COLOUR THEORY
EXERCISE 1
Layinga creativewash
InwantingtotryTurner’stechniques,
youmayalreadyhavesome
experienceofpaintinginwatercolour,
andknowsomethingaboutflat,
graduatedandvariegatedwashes,
reservingwhite,liftingcolourand
scrapingback,andunderstandthe
differencebetweena drybrushand
a wetone.
Butevenif youhaven’tpainted
beforeanddon’tknowthebasics,
byfollowingtheinstructionshereyou
shouldbeabletoleapstraightinand
bepleasantlysurprisedatwhatyou
canachieve.1
ABOVE AND RIGHT
Charts of exercises
introducing JMW
Turner’s colours
The exercise of the next three
pages covers a lot of ground. It won’t
leave you with a complete painting of
a subject, but it will introduce you to
some of the processes you will start
to recognise in Turner’s colour
beginnings.1
Make a flat wash on dry paper.
Angle the paper towards you,
load your brush and make horizontal
strokes down the page. Excess paint
will pool at the bottom of each stroke,
joining the next. Reload your brush
after each pass and continue.BELOW Tony
Smibert, Study for
Church on the Cliff,
watercolour on
paper, 20x29cm