Watercolor

Watercolor 102 - Tips and Techniques

After an artist begins to work in watercolor and feels confident about how the materials will react in different applications, it is time to delve deeper into the medium.  Several techniques, on a higher skill level than what is considered basic, make the experience of creating original watercolor paintings more enjoyable and more challenging.

Among the skills an intermediate watercolor artist might consider are the use of resist materials and masks; particular methods for different atmospheric conditions such as fog, mist and snow; spritzing and spattering for special effects; sharp-edged implements for incising, scratching and gouging; and employing negative space as part of a strong or unusual design.

One skill that might elude the beginner watercolorist is perfecting a method of keeping whites within a painting.  Without very precise planning and careful study, the whites disappear into washes and overlays of color.  There are a few ways to keep and hold pristine paper white areas without surface damage and with very precise control.  And there are more “barbaric” ways to retrieve whites that might give you an entirely new style.

Holding and keeping white paper for the brightest highlights in your work can be done with the use of very precise drawing and with extreme care.  Or you can use one of two different methods to totally protect the white of the paper.  First, you can use liquid frisket, which is a rubber-like fluid that can be brushed onto the paper.  Once dry, the “rubber” resists the pigment, thereby holding the white paper beneath any painting done over it.  When the painting is completely dry, you carefully rub off the flexible coating to expose sharp whites.

Secondly, you can use frisket masking material.  If, for instance, you want to protect the entire lower section of your painting while you work to create a dramatic sky, use self-adhesive frisket film (Artool) to cover the sections you want kept clean.  Once a section is dry, remove the frisket and paint another area.  This material is especially helpful when you are creating more abstract images and want to overlay sharp, edgy items on a completed background or when you have large areas of detail work that you want to be able to create after the preliminary work is done and precise.

For splattering and spritzing you can use a spray bottle, but not just any spray bottle.  Each type of delivery system of the spray mechanism yields a different spray pattern.  Old window cleaner bottles, for instance, give large droplet, random spatters.  Pump sprayers like those used in beauty salons can give a finer mist, but will have larger drops mixed in with smaller droplets.  Art supply pump bottles give pretty even droplets in fairly controlled areas of distribution.  Experiment with all the spray bottles you can find and you will discover an entire treasure trove of effects.  Remember that the airbrush will give the softest spray of all.  You will discover that one of these will be just right for foreground embellishment or whatever else you are trying to achieve.

Sharp-edged tools can be great for “reclaiming” texture, bright lines and sparkling whites in very precise locations.  A blade with a handle such as an X-Acto knife is very easy to use.  The most frequent way this tool is used is in a scraping motion, dragging the blade over the surface of a completely dry watercolor painting.  This can yield an irregular, clear white scratchy line that is great for indicating sharp light on the edges of subjects.  Needle tools can also be used to drag through dark areas for scratchy, irregular lines that can indicate grasses, woven fabric, tiny water droplets and the like.  The tip of the needle tends to catch different fibers in ways to pluck them open and expose varying amounts of the white paper under the painted surface.

Precise use of negative space—the area around the central subject that is not filled with detail—is difficult.  This could be the area around a single rose blossom or the vignette space around a central subject.  It is hard to use this space as a direct part of your design and presentation but it is, however, possible to do so.  By drawing and redrawing your subject, the space around that subject takes on its own importance.  And, with practice, you can use these shapes as design elements for your work.

While many would describe intermediate watercolor in other ways, the methods and techniques described above, once mastered, will enable you to create a wider range of artworks.  Give any of these a try and see how they make your experience in watercolor more rewarding and worthwhile, as well as more challenging.

The Artist’s Marketplace

When visiting your art materials retailer this holiday season and in the New Year, please check out the vast selection of fine products available from those advertisers that bring you ARTtalk each month.

Ampersand – New Artist Panel

Ampersand’s new Artist Panel offers all the advantages of a panel, but with a canvas touch.  It has an acrylic gesso surface on MDF panel for oil and acrylic painting.  Economically priced for students, leisure and budget-minded painters, this surface has a wonderful canvas-like texture that gives artists the advantage of a panel with the feel of fine canvas.

Choose from three profiles:  Gallery Profile with 1-1/2” cradle mirrors a gallery profile canvas.  The frame is made with light colored birch plywood that can be painted or stained, providing artists with a ready-to-hang surface. Available in 14 sizes from 4”x4” to 18”x24”.  Traditional Profile with ¾” cradle can be hung on a wall or placed into a traditional frame similar to a traditional canvas.  This frame is also made with light colored birch plywood. Available in 10 sizes from 4”x4” to 12”x16”.  And the 3/8” Flat Profile is a flat panel with the added feature of a hanging slot on the back side of the panel, making it a convenient and ready-to-hang painting surface.  Available in 13 sizes from 4”x4” to 18”x24”.  See your retailer and visit www.ampersandart.com.

