34 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2019
stage, and while the washes are still wet, I’ll work more
color in with a big sable brush so that the basic struc-
ture of the painting begins to come together.
Th ere’s a downside to this sort of approach because
there does come a time when the painting needs to dry
before getting on with the next stage. If there’s a lot of
water involved, this can take some time. In the studio,
this is time for a coff ee; with an on-the-scene audience,
it’s a time for questions.
Th en it’s on with the composition, establishing tones
and color. I use big brushes—rarely smaller than a size
12 and often a 16 or 20 sable. Using big brushes eff ec-
tively encourages bold, loose work rather than getting
too fi ddly. Objects such as mooring lines and telegraph
wires will require the use of a rigger brush, but getting
bogged down using small brushes is bad news.There’s a fl at, low-lying
region in the southwest
of England known as the
Somerset Levels, where
the land regularly fl oods
in the winter. The sketch
for King’s Moor in Flood
(watercolor on paper,
11x15) was done on a win-
ter’s day, with heavy rain
clouds and a lot of water
on the moor. I loved the
fence sticking out of the
water and the willow
trees in the mid-distance,
which balance the reeds
on the left. Inevitably, in
this wet moorland land-
scape, there are birds.While all this is going on, I’ll have
my original sketch in front of me, but
I accept that there comes a point at
which a painting takes on a life of its
own. Th e fi nal result will never be
quite the way that I planned it, but
usually near enough.About Atmosphere
Atmosphere is a matter of color, tone
and intensity. Capturing it is essen-
tially being able to paint things as
they are, rather than as you think
they should be. As ever, this requires
observation—spending time looking