Color

Unlike some teachers of watercolor, I advise students to start painting as soon as a satisfactory drawing is completed. So let's start right in with a simple explanation of value and color. Value, according to Webster, is "the relation of one part or detail in a picture to another with respect to lightness and darkness." You will see value sketches in black and white throughout this book. The primary colors of the painter's palette are red, yellow, and blue. When these three are mixed in pairs, we get orange, green, and purple.

To learn as much as possible about color, take each color in turn and play with it. See how alizarin becomes pink when water is added and how it becomes dusty rose when you add various shades of gray. Then experiment with various mixtures. You'll want to make copious notes as you go along with these experiments. They will be invaluable references later on, and unless the notes are on paper they may be forgotten.

Perhaps the easiest way to think of color is to divide your pigments into two general classifications—warm and cool. Refer to my own palette (page 15) for a visual explanation of this arrangement. The intermediate, borderline group between warm and cool can be slanted either way by the addition of a warm or cool color; this group is useful for such elusive color effects as weather-beaten barns, dirt roads, etc. However, do not concern yourself with these until you have assimilated the essentials, the elementary principles of color. To fix the warm and cool divisions in your mind, think of the hot, sultry colors of the tropics—the dazzling reds, magentas, yellows, oranges, purples—and compare them with the austere, cool, almost bleak colors of such northern regions as New England; think of the brooding grays, glacial blues, icy greens, and of the effect that these colors have even upon the personalities and temperaments of the inhabitants of those climes.

Think also of the emotional impact of color: how color determines the mood of a picture, how color can denote joyousness, gayety, and laughter, or how it can be stark, ominous, and foreboding. A wide, almost limitless range of effects can be achieved with the colors I use.

Since all paint manufacturers have their own pet names for many of their colors (such as robin's egg blue or sea green), I have used the names and brands of colors I actually use in order to avoid confusion (see page 14). However, once you have grasped the fundamentals, strike out on your own because every individual can develop his own sense of color. For example, a group of well-known painters worked simultaneously from the same model. When the paintings were finished, each artist showed a different color concept in his work, but each painting, viewed individually, was a true portrayal of the sitter. Despite the variations in each artist's color, all of the values in the paintings were properly related.

Another matter I would like to impress on your mind is that there can be happy, almost providential, accidents of color. If you make an unintentional brush stroke or drop some color where it doesn't belong, the effect may be well worth while keeping in the picture. Don't be in a hurry to delete such a mistake unless it actually harms the work.

There are really no set formulas to restrict or inhibit your creative urge. So let yourself go!

Waterfall

In painting a waterfall, most people mistakenly believe that all the action is in the cascade itself because of the speed, motion, and general disturbance caused by the onrush of water. This is not so. The quiet action which takes place before the drop and the turbulence that occurs after the drop are the two essential factors in making a waterfall realistic. One needs the other in order to make a convincing picture.

On the opposite page, I have shown a small river fall to illustrate this principle and suggest you try it yourself. I have carefully indicated the colors to be used, but keep in mind at all times that the picture must be in value. See definition of value on page 47. Use the painting above the plan for your values.

Fog And Rain

In painting fog, you will note that objects very near you—because of the softness of the fog and mist—have a tendency to appear quite sharp. Remember, too, that because you are painting fog, you will have, at times, a strong, penetrating light which will give the picture an intensiveness totally unlike that of sunlight.
To paint the fuzzy background, keep the paper wet. Keep working down, leaving un-painted only really white areas, such as the boys' trunks and the top of the boat. Work from light to dark and keep the paper wet around the boat while at the same time establishing your values on the boat. The reflections of the boat should not be added until the paper is almost dry. In translating this tonal sketch into color, always remember that fog leans toward the cool side.

In painting a wet, rainy scene do not attempt to paint the soft edges. Instead paint it as you would any picture without sunshine. Then when the picture is dry, take your sponge and float some water on the painting. When this is semi-dry, take your 1-inch Grumbacher aquarelle brush, using the chisel edge, and delete the effects of the rain action with diagonal strokes. This will counteract the vertical lines of poles and trees as indicated in the picture. Reflections, such as in the street, are applied after the paper is dry.

Light And Haze

Remember in painting sunshine that there is but one source of light, the sun, and that the light comes from only one direction. If your painting is done all in one day, you may find that you started with the sunlight coming from one direction and ended with the sunlight coming from the opposite direction, thus changing the shadows. In doing your pencil drawing, always keep in mind not only the direction of the sun's light at the time you start, but also what time of day will make your shadows most effective and dramatic. When you have fixed the time of day when the shadows are most interesting, come back the next day at the same time to finish the painting. Also remember that shadows follow the basic laws of perspective in direction, length, etc.

On the opposite page, I have used a typical Bermuda scene, showing the softness and hardness of shadows in bright sunshine. In the bottom picture I have used a scene which depicts a harshly bright, sunless day in which the brightness has such intensity that the glare actually hurts the eyes. Light, under these conditions, will produce no shadows because the sun, although actually producing the light, is hidden by haze. In this particular case, it gives the picture an almost Oriental mood.

Resume Of Color

If you have experimented with color as I suggest on page 47 and have tried translating a few black-and-white drawings into color, you will realize that values are the important thing. The best way to see values is to half-close your eyes.

If your values are right, there will be few people who can tell whether your color is right or not.
 
Four Seasons

The same subject at the four seasons of the year is illustrated on the opposite page. In making the four rough color sketches, it was not my intention to ultimately finish four distinct paintings. It was to try to find out which season was most suitable to the particular subject matter.

In this experiment I found the winter and fall to be the most effective. In the spring and summer paintings, the monotony of green made these compositions less satisfactory. The winter scene, with a blanket of snow and cast shadows, lends itself to the placement of a high horizon line in the painting, giving more foreground. In the autumn scene, I have used a low horizon line because the elements of pictorial interest are above it. It gives the artist room to show the formation and character of trees, which makes the picture more interesting in composition and color. In the autumn one's instinct is always to look upward toward the trees and the sky for their vibrant symphony of breathtaking color. Note that when the horizon line is low the buildings appear larger; they are, however, identical as the four sketches were traced from the same drawing.

Maskoid

Maskoid is a liquid masking solution, applied with the brush, which forms a waterproof film when it dries and hardens. It can be peeled off without damage to the paper or surrounding painted areas.

As shown in the illustrations on page 59, Maskoid is applied to all areas that are to be left white. Note that, unlike rubber cement, it remains a visible color (gray) rather than transparent. This is very helpful in plainly indicating the areas that are to remain white. Another advantage over rubber cement is that small, intricate areas can be "painted," whereas cement is hard to manage on intricate detail. Wash your brush in soap and water immediately after using Maskoid, and do not use a good brush in applying it. Use a rubber cement pick-up to remove the Maskoid from your picture. Incidentally, note that I have signed my name in Maskoid on the picture, showing a further use for this versatile product.

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