Strathmore – New Classroom Value Packs
 

In response to requests to add 9”x12” sheets to their popular 300 Series, Strathmore has introduced bulk packs of Sketch, Drawing and Watercolor paper.  This is the same quality paper bound in their pads and now available in convenient class packs of 100 sheets in Drawing (medium surface), 200 sheets in Sketch (fine tooth surface) and 24 in Watercolor (cold press surface).  See your retailer/supplier to take advantage of great savings and stock up now!  www.strathmoreartist.com

Chartpak – Higgins Ink Acquired

Chartpak is pleased to welcome a new addition to their creative family:  Higgins Drawing & Writing Ink.  This will complement Chartpak’s existing Koh-I-Noor and Pelikan ink lines.  The entire Higgins product range will remain in the Chartpak product portfolio, including the ever popular Black Magic waterproof ink.  Additional Chartpak brands include:  Grumbacher for artist paints and brushes; Koh-I-Noor for drawing and sketching; Pelikan for fine writing and art materials; Frances Meyer for scrapbooking; Clearprint for paper products; Craft House for painting, crafts and science activity kits; and Chartpak for graphic and decorative arts. www.chartpak.com

Kids’ Korner

Fun with Holiday Cookies

The holidays bring on lots of neat foods, some of which we see at only that time of year.  Cookies, although present all year long, take on a very special look if they are decorated in special ways and given as presents.  Most every family has a favorite sugar cookie recipe that works great for holiday decorating or you can use slice-and-bake cookies, too.

One of two methods is usually chosen for decorating cookies: Decorate before baking or embellish the cookies after they are baked and cooled.  If you decorate before baking, you should select things that do not disappear during the cooking period.  Rolled cookies offer the widest range of decorating options because they are a flat “canvas-like” surface.  Nut halves, raisins, cinnamon red-hot candies, M&M’s or other flavored chips, colored sugars or sprinkles can be arranged on the surface of cookies cut in shapes. 

One way to decorate cookies is to “paint” them.  A good base for the “paint” is a thin layer of icing or simple glaze that will seal the surface of the cookie and make the surface smooth.  Almost any icing can be used, but it needs to be applied and allowed to set before continuing.  A clean craft paint brush can be used to paint with food coloring (available in the baking aisle of your grocery store) on the dry icing.  Colors can be used straight from the bottle or diluted for less intense color, and they can be intermixed if you wish to create a number of additional colors.  Food color markers are also available for drawing designs.  This technique can also be used on pie crusts.  Just use a light icing, let it dry and then paint a scene or message.  Some families make a tradition of pie decorating with delicious results. 

Use of a set of icing decorating tips and an icing syringe or bag can help you create very fancy, elegant cookies or apply messages and greetings that are edible.  Great things can start with a plate of colorful hand-decorated cookies.  Any party or gathering takes on a more festive feel when specialty items are included.  Fancy cookies might start a new neighborhood tradition such as a kids’ cookie decorating party.

If you are feeling especially adventurous, you can use cookie planks to build a cookie house, like the old- fashioned gingerbread houses.  You could re-create your own home, school or church by making a pattern and cutting the rolled dough to size.  What an interesting and perhaps challenging project that would be!

So get baking, decorating and having fun while you create great treats for your family, to give as gifts or use as home decoration.  No two will be alike and each will be a treasure.  And if you wrap the cookies with plastic wrap, you can even use them as holiday decorations on the tree!  Creating cookies with unique messages/names/decorations will make the holidays more special and certainly memorably delicious.

If you decide that after display your cookies have diminished their taste or appeal, put them out for the birds.  The sugar and fat in cookies gives birds energy to withstand cold winter temperatures.  Lay a few out in your bird feeder or empty bird bath and watch them disappear. 

Exhibition – Drawing Babar:  Early Drafts and Watercolors is at The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, through January 4.  Supplementing the important collection of manuscripts and drawings are splendid copies of first editions of the earliest Babar books, notable for their large format and stunning graphic appeal.

Best Illustrated Books – The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2008 have been announced.  Included are A River of Words–The Story of William Carlos Williams, ages 7 and  up; The Black Book of Colors, ages 5 and up; A is for Art, ages 5-9; Wabi Sabi, ages 3-6; We are the Ship-The Story of Negro League Baseball, ages 8 and up; Ghosts in the House!, ages 3-6; The Little Yellow Leaf, ages 3-8; Wave, all ages; Pale Male—Citizen Hawk of New York City, ages 6-12; and Skim, ages 14 and up.

Holiday Events

—Scenes of the Season:  Paintings and Illustrations from the Collection is at the Brandywine Museum, Chadds Ford, PA, through Jan. 11, as are fabulous holiday displays. www.brandywinemuseum.org.

