26 artistMarch 2021 http://www.painters-online.co.uk
WATERCOLOUR
connected through tone to form a larger
continuous path. As far as possible I
want this pattern to link up, so instead
of my picture being made up of lots
of tiny shapes it is made up of fewer,
larger connected ones. Making a tonal
pathway like this means objects aren’t
completed one at a time but rather
they fuse into others. You can see this
happening where the shadow across
the windows on the main building
wraps around the side and then into
the buildings further back. The areas
unpainted are naturally the negative
shapes and these become more eye-
catching because our eyes detect light
more readily than dark. The attraction
of painting dark to light is being able to
leave plenty of white paper to be filled
in later, or not, depending on the effect
desired.
Connecting the darks
This method of connecting darks is easy
to explain if you look at Piglet Trotters
(above), a simple design based around
limited darks and white paper. I wanted
to show my piglets as a confusion of
shadow and light, a way to link and
fragment all at the same time. Having
sketched the design I used warm,
almost pure versions of crimson, orange
and red, balanced with cool cobalt
blue in the shadowy sides and flanks.
Occasionally an object is revealed,
such as an ear or snout, but mostly
this pattern describes the lighter,
sunlit areas. Notice how warm colours
undulate with cooler ones to give a
glow. Spatter accentuates the illusion of
movement.
Masking fluid
I often use masking fluid
to preserve whites in my
paintings but I never choose
to mask out broad areas
that could otherwise be
achieved through negative
painting. Apart from it
being important to master
the skill of painting around
the subject, which requires
the ability to visualise in
the negative, I believe that
masking fluid used in this
way only adds contrived-
looking highlights. In Old
Harry Rocks (left) the focal
areas are the white cliffs
catching the sunlight. It
may seem natural to mask
out these areas but instead
I prefer to use masking
fluid in a more abstract
way, spattering it to add
interesting highlights into
the foreground grasses.DEMONSTRATION Piglet Trotters
t STAGE ONE
At the end of stage one the piglets are almost completeq FINISHED PAINTING
Piglet Trotters, watercolour on Arches Rough 140lb (300gsm),
121/2 3 181/2in (47 3 32cm).
To finish I just needed to add a few very dark accents and the
ground shadow between their feet. Connecting all the darks in
the piglets revealed the highlights as white paperu Old Harry Rocks, watercolour on Arches
Rough 140lb (300gsm), 181/2 3 121/2in
(47 3 32cm).
I painted around the subject, only spattering
masking fluid to create abstract daubs in the
foreground grasses TA