Pier Sunrise

Pier Sunrise
11" x 14" Watercolor
Karen A. Cooke

As summer is coming to a close and thoughts are turning to fall, I thought I would paint one more memory from the beach.  The above painting is a view of the sunrise at the pier looking across at the shore where the land juts out.  The fishing boats have already headed out for their day on the water, the tourists have not stirred from the hotels and it is just the sun, the ocean and the birds out this early on the pier.  So, now to capture this scene to bring back memories when the snow is falling outside. 

 

Supplies Needed:
Watercolor paper  (size of your choice)
(The watercolor above is a 11" x 14" done on Arches 140 lb. cold press paper.) 
Masking Tape
Masking Fluid with applicator or old brush
Watercolor board
Brushes:  flat and round (size of your choice based on the size of your paper)
Paint:

• Cerulean Blue
• Ultramarine Blue
• Windsor Blue
• Medium Yellow
• Light Yellow
• Cadmium Red
• Cadmium Orange
• Sap Green, if desired
• Sepia
• Paynes Gray
• Van Dyke Brown

Painting Instructions:
Sketch:
Tape the watercolor paper to your board with masking tape to prevent buckling of the paper.  This painting will use a wet on wet technique for the sky and the ocean which will get your paper extremely wet.


Sketch the painting.  Using the photo above for reference, lightly sketch the picture.  Use a ruler to draw the straight lines of the pier. 


Using the masking fluid, mask in the sun, a few of the clouds (the ones painted yellow or peach only), and the reflection of the sun on the water.  Mask the yellow light at the top of the lamp post.   Allow to dry.




Sky:
Prepare the following washes for the sky area:

• Cerulean Blue
• Peach - mixed from Cadmium Red, Cadmium Orange and Yellow

Place a small wedge under your watercolor board or prop your painting up for a slight tilt.  Wet the area of the sky from the top down to the horizon with clean water.    Starting at the top and working down use a dark Cerulean Blue wash at the top moving down without adding additional paint to the midpoint of the sky.  Dip your brush in water and paint one time across the last brush stroke of blue to lighten it.  Rinse the brush.  Using a wash of light peach work from the lightest blue down to the horizon with the deepest peach at the horizon.  Allow to dry.




Note:  You will be painting over the top of your sketch since all the other colors in this painting are darker than the sky and the sketch will be seen through the wash you have applied.    This will make for a smooth transition of color. 




Ocean:
Wet the ocean with clean water.  Using the same colors you used for the sky, apply in the reverse order:  peach at the horizon moving to darker blue at the bottom of the painting.


This can be painted in one of 2 ways:

1. Start at the horizon and work down to the bottom of the page, or
2. Turn the painting with the bottom at the top and work from the top down to the horizon.

Use which ever method works better for you. 




Note:  Increase the intensity of the peach/orange at the location of the sun - both in the sky and on the water.




Allow to dry.




Land (horizon):
Prepare a wash of a light purple using a mix of blue and Cadmium Red.  Paint the distant land mass on the left side working to the right where it meets the trees on the nearer shore.  Prepare a wash of Vandyke Brown and paint the trees on the right shore.  Allow to dry.  Prepare a wash of Sepia and apply using a dabbing stroke to indicate tree foliage on the right hand side.  Make this random and let the lighter brown wash show through in various places.  Deepen the foliage area at the base of the shoreline.    Allow to dry.




Sun and Clouds:
Sun: Remove the masking fluid from the sun and the clouds.  Wet the sun with clean water and apply the Light Yellow paint at the edges of the circle for the sun.  Note:  Leave the top center of the sun white. You can add a bit of green flash to the sun using a touch of green - wait until almost dry to add the green so that it will not spread into the entire area.  Allow to dry. 


Sun Reflection in the water:
Using light yellow drop in the sun's reflection, again leaving some of the area in the center white paper.  Allow to dry. 


Clouds:
Using peach and yellow, paint in the clouds that were masked.   Use the photo above for reference.
Paint the other clouds using the purple paint used in the previous step for the land on the horizon.  Vary the shapes of the clouds.  Allow to dry.




