Watercolor Artist – October 2019

60 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2019

Watercolor Essentials

Setting the Stage

Consider these four key elements when preparing

to tell a visual story.

By Steve Griggs with Sue Martin Griggs

W

hat would a movie or play

be without a carefully

planned set to create a

backdrop to the story being told?

Whenset designers prepare for a play

ormovie, the fi rst thing they do is

mapout the scene. Th ey pay attention

totheenergy and vibe as well as to

theessential details that best create

thebackdrop and draw the audience

intothe story. Without a compelling

backdrop, the story is incomplete.

Soit is for visual art.

When I paint, I don’t try to depict

exactly what my eyes and brain regis-

ter.Instead, I interpret, evaluate and

manipulate the two-dimensional scene

tofind an intriguing set of shapes and

details that will allow for the most

interesting story to be told.

I start by creating sketches to use

asreference, changing the focus,

elements and shapes to fi nd the

combination that will enable the story

toemerge. To determine which

elements of the scene will create the

most interesting painting, I consider

several factors: space division, format,

composition and painting execution.

To demonstrate, I’ll walk you through

my creative process for One Fleeting

Moment (at left).

SPACE DIVISION

I begin by imagining the actual scene

before me (A) as a page, and I look for

specifi c divisions among the elements.

Th ere are a multitude of divisions (B)

that can be created from one scene.

A

One Fleeting Moment (watercolor on paper, 15x11)