The Artist - UK (2020-03)

64 artistMarch 2020 http://www.painters-online.co.uk

W

hat attracted me to this

piece of woodland was

the stark whiteness of the

silver birch trees against

the darker, evergreen fi rs, the linear

energy of the fi ne branches in the

canopy and foreground, and the fallen

tree on the left, creating a diagonal

and contrasting with the verticals of the

other tree trunks.

On-the-spot sketching

I recommend spending fi ve or ten

minutes on simple sketches; there is no

better way of imprinting on the memory

than a quick study from life and a few

photographs. At the design stage of a

painting it’s helpful to think of the scene

as a collection of shapes, which can be

altered and moved to show them off to

their best advantage. My rough sketch

(below right) gave me a composition

with interesting trunks that were not

ramrod-straight and spaced unevenly

so as to look more natural. The birch

trees are cropped in close at the front

and the trunks go right out of the top

Lady of the wood

Carole Robson encourages you to try new techniques with watercolour by

following her demonstration of an atmospheric woodland scene

of the paper, emphasising their height.

You can also see some evidence of

horizontal and vertical pencil marks

in the sketch, which I often make as it

starts me thinking about the abstract

possibilities.

Design

In a woodland painting such as this

and in a style that’s impressionistic

rather than realistic, it’s not necessary

to stick to reality and an injection of

imagination is often desirable. For that

reason I gave the horizon line a slope in

from the left, echoing the angle of the

falIen tree, but later changed it around

to come in from the right. This improved

the composition by helping to lead

the eye into the painting and then

clockwise around, via the fallen branch.

I also lowered the height of the distant

fi r trees and added a bigger proportion

of silver birch trees to the foreground,

in order to give them more emphasis

and to add more depth to the scene.

When composing in a square our eye

is drawn to the centre of the picture

plane by the imagined diagonals that

form a cross from corner to corner. The

main focal point, for that reason, can be

placed much closer to the centre of the

square. In this painting, the tree with a

split trunk takes an off-centre position.

You can still use the rule of thirds or

even quarter divisions to place other

important elements of the composition.

Materials

I like to use a variety of tools to make

interesting marks and textures. This

freedom of approach is more exciting

and energetic, and takes away the

reliance on painting with just a brush,

which in a watercolour can sometimes

lead to over use and over working.

I especially like using a water sprayer,

in order to allow washes of paint to fl ow

fl uidly over the surface of the paper. I

also enjoy using a palette knife to draw

fi ne, expressive lines that use the wrist

and even the whole arm, especially if

you stand while painting.

A ruling pen is another useful tool.

It can be used for fi ne drawing, with a

DEMONSTRATIONLady of the Wood

The initial sketch

(right) captured

the essence of

what interested me

about the scene:

the variety of

shapes and angles

of the trunks and

branches together

with the energy

of the thinner

branches in the

canopy

My reference photograph and sketch

COLOURS USED

Lemon yellow (or Winsor lemon), quinacridone gold, phthalo turquoise

(or Winsor blue), quinacridone magenta and burnt sienna