“THERE IS NO SHORTCUT” colorstudy
"There is no shortcut" - colorstudy on Hahnemühle Fine Art Watercolor Paper 24 x 24 cm / 9.4 x 9.4 in
“There is no shortcut”
I have heard this several times in the last couple of months and for now it is my first motto. There are others but this one is the first one, reminding me that I have to practise again and again every skill I want to learn, and excel in.
Another motto could be “if you teach you learn”. Which is a very interesting approach brought to me by Coach Sean d’Souza (you find the link to his blog in the sidebar).
So I would like to teach you what I learned yesterday. Above you see the colorstudy for a new painting. I proceed like that: I choose a photograph I made of a favourite subject. It is very important to me that it is I who made the picture. This will give the painting the unique touch. Then I open photoshop and work on a composition, which in this case is square because I chose a square Hahnemühle Quattro Watercolor, 40 x 40 cm (15.7 x 15.7 in).
I also change the contrast and the luminosity a little, which gives certain elements more importance and make the scene more dramatical.
I lay down (draw) a grid on my paper, as I have to transfer the format into a bigger one. Then I draw the basic lines and shapes into this grid.
Next comes the colorstudy. This time I really take my time cause I want the colors as I imagine them, see them on the photograph, on the screen. For the colorstudy I take the same paper as for the painting. I chose tubes of colors which I think will be necessary for this composition. Here I just rely on instinct. You grab what you think you need. I have to explain that I work with an extended pallette here, but you can get all of those tones with a reduced pallette too. You’d need for example Cobalt Blue, French Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson, lemon yellow, Vermillion, Emerald Green. With those six colors, you really can do anything you want, but you have to premix quite a quantity of each color, or just accept that your hues will change while working.
THE WALL IN THE BACKGROUND
For the special hue of the wall in the background which is like rosy sand, roasted in some spots, I’ll test the following:
- Bitumen (I guess you could take burnt umber too) – Sennelier
- Rouge de Venise – Sennelier (reddish brick brown)
- Marron de Perylène – Windsor & Newton (chestnut redbrown)
- Prussian Blue – Daler & Rowney
- Vert de Vessie – Sennelier
- Lemon Yellow – Windsor and Newton
- Terre de Pozzaoli – Schmincke (red sandstone)
- Rose Tyrien – Linel - just a tiny drop ….(we’ll come back to this one, it’s terrific!!!)
- Ultramarine Violet – Blockx - almost forgot this one, although it makes the perfect shadow on the lower part of the wall! This one is a “premixed” color, it has a lot of transparency. You could get the same with French Ultramarine and a little bit of Alizarin Crimson.
THE WATER IN THE FOREGROUND
I will need a very calm seagreen, something light which I’ll darken down with a dark red in the shadowy areas:
- Bleu de Prusse – Daler & Rowney
- Emerald Green – Blockx
- Terre de Pozzaoli – Schmincke (will make the shadow on the green)
THE HEART
Well well well. The heart. Now you must get curious. I just hope I’ll have this painting finished by Valentines day, 
Here we need a juicy red, sparkling with white and bright pink light reflections !
- Kraplack rosa – Blockx - it is a soft and rather transparent pink, which has a tendency of building pigment puddles at exactly the spot, where your brush was last)
- Scharlach – Schmincke – This one is so intense and dynamic, it almost jumps out of the tube right into your face:) It is so dense, you only need a tiny bit to make a big red mess. So yes, this is just what I need for my big heart!
- Alizarin Crimson – Daler @ Rowney – A color which I use a lot, I love this red, it is wise and discrete, you can make wonderful violets using it in combination with various blues. It darkens the Scharlach, but beware of stagnating pigment puddles too!
- Bitumen – Sennelier – again my beloved Bitumen, it’s nice to put a shadow on bright pink and red.
- Rose Tyrien – Linel - WOW ! I would like to name it Rose Tyranny, because it just wipes out every other color beside it, if you don’t use it absolute caution. You can see how it dominates here in my colorstudy. This is a TORNADOPINK
OK, LAST NOT LEAST THE METAL, BLACK METAL
- Gris de Payne – Sennelier - gives you a wonderful range of greys and blacks. If I want an object really jump to the foreground, I put on successive layers of dark grey, either Payne Grey or a mixture of prussian blue, emerald green (not Blockx emerald green which is too transparent, but Daler & Rowney) and bitumen or burnt umber. I have to let the layers dry completely, before putting on the next one.
Andrea! You are always an inspiration no matter what! I love that you share this part of your work in so much detail. I think it proves AGAIN just how much work, study, planning goes into a single painting (no matter the medium, but especially with watercolor). Of course, there is so much more which can’t even be explained with words here using this great technology!
