28 artistApril 2021 http://www.painters-online.co.ukWATERCOLOUR
W
hat do you want to paint,
why do you want to paint
it and what emotions do
you want to stir? These
are three critical questions for any artist
and for me, the answers kind of found
themselves. As a child I would sketch
endlessly, trying to recreate the three-
dimensional world around me on a flat,
two-dimensional surface. I puzzled over
perspective and shape in my attempts
to make things look real and the more
real they looked, the better.
My true training, however, began in
my late teens at Bournemouth College
of Art and Design where I undertook
my foundation year. It was the most
intense year of my life because I was
exposed to many different aspects of
picture making and I remember it as
a whirlwind of ideas and tasks. I am
eternally grateful that I was taught theBring wildlife to life in
watercolour
Jake Winkle explains how you can use a variety of watercolour techniques to
bring movement and narrative to your wildlife paintings
importance of observation, colour,
shape and design.The built environment
In adulthood my painting career started
with the landscape and the built
environment. Not feeling comfortable
with landscape I became more
fascinated with the effects of light and
shade on form in the built environment.
I started to explore different ways to
interpret it including wet-in-wet, direct
dark-to-light painting and also the
more traditional approach of layering
colour from light to dark. As my painting
developed, I would work with increasing
intensity of colour, trying to get the
paint on the paper – rich and fresh
with as little fuss as possible. I would
explore the individual effects that could
be made by the brushstroke rather
than using it as just a tool for ‘filling in’the shape, and soon discovered the
powerful impact achieved by retaining
the white of the paper.
I have always had a love and respect
for wildlife and from the outset would
be commissioned to paint animal
portraits alongside my ‘serious’ art. It
was only a matter of time before I would
combine my developing techniques
into wildlife art. Nowadays I still paint
the built environment, with Venice
being one of my favourite subjects,
but my interest lies more in animal
and wildlife paintings and human
portraiture. So this explains ‘what I
want to paint’. ‘Why’ is because I can
relate to the subject on a personal level
but also on an artistic one, too. I enjoy
the freedom of colour and expression
of mark making afforded by wildlife
and portraits, in a way I don’t with the
natural and built environment. Thirdly,
evoking a feeling for me means that
each picture should create a mood, tell
a story, or allow the viewer to interpret
their own story through it. So rather than
just a catalogue of what an animal looks
like, a portrait should be characterful
and hint at a back story, too.Spontaneous and loose
Rocky Raccoon (left) is a curious little
fellow, maybe he’s about to steal your
lunch! Rather than using a rainbow of
colours the painting relies on design
and mark making; it deals with how to
select in terms of detail and definition.
The body and posture are clearly
important but have been understated
to allow the head and eyes to come
forward. The most intense contrasts are
in the head and that’s where you will
find the white of the paper and also the
only vestige of primary and secondary
colour. The body is full of lost-and-
found edges and movement created by
spatter.
In contrast, Please, Sir, I want some
more... (top right) encompasses shapep Rocky Raccoon, watercolour on Arches Rough 140lb (300gsm), 12½ 3 18½in (32 3 47cm).
A fairly monochromatic painting made using the direct approach