Home › Forums › Explore Media › Watercolor › The Learning Zone › Watercolor Rescue 8
- This topic has 7 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 9 months ago by little dreamer.
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February 22, 2018 at 4:28 pm #451815
This is the eighth in a series of Watercolor “Rescue” posts, in which I take a previously done painting I’m not that happy with, and make changes and corrections to improve the overall feel and composition.
This subject is the San Juan Bautista Mission, that I had painted years ago. It had strange shaped trees, that I over-worked and a sky that got muddy and dull. The foreground was also dull and not interesting. A half sheet on Arches 140lb CP.
I decided to try some radical changes. It takes confidence in your abilities to attempt something like this, so only try this on something that you won’t care if it gets ruined.
I started by sponging off the entire sky and tree areas, up to the edges of the building. I noticed from my reference photo that I didn’t have the bell tower detail correct either, so I sponged some of that that out as well. I used an ordinary sponge with enough water to gently lift the pigment away, then blotting the area with paper towels. I’m using a computer generated image here, to illustrate the areas involved.After lifting as much pigment as I could get off, I let the paper thoroughly dry.
I began the reconstruction by carefully dabbing on a mix of cerulean and
cobalt blue to the sky. I loosely followed the patterns of pigment still embedded in the paper fibers, making subtle cloud shapes using a negative painting approach. I added a gray mixture to the undersides of the cloud formations to give them more shape.Satisfied with the sky, I redid the details on the bell tower and re-established the roof lines, using mixtures of light red, burnt sienna and cobalt blue.
I then moved on to the foliage in the right background, gradually working in light values of sap green, cobalt blue and raw sienna, covering the area that had previously been lifted.
Next, I reworked the trees on the right, giving them a more generic shape and warmer colors to reflect the bright light. I used mixtures of sap green, cad yellow, burnt sienna and cobalt blue, letting them mix on the paper.
Satisfied with those results, I used the same method on the tree on the left, giving it a more leafy, generic shape.I then added a mix of cobalt blue and u.m. violet to re-establish the shadow areas on the building and on the ground.
I reinforced the hard edged, line details on the building, adding more darks where needed.Lastly, I added some foreground plants around the pathway, and some suggested shadows, to add a little more detail there.
This big of a reconstruction may be more than you are capable of, but I just thought I would show that it can be done, with a little practice and confidence. Thanks for looking.
Rich
February 22, 2018 at 7:49 pm #570620a very interesting rework, especially the trees – its a better painting IMO
February 1, 2019 at 11:02 pm #570622This is very interesting, thanks for posting your process. I have a couple of old paintings from years ago that I’d like to finish wnd you’ve givn me hope!
February 2, 2019 at 12:54 am #570616Wonderfully handled rework, shows just how much you can do to fix a painting that goes wrong and if all else fails, cover it in gouache.
- Delo DelofashtFebruary 2, 2019 at 8:17 am #570621Good to know/see as someone new to WC. I will worry less when I make a horrible mistake.
February 2, 2019 at 3:18 pm #570617Good to know/see as someone new to WC. I will worry less when I make a horrible mistake.
Too many novice water-colorists are afraid to make changes, and “ruin” their painting when it doesn’t turn out as they had hoped. Most of our paintings are not of the award winning caliber, so why not make an attempt to improve them? We won’t learn anything if we don’t make an attempt to correct a mistake and learn how to avoid them. It’s only paper after all.
Rich
February 2, 2019 at 4:03 pm #570618Well…just remember it’s often better to stop at 95% than 125%…
And it’s often helpful to stop at 75%, put it away for 1-2 days and reassess it for the home stretch.
Sling paint,
VirgilSling paint,
Virgil Carter
http://www.virgilcarterfineart.com/February 2, 2019 at 5:00 pm #570619The blue in the sky and the added plants really made a difference. Desaturating the roofs and having the complementary hues in the trees made the overall impression much more pleasing as well. Thanks for sharing!
Jan
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