24 artistMarch 2021 http://www.painters-online.co.ukWATERCOLOUR
How to reveal
the negative
shapes for
positive results
Jake Winkle stresses the importance of revealing
the negative shapes in watercolour to bring light
to your painting
W
hen I was studying, my
art and design course
encompassed colour
theory, tonal quality
and different artistic techniques. This
equipped me with technical skills but I
was also taught good basic design and
composition, which is essential to give
your work strength and unity. Exactness
of detail seen without the context of
tonal counterchange only offers the
viewer a ‘close-up’ view, whereas a
strong pattern of darks laced with
pearly-white highlights gives a painting
impact and purpose from any distance.
Bearing this in mind, we can be quite
abstract when considering design
because it is the interplay of major
tonal shapes that holds the picture
together, not the minutiae of detail.
Negative shapes are the lighter
(often white) elements in a painting;
they are negative because they are
revealed by darker, positive ones. In
watercolour, negative shapes are left
unpainted or light in colour, whereas
in other media such as oil, they can be
left unpainted or created by painting
over the darks with pale body colour.
So, in watercolour, revealing light
is achieved by painting around the
subject (negative painting), whereas
adding body colour to do this is actually
positive painting.The relationship between
darks and lights
When I apply dark to my painting, I
am aware that the dark shape may act
to describe something as a ‘positive’
object such as the rider or tack in
Lipizzaner Line Out (left). However, more
often the dark areas are there to reveal
light ones. In Statue at Trevi Fountain
(top left) the dark background clearly
describes the Statue of Abundancep Lipizzaner Line Out, watercolour on Arches Rough 140lb (300gsm), 18½ 3 12½in (47 3 32cm).
Strong tonal contrasts keep the painting looking clean and freshJake Winkle
is represented by various galleries. His
book Light and Movement in Watercolour is
available from Batsford; his teaching DVDs
are available from Town House Films. Jake
uses the Luxartis range of kolinsky
sable brushes, available from
http://www.winkleart.com and
http://www.jakewinkle.co.uk