http://www.painters-online.co.uk artistMarch 2020 37
PRACTICAL
STAGE THREE
While the pigments were still wet I
used the side of my old butter knife,
making marks to imply structure
in the wet areas. In this process the
knife will indent the surface, which
allows the pigment to settle, thus
creating a darker tone. I can also
move pigment to expose a lighter
value if required. The knife marks
must be complementary to the
structure of the painting if they are to
serve a purpose. When doing this, be
careful not to overuse the knifet STAGE TWO
I was looking to lay down the big shapes so my rst washes
were of skimmed milk consistency – very diluted yellow
ochre to establish light from the right-hand side. This was
balanced by the shadow values, which are French ultramarine
and alizarin crimson on the left, mixed on the paper, with an
addition of light red on the right-hand shape running down
into the road and the building shadow, to frame the point of
interest to come later STAGE ONE
I used a 4B pencil to establish the basic perspective, eye level
and simple structure of the buildings. Remember that gures
on a at surface have their heads roughly on the eye-level line.
This puts the viewer at street level, therefore becoming part of
the scene. Because I wanted an urban environment I took out
the ags and trees on the left-hand side, enlarging the modern
prosperous city acting as a counterpoint to my theme of a
thrift store – people selling their wares on the street. Buildings
on the right show neglect, enhancing my underlying theme MY IDEAS SHEET
I tried to create a selection of images that could be taken to larger paintings.
I selected the top-right image to develop