—A film, The Private Life of a Christmas Masterpiece:  The Annunciation, will be shown Dec. 10-12, 17-19, 24 and 26 at 12:30p.m. at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.  Also, enjoy caroling in the seasonally decorated West Building Rotunda where guest choirs lead afternoon sing-along caroling for all ages on Dec. 13, 14, 20 and 21 at 1:30 and 2:30. www.nga.gov/programs/film.

—Celebrate the holiday season with artistic flair at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston with a pair of traditional holiday fetes and caroling around the courtyard; a dramatic holiday garden display; an all-new edgy “Solstice Soiree” celebration After Hours; a free day for families and more. www.gardnermuseum.org.

—Celebrate the art of drums and drumming at The Baltimore Museum of Art’s annual Kwanzaa Family Day on Sunday, Dec. 21 from 1-5p.m.  www.artbma.org.

—The Indianapolis Museum of Art invites you to brighten up the darkest day of the year by bringing the family to a celebration of the Winter Solstice on Dec. 18 from 5:30-9 p.m. for ice carving, music, bonfire, cold-weather animals and art activities.  www.imamuseum.org./calendar.

—The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston invites you to Yuletide at Bayou Bend:  Celebrations through Jan. 4 at the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens.  www.mfah.org/calendar.

—Choirs of Angels:  Painting in Italian Choir Books, 1300-1500 is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, through April 12.

—Holiday Anime Faire will be held at the Fremont Teen Center in Central Park, 39770 Paseo Padre Parkway, Fremont, CA 94538 on Sat. December 6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There is a $5 entrance fee - receive a goodie bag & 2 activity tickets. The Faire includes: Manga drawing classes by Manga START: 11 a.m. & 1 p.m. $5 advance, $8 at the door; Shopping!; Guest Artists: PMBQ of Tea Club, Karen Luck, Ian Sy, Alfred Twu, Bay Area Artists Unite; Anime Viewing Room; Arts & Crafts: Origami, Handmade Cards, Button Making, Ornaments; Exhibits by Anime 101, Anime Palace, Anime V, PMBQ & Tea Club, Sakura of America. Brought to the community by: City of Fremont, CA & PMBQ Studios.

A Little Art History

Military Art

During WWII several trends were set that changed the way those at home thought about the war.  As early as 1942 the Marine Corps set up a special detachment of artists who were asked to record what they saw on the battlefield.  But it didn’t stop there.  In essence, the artists were charged to record any event, emotion or element that focused on the war effort and effects.  Before this formal program was implemented, even as early as WWI, artists had produced a powerful body of work that was the foundation of a military art movement.  Since this beginning, many Marine, Army and Navy personnel have worked in a wide range of media.

Photographers were sent into combat and recorded the instant something happened.  This was forwarded back to papers, magazines and posters on the home front.  But what the artist saw and recorded can be on a much higher emotional level.  Marines and Army/Navy personnel were implored to “see what they painted.”  Near the end of WWII the art program struggled through much debate and the budget for the entire program was cut severely.  Additionally, the program was criticized by the home front and Congress.  They felt that art was not an essential part of war, although the artists were risking their lives in the field trying to record with humanity and emotion the real issues of the war.

As the Vietnam War started, it took thousands into battle, including artists.  Although the U.S. Marine art program had waned in support since WWII, in 1966 the complete works were placed in a special division, and as many as 350 artists were deployed and completed over 8,000 pieces of art.  Likewise, the Army and Navy artists were using paintings as a way to communicate events without divulging confidential details, and for this reason the paintings were often more useful than photographs.

Although being an artist in a wartime situation may seem a way to avoid danger, the artists were required to do all their normal training, duty and responsibilities.  Any art they created was to be done on their own time, without any interference with their normal duties.  The dedication of these artists must be appreciated because they were taking chances during the fighting just as any serviceman/woman did.

Today’s military art is often completed by retired, discharged or Reserve enlistees.  It is also created by non-military persons/artists who have done research and want to document a special event in our history.  Over 2,000 pieces of military art created by military personnel and other artists is housed in the U.S. Army Center of Military History, Museum Division.  This division was established in 1992, where it has a permanent part in the Museum Division's Collections Branch.  Publishers clamor for new images of almost any wartime event because collectors want documentation and support for their research and interests.

Two things are true of military art.  First, it must be authentic in detail.  Few artistic privileges are possible when you depict scenes in which military personnel may have been killed or injured.  Second, the logistics of the event must be correct.  Respect for the military persons involved is always in the forefront.  If an artist is to paint a scene, it must be depicted correctly.