I love how you share the various paints, exact hues and truly HOW YOU USE THEM! I have said it before and will again, the light you have to work with is amazing there and has a great influence on the exact hues you choose. Here is the amazing thing, no matter what you share here NOT ANYONE can duplicate what you do! Isn’t that incredible?
I have counted 6 different pigment companies you are using in this single painting. I can understand how you absolutely must understand how each hue is going to react with each type of paper and each other…making these studies a critical part of what you do.
I am definately inspired by what you are sharing here. I can say I am not in a place, at the moment, to pull out watercolors to work, but I am inspired to do some other things and to keep working on the sketchbook studies. For that and this, I thank you very much!
Kim, thanks so much for your detailed comment, which helps me to learn more! Yes, the light has so much influence on the hues, and the paper too, here for example the paper is a very white one, on which the colors reflect differently as on off white paper, like Arche paper.
And yes, the differences of the products of the different pigment companies are very fascinating. I love to discover the differences and little by little, you develop preferences too.:) But each color really has it’s own time and place, so to speak.
When I was younger, I never took the time to go into this kind of study although it really IS necessary to get the colors under your skin, so that you can instinctively pull out the pigment which matches the color you see in your mind and which you want on the paper.
Funny, I could go on and on with this….
Andrea, I think it is great you can go on and on about this subject. To me, this is what a blog is about or building a community is about. The thing is, our community may be very limited…I wonder? As for me, I could go on and on listening to you and asking you questions. I love this work you do!
Kim, I guess, yes, this long blabla about technique may frighten one or the other, but what one always loves is see color on paper:), so it works like a children’s book, you can just look at the picture and get something from that, and if you are brave (or insane) , you read on:)
Insane is about right! LOL
Andrea, diesen post werde ich printen und an die wand nageln, for times to come.
Bedachtsam, wie du an die arbeit gehst…………. ich bin sehr gespannt darauf. Ich weiss noch, dass paynes grey verboten war (selber mengen) aber die farbe ist schön. Ich muss warten bis mein atelier aufgetaut ist, bis dahin sitz ich im wohnzimmer und sticke. Ist auch schön aber der frühling, wie ich mich danach sehne. Und ganz besonders nachdem ich deine farbstudie gesehen habe.
XXXm
Hallo Martinchen, die da sitzt am Feuer und sticket:):) Du darfst Payne Grey benutzen, wenn Du weisst wie es anders geht;) Schwarz ist bei mir verboten, Payne Grey mag ich weil es so schön saftig ist…Und weisst Du, das “Bedachtsame” da musste ich erstmal ungefähr 30 Jahre dran arbeiten…:)
Very cool! And why I don’t use watercolor! Too much planning. =] But I’m glad you do.
Tammy, thanks so much for your comment, in fact after a while you actually get used to it, (yes you do:) and the planning really is so much part of the creation-process that it will not bother you anymore, I say this to encourage, cause I was like that before and preferred the instant reward.
I am currently waist deep in a color class so your post really got my attention. I’m overwhelmed by it all. I have never done a color study and until last week had never made color wheels so I’m in new territory.
I’m anxious to see the painting……………………..hurry!!
This makes me laugh, oh well, I’ll hurry for you, Paula! Thanks for the comment, it is very motivating, I’m glad for you that you follow this color class, how great is this?
Oh water color looks to complicated for me. Thats why I use oils. I actually enjoy just diving in and working it out as I go. Kind of like a mystery unraveling trying to decide who done it. lol But this is fun to see. Like you said.. A Childrens story book. I look forward to the painting. It will be fun to compare with your notes.
colors and mathematics ?
soft colors,
andrea that’s what i like ton sur ton…
beautifull.
bay bay sweet peaintergirl
xxx
Andrea,
I am always inspired by you. 3pmish here and the light blurred by yet another snowstorm but I will wander out and create some color/black and white images. Can’t wait to see the painting. enjoy pjc
Oh my, I thought you were not blogging as it never came up on my dashboard. Now I see I have two months or more to catch up on here. So sorry, hope you did not think I stopped wanting to see your work. Not the case at all. Simply thought you so busy too busy to blog. Silly me. So glad I thought to come to leave a note here to day to let you know I was thinking of you. Now I’ve signed up for the email notificiation so I’ll know!!!!
Hugs and sorry I have been absent.
I shall think of your beautiful colour list when I take my photos!
Thank you for this wonderful list, the names along are an inspiration,
seeing them all lined up they take on critical mass!
Now, where’s my camera?
Hi Merisi, thanks for your kind words, I like the idea of a “critical mass”:)