56 Watercolor artist | DECEMBER 2019
Toolkit
PAPER- HansonusesArches 300-lb.
cold-pressed.
PAINTS - “Ihavehundreds and
hundredsoftubes of paint
indifferentcolors and
brands,”hesays. “My go-to
brandsareWinsor & Newton
andGrumbacher.”
BRUSHES - Hanson’sdetail work requires
mainlysynthetic or synthetic-
blendpointed rounds. “They
don’tholdasmuch paint, but
I’mabletocontrol things a
littlebetter,”the artist says.
“Richeson’sGrey Matters
brusheskeepa nice point.”
Forbroaderareas, he uses
sablebrushes such as Winsor
&Newton’sSeries 7 because
“theyholdalot of paint.”
The scene in The Long Gone Glitters If You See (watercolor on paper, 17¼ x27) is illuminated with refl ected light augmented by
the rain-soaked street stones. “I created an area of emphasis on the left with the street display and the red umbrellas,” says
Hanson. “The horizontal line of people and the car on the right stabilize and balance the heavier left side of the composition.”An Evening in Trastevere (watercolor on paper, 17¼ x24½ ) explores the recession of space
along an empty Roman street. The dark section on the right side completes this recession
as it dissolves the view into the picture plane.