http://www.painters-online.co.uk artistMarch 2021 25
PRACTICAL
but the subtle shadows in the figure
itself are more revealing; they suggest
the position of the eye, nose and
mouth and the tuck of the chin – not by
painting them in but by leaving them
out. It is the highlights on the side of
the nose, upper lip and chin that tell
the viewer this is a face hewn from
marble. Below the head the tones are
tantalisingly fragile – just enough to
coax out some semblance of shoulder,
arm and elbow. Notice the feeling of
intense but fleeting light created by
shadows that are only just darker than
the white paper. Lipizzaner Line Out, by
contrast, has a strong pattern of light
and dark. Again, subtle shadows reveal
the white of the horses but this time
it is the strong contrast of dark rider,
boots and tack that allows the viewer to
make sense of the picture. Notice how
the horses’ legs are fragmented into
delicate shadows that become more
complete where they intersect with the
dark ground shadow.
Painting from dark to light
I typically use three different
approaches in my paintings. The first I
describe as ‘Painting by the Seat of Your
Pants’, which broadly means everything
is painted as rapidly and spontaneously
as possible, so lights and darks
interplay whilst the paint is still wet
on the paper. This is a very exciting
way to paint and can produce lively
results unconstrained by uniformity.
Venetian Carnivale Mask (above right) is an
example of mark making and ‘taking the
brush for a walk’, which means painting
entire passages without the brush
leaving the surface of the paper. I find
it easier to create interesting positive
and negative shapes this way because I
am less likely to make repetitive marks
when doodling. The lights and darks
are encouraged to fuse together to
create hard and soft edges and paint
consistency varies from consommé in
the pale areas to Marmite in the real
darks. Most of the picture is just a burst
of shape and colour, the importantt Statue at Trevi Fountain,
watercolour on Arches Rough 140lb
(300gsm), 18½ 3 12½in (47 3 32cm).
Pale subtle shadow colours next to
white paper enhance the feeling of
sunlightq Venetian Carnivale Mask,
watercolour on Arches Rough
140lb (300gsm), 12½ 3 18½in
(47 3 32cm).
Taking the brush for a walk left
plenty of white negative shapesu Dinan (extract), watercolour on Arches
Rough 140lb (300gsm), 12½ 3 18½in
(47 3 32cm).
Here I am starting a painting, working from
dark to light to create a tonal pathway
negative shapes being the highlights
across the face and the frill on the brim
of the hat.
The second approach I use is painting
from light to dark, which is usually
done in three layers: very pale, quite
dark and very dark, each added more
or less when the previous wash has
dried although there will be elements
of wet-in-wet at each stage, too. The
third is painting from dark to light
and is one of the characteristics of
my earlier work. This method entails
starting with the mid- and very dark
tones and creating a tonal pathway out
of them. In Dinan (extract) (below), you
can see how shadowy buildings and
dark windows have been merged using
different colours, yet each shape is