Rugged Coast

Rugged Coast

Gouache on Paper

This painting is a gouache on paper over pen and ink.  As I've written about before, I will occasionally experiment over earlier paintings.  The Yankee in me hates to throw anything out.  Working in Gouache is still relatively new to me.  I prefer transparent watercolor, but whatever can help me achieve what I'm trying to achieve, I'll give it a try.

I was watching one of James Gurney's video's about painting on location with gouache and he mentioned how gouache tends to dry a little darker than it appears when painting - something I found to be very true.  This painting was also over a sketch in pen in ink with a lot of shading, so that did not help.  None the less, my plan was to go for a stormy scene anyway.

The picture below shows my current method for sketching on location and even studio work where I will work out different ideas in the margins - focusing on different compostions in thumbnail sketches before attempting a finished drawing.   

In this particular instance, there are only a few compositional sketches in the margins.  In other cases, the margins will be filled.   Another advantage of this method is for on location work.  At times, I may see a subject I want to paint, with many other elements that could lead to other paitnings in their own right, or some elements for me to add to other compositions.  It's a great practice that I also find forces me to simplify my compositions.  Initially I pre-drew all the squares for composition.  I've decided against that as there are times I'd like to do portrait orientation compositions as well as landscape compositions. 

I've not reached the point where I'm doing proportial sketches to the size of the final paintings, but that is easy enough to do.

Charcoal and Tracing Paper Experiments

I occasionally like to experiment with tracing paper.  Not to trace compositions, but I enjoy the feel charcoal on tracing paper.  Using tracing paper and even newsprint was also recommended by noted illustrators Robert Fawcett and Charles La Salle for practice.  I enjoy finding instructional books by artists such as these for inspiration.  Andrew Loomis is another favorite of mine.  The effects that Loomis and La Salle were able to achieve in Charcoal were amazing.  And Fawcett is an acknowleged master of line.  They make it look so easy.  Any expert does.  

I also like to see what the composition looks like in reverse.  While looking at a few of my paintings and drawings in preparation for entering another juried exhibition, I also noticed the difference the colored background makes.  

In this case I imagined a stormy sea where visibility was quite limited.  This was done from imagination, through I do enjoy storm watching along the coast.  The first image is simply with a piece of white paper behind the tracing paper charcoal drawing.

In the second picture, I've simply moved the white paper to the right and left the natural color of the drawing board (brown) to show through.  It does demonstrate a different mood.

The image below is with the image reversed.  Tracing paper makes this quick and easy - of course this can be done even more simply with basic computer software - but for me I prefer to go "old school"

 I'll share another example of working with watercolor on tracing paper in my next post.

I continue to be reminded on a regular basis that in art, and in life, there is no substitute for doing the work.  Reading about drawing or painting does no more to make you an artist than reading about playing the piano makes one a piano player.

Breakers Two

Pen and Ink - Breakers Two

I enjoy studying the many moods of the ocean.  The power of the waves.  The color and the shapes in the rock and in the surf, the reflections of the sun and moon, the mist, sea fog and foam, and , the movement of the waves create constantly shifting and new fascinations to me.  This is all purely the visual and doesn't even take into account the impact of the sounds and smells of the ocean.

These drawings are half memory half imagination from my childhood explorations of Higgins Beach in Scarborough Maine, Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth, and my most recent trips to Pemaquid.

Tidal Pool, Incoming Tide - Pen and Ink