38 Artists & Illustrators
TALKING TECHNIQUES
adding more of the latter colour as
he moved down towards the horizon.
Next, he applied some Burnt Sienna
on the right and the left of the paper.
When this was dry, he added
buildings over it with a wash of
Cadmium Red, Cobalt Blue and Raw
Sienna, mixed with a Chinese White
to thicken it. He kept the top of the
buildings very pale, bringing the wash
down the paper and leaving thewindows blank to expose the lighter
wash underneath. As he brought the
wash down the right-hand side of the
paper, he mixed in some Burnt Sienna
to add warmth.
Next, he used a water spritzer to
soften everything up. In order to
preserve the integrity of the brush
strokes when he does this, he tends
to mix in white paint to create a
porridge-like consistency that doesnot disperse too quickly when
sprayed. “I load a lot of water at the
top of a painting then it runs down
and forms really dynamic effects,”
he says. “If you guide it around the
windows, it’s analogous to structural
architecture – and when the colour
bleeds, it suggests light bleeding.
I enjoy the synthesis you get between
the scene and the characteristics of
the watercolour. If, by running, the