Military art, whether it is done in retrospect or at the time of the event, shares an element unknown in almost any other creative endeavor. Due to the circumstances of combat, it may not be a pleasant scene and it is not settling, but it is truth.  That is for what most of the artists who paint military scenes strive.

For images visit www.history.army.mil, www.heritagestudio.com, and www.history.navy.mil.

Exhibitions

Over the Top:  American Posters from World War I is on view at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, through Jan. 25.  The Art of War:  American Posters from World War I and World War II is on view at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, CA, through Jan. 26.

Airbrush

Airbrush Occupation #2:  Kustom Painting

Kustom painting is a term used to describe the decoration of automobiles, motorcycles, trucks and vans with images painted primarily with an airbrush.  Although kustom painting has enjoyed a heyday for the last decade, it has its roots in the 1960’s hippiedom development of van painting.  Today, though, not only have the images changed, but the techniques have become more sophisticated and a multitude of products have been developed specifically for this application.  Many of the top kustom painters have come out of other airbrush disciplines such as illustration, T-shirt painting and fine art, etc.

The popularity of kustom painting has been enhanced by TV shows such as “American Chopper” on TLC and by visibility at trade shows such as the annual SEMA Show held in Las Vegas.  This year at SEMA, as in past years, Iwata-Medea/Artool drew thousands of attendees to their exhibit booth by having some of the top airbrush kustom painters in the world collectively paint a mural for the duration of the show.  These included Craig Fraser, Pamela Shanteau, Mike LaValle, Steve Driscoll, Fonzie, Gerald Mendez, Deb Mahan and Ron Gibbs, who not only demonstrated their painting finesse, but answered questions posed by attendees as well.  Another popular booth at SEMA was House of Kolor, which also provided exciting live demos to attendees.

Kustom painting has developed its own aesthetic movement with a particular look that is extremely hip and created primarily with freehand airbrushing in conjunction with templates and stencils.  The images used—whether realistic flames, skulls, tiki idols or palm trees—are being utilized above and beyond automotive painting but with the same skill and techniques in the decoration of guitars, surf/skate/snowboards, helmets, appliances and painting in general on metal and plastic surfaces.  This expands the market, as well as the incomes, of kustom airbrush painters.

To get started, there are many workshops offered around the country by top educators in the airbrush field. For those wishing to learn on their own, there are books by Pamela Shanteau and Craig Fraser as well as DVD’s by a multitude of artists available that teach such necessities as the dagger stroke, how to mix and thin appropriate paints, how to prepare surfaces for painting, the importance of clear coating and much more.

With all airbrush applications, the most important thing is getting started and practicing.  Kustom painting now extends to any object on which automotive painting techniques can be applied, thus expanding the horizon of the kustom painting occupation.

FREE New Airbrush Newsletter – Go to www.airbrushtalk.com for the new issue of AirbrushTalk.  Check out Holiday Vest in Deco-Denim by Janean S. Thompson, The Business of Custom Airbrushing by Donn “Too Tall” Shanteau, Chariot of Fire:  Ghost Flames on a 2004 Corvette by Thomas Adams, New Products for the Airbrusher and Airbrush Workshops.

ArtPourri

Medal of Arts Recipients Announced – President and Mrs. Bush have awarded the National Medal of Arts to nine recipients, including Jesus Moroles, a sculptor from Rockport, TX.  In a surprise announcement at the ceremony, five awards of Presidential Citizens Medals were given, including to NEA Chairman Dan Gioia.

Senior Artists Featured – The AARP Foundation invited AARP members to submit their masterpieces as part of the 2009 Calendar Contest. Fourteen paintings were chosen to adorn the annual calendar and were recently exhibited at this year’s art gallery and silent auction at the National Event & Expo in Washington, D.C.  The theme for the 2009 calendar is “America:  Then and Now.”  http://aarp1.convio.net/site/PageNavigator/2009_ExpoCalendar.

USA Fellows Named – United States Artists has announced 50 new USA Fellows for 2008.  The youngest is 31 and the oldest is 82 years old, and they come from every corner of the country and work in virtually every artistic discipline.  Each will receive an unrestricted $50,000 grant in recognition of his or her creative work.  Visit www.unitedstatesartists.org to meet the new Fellows.

Holiday Postage Stamps Issued – Featured on the 2008 Christmas stamp is the Virgin and Child with the Young John the Baptist painting by Italian master Sandro Botticelli.  The painting, tempera and oil on wood, dates to around 1490 and is now part of the world-renowned collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.  The 2008 Holiday Stamps are Holiday Nutcrackers, which feature four eye-catching nutcracker designs by Glenn A. Crider of T.R.C. Designs, Inc., of Mechanicsville, VA.  He based the characters on sketches and notes provided by Sally Andersen-Bruce of New Milford, CT. Also available for the holidays are Eid, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah stamps.

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Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 19 No. 2 — December 2008