). They do vary with some much pinker. The hair was Ultramarine mixed with Translucent Brown and so was the shading on the hat in weaker mixtures. The clothing is basically Raw Umber and Raw Sienna with some shading with the above colours. I still haven't really cracked this with the original photograph a sort of black and white / Sepia colour.  I put some green and pink in the background but am not entirely happy with that aspect. I did overpaint with the same colours in the face once fully dry to get the shading right. As far as accuracy is concerned it is a reasonable likeness. 

Lutea Watercolours

Yet another brand of watercolour paint arrives and in some ways an astonishing one. What do I mean? To start with the paints are plant-based giving a result - "that cannot be created with synthetic colours"..... " with good to very good lightfastness".

The most astonishing thing are the prices. Lutea comes in 9ml tubes and the twelve -  "unique colours" - range in price from £13.50p to £18.00 and these are discounted prices! Even more expensive then QoR.

Jacksons give a full description and there are two PDF's that can be downloaded that give a full list of plants used  as well as one on the making of them.

Lutea are a Belgian company and say the paints must be kept at room temperature.

Frankly I wouldn't pay such prices however good they are claimed to be. Who will buy them? If you are interested go to Jacksonsart website, put Lutea watercolours in the search box and read the full story.

Three More

My latest efforts mostly drawn at home and painted at AVA sessions on Thursdays. 

'My he looks fierce' 16 x 12

'

I wasn't happy with my first attempt and tried a 'rescue'. It's partially worked but not 100% You can rescue watercolour failures but it's best to avoid having to do so!

'Manuelito' Principal Chief of the Navahos late 1800s 16 x 12

Manuelito was chief for quite a long period both during hostilities with the whites and well into the reservation phase. There are many photographs of him taken when a relatively young man and into later life.

'Makah Maiden' 1915 16 x 12 

The original photograph - another by Edward Curtis - is rather an overall dull grey and the resultant painting was similarly dull. As a rescue attempt I decided to introduce arbitrary colours. I had no idea what the original colours were. It's over the top as far as colour is concerned.

I have just switched from a windows type computer [after 20+ years] to an iMac. Fabulous machine but a steep learning curve that threatens the continuance of this blog. In particular I don't as yet know how to incorporate photos into posts using Picassa 3. If I cannot solve this...........

Watercolour Paintings (20)

Herewith the latest batch of watercolour paintings I have collected. There are several new artists so something hopefully for everyone with some of my favourites that I make no apology for featuring, but this is perhaps more of a mixture than has gone before, with several I haven't previously come across. Certainly food for thought. I hope you like them

Janet Rogers

Akvareller (?)

Nirupam K Onwar

Charles Reid

Edo Hannema

Galina Shkoda

Jonathan Kwegvir Aggrey

Muga Popa Artwork

Gerda Mertens

Jonas Nilsson

N B Gurung

Another from N B Gurung

Orhan Gurel

Rachel Toll

Tony Belobrajdic

Virgil Carter

Another Two

Here are another two portraits, drawn at home and painted at my AVA session on Thursday.

16" x 12" Centenaire 140lb (300gsm) not "Queen of the Desert"

Blog followers will know I am an  admirer of the photographer Edward Curtis who is famous for his portrayals of American indians, mostly taken in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In this instance I came across a photo entitled `Queen of the Desert'. Rather different to his other work, further searching produced the information it was taken in 1898 and was a posed photo of an African American model - no name attached. No indian maiden would have posed like this, although in some tribes partial nudity was not uncommon.

I found it hard to tackle and did it in two or three stages, with a few days between the first and second. Although stated to be an `African - American' her skin tones looked pretty light apart from the areas of deep shade on the left hand side (facing) of her face. Unfortunately these black and white photos tend to have very harsh dividing lines between tones and it is probably better not to follow them too closely. Colours were Gold Ochre plus a lighter yellow, Cadmium Red, Raw Sienna, Cerulean, Ultramarine and Translucent Brown in various combinations. I used three brushes, all Isabey nos 4 to 8

Buffalo Bill Cody Western Legend, 16" x12" not sure what the paper is other than it is  140lb not .

Exactly same brushes and colours mainly Cadmium Red with a little Raw Sienna for the skin areas. Ultramarine Blue with Transparent Brown plus Raw Umber, in various combinations for the rest. Possibly slight touches of one or two other colours. 

Two More

These are my latest efforts mostly done at AVA sessions but also partly at home. I make the usual proviso that these are just my paintings and I don't hold them up as particularly good.- just mine. I have started to do more work in my `studio' after reducing my activities in other areas. I'm always looking to improve even at this late stage of my life.

Wisham Woman from as Edward Curtis photograph c1900

 16" x 12" Waterford High White 140lb (300gsm) not

This portrait did involve a slight change of technique in that I dried the painting using a hair dryer, between each phase - a la Gerard Hendriks. My fellow painters said they liked it better than some of my looser and more contrasty efforts but I'm not sure I want to take that route. Actually I don't but I continue to experiment..

Colours used were various combinations of  Cadmium Red Light, Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, Cerulean, Ultramarine blue and Transparent Orange. Usual brushes.  

Back to animals! "An Otter" 16" x 12" Centenaire 140lb (300gsm) not

My main interests are portraits, animals, birds and the occasional still life. I've gone right off landscapes and buildings. I do other subjects when they are in the programme of my AVA group. I aim for a Colourful result using arbitrary colours - those that aren't actually there - as do Charles Reid and Gerard Hendriks.

Two More Chiefs

The following are the latest portraits I've attempted. They are again of Amerindians, in both cases very-well known ones. The guide photos were both black and white

Sitting Bull - 16" x 12" Waterford High White. 300gsm (140lb) not

The guide photograph was almost certainly taken during Sitting Bulls reservation period a few years after the defeat of Custer in 1876. He remained.a very influential figure - although with enemies amongst his own tribesmen - and was killed, some say murdered, when reservation indian police attempted to arrest him for fomenting trouble. He never accepted  subjugation to the white man and was a renowned `white hater'.

The colours are mostly a mixture of Cadmium Red Light and a little Raw Sienna, with copious amounts of Cerulean Blue and Ultramarine, Raw Umber and possibly Burnt Umber added for the dark areas. I mulled it over a few days after initial completion and deciding it was too dull, added diluted amounts of Translucent Brown (Schminke Pbr 41) to warm up the face.This is a great colour and Yvonne Harry of my painting group asked if she could try it and seemed suitably impressed. 

Quanah Parker 16" x 12" Centenaire 300gsm (140lb) not

Quanah Parker was the last war chief of the elusive Qwahadi Comanches. The interesting thing is his father was the war chief Peta Nocona and mother the captured white girl Cynthia Ann Parker. Cynthia was captured at between the ages of 8 and 11 - no one is sure exactly when she was born -and her capture became a cause celebre on the Texas frontier, indeed nationally. Recaptured by Texas Rangers at the age of 34 she never adjusted to white society and died of influenza in 1871. Her young daughter Prairie Flower preceded her. Quanah eventually became the leader of the Quahadis and was the last to surrender in 1874. He subsequently adapted to reservation life becoming quite wealthy. He dressed like a white man and adopted many white men ways, but not all. At one time he had 8 wives. Quanah visited his relatives amongst the Parker family and  became a well respected member of the community. Quanah kept a large framed photograph of his mother and sister in his house.  .. 

I wanted to paint him because of his history and also strong features. Prior to painting I reviewed some of Charles Reid's Indian portraits and also Gerd Hendriks DVD..The reasons are obvious in Charles case but in Gerards were to see whether I might incorporate some of his techniques - at least in a modest way initially. The resemblance to Quanah is quite good although not as good in Sitting Bulls case.

Using my normal portrait colours of Cadmium Red, Raw Sienna and Cerulean or Ultramarine I also heavily invested in Translucent Brown..I wanted to avoid the dullness of the first painting stages of Sitting Bull and be bolder. . Brushes used were my normal Isabey in sizes from 4 to 8. I'm pleased with the results, especially Quanah.

New DVD from Gerard Hendriks

A few days ago arrived in the post a copy of this new DVD from Gerard Hendriks - I think it his first. This was most unexpected but not really a surprise as I've benefited from Gerards generosity previously, as readers of the blog will know.

Animals in Watercolour - DVD - In Dutch and English (English in subtitles) 1hr 12 minutes - 29.95 euros (may be extra postage (?) to countries outside Europe) e mail enquiries to info@ingridrovekamp.nl Her website is : www.ingridrovekamp.nl

The first demo two blue tits

Demo in progress

This was sent to me sometime ago, again out of the blue, by Gerard and I've had it framed.

The DVD has five sections. 1 to 3 are demos, blue tits, followed by a chimpanzee and finally a cockerell. In the 4th section Gerard explains his methods again, as he talks about them throughout the paintings. The final section is a gallery of his paintings.

I'm an admirer of Gerard both as an artist and a person. Although we haven't actually met, communicating through e mails and via Facebook, he comes across as such a nice man. His work has similarities to my American guru Charles Reid, but in other ways his working methods are very different.

Gerard starts with a pencil drawing, not over detailed and using a form of contour drawing. Gerard describes his preferences in paper, brushes and paints - much of this is also detailed on the inside front cover of the DVD. He paints in three or four phases, using a hair dryer after each phase, so the paint is thoroughly dry before commencing the second phase. This he says is essential. I'd wondered how he got some of the effects I see in his paintings and now I know. I intend to try and incorporate some of his techniques in my own paintings. As far as I can see Gerard holds nothing back. He is not at all dogmatic and uses tissues, fingers, the end of the brush and anything else  he feels  necessary to produce a good painting. What you see is what you get. 

In my opinion if you like his style of painting, and he has become extremely popular, this DVD is a must.

UPDATED INDEX  - JUNE 2014