Pier, Posts and Light:
Pier:
Using a wash of Sepia and Paynes Gray, paint the pier in a wet on dry method.  If you feel your brush may be unsteady and your bridge lines wavy, apply masking tape on both sides of the rails of the pier to paint.  This will ensure a straight line.  Remove the masking tape immediately after painting to prevent any bleeding of paint under the tape. 


Pier Supports:
Paint the pier supports (vertical posts) in the same method as above.  However, these posts will be darker in color since they are in the shadow of the pier. 


Lamp Post:
Paint the lamp post and lantern using the same colors as the pier.  Keep the center white.  When the lamp post drives paint in the yellow light on each side of the lantern.  Leave a bit of white in the center.  Allow to dry. 




Rocks in the water:
Paint the rocks using a wash of Sepia and Paynes Gray.  Each rock is done separately.  First, wet the rock with clean water and paint the rocks with Paynes Gray and drop in Sepia and Ultramarine blue in various locations on the rocks to add texture and shadow.  Allow to dry.




Water and Pier shadows:
Water and Waves:
Prepare a wash of Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine and Windsor Blue.  Working from the bottom of the painting and from right to left, use the darkest shades of blue to paint in waves and shadows around the rocks.  The darkest colors of blue are used to paint the water under the pier in the shadowed area. 

Prepare a wash of the peach and paint the waves in the top section of the painting with the peach and the lightest blue (Cerulean).  Add a few peach waves in the darker areas of the waves to show where the sun is hitting the water.  Allow to dry.




Pier shadows:
Using a wash of the same colors used to paint the pier supports, paint in broken lines for shadows moving down toward the bottom of the paper.  Refer to photo for reference.  Allow to dry.




Details:
Look over your painting and add any details you feel are needed.




Sign your painting!  Congratulations!  You can now take a trip to the beach any time you would like.....from your nice, warm home when the weather is stormy, snowy and cold! 




Happy Painting!
Karen



It’s a Wrap! Plastic Wrap, that is!

Poolside
Watercolor Painting
9" x 12"

The watercolor painting above is painted from a little different perspective to add interest to a common swimming pool setting.    The view looks down on the pool from a higher viewpoint (bird's eye view) – from a balcony or other area above the pool. 

 

The focus is on the water in this painting.  The texture is added by a watercolor painting technique using plastic wrap.  The swimmer enjoying the pool is painted in a more impressionistic style rather than photographic.  The emphasis, again, is on the water and light reflections. 

 

Supplies needed:

Watercolor paper (140 lb. - I like Arches) Size of your choice; I used 9" x 12"

Brushes - flat brush, round brush

Masking Fluid and old brush or applicator

Masking tape

Plastic wrap

Paint: 

• Cerulean Blue
• Ultramarine
• Windsor Blue
• Burnt Umber
• Crimson
• Yellow Ochre
• Vandyke Brown
• Paynes Gray

Painting Instructions:
The sketch or setting up the painting:
Sketch the swimmer slightly to the right of center and to the upper half of the paper.  Do not make this detailed.  The shape is all that is needed.  The small amount of detail that is painted is done with shades of paint only. 

Drawn very light horizontal lines in the top third of the painting to indicate the location of the shelf at the edge of the pool.    There are three lines:  the top line indicates the top edge of the pool; the middle line is the shallow area or ledge where the swimmer's arms are resting and last line indicates the shelf where the swimmer is sitting below which is the deeper water of the pool.  These areas will be lighter or darker to indicate the depth of the water. 

Mask the swimmer including the hat.  Allow to dry.

Painting the water:
Prepare washes of the following shades of blue:

• Cerulean Blue
• Windsor Blue
• Ultramarine

Wet the painting and paint quickly in the following order:

1. Paint from bottom to top with a wash of Cerulean Blue with the deepest color at the bottom and moving to mostly white at the top.  Add clean water as you move from bottom to top.
2. Drop in deep shades of Ultramarine and Windsor Blue in random locations -  the lightest colors at the top with the exception of the deep shadow behind the swimmer.  Use deeper blues around the swimmer for shadows. 
3. While the paint is still wet, press a scrunched up piece of plastic wrap on top of the wash.  Tape in place and allow to dry. 

It will take longer than usual for the paint to dry covered with the plastic wrap.  Resist the urge to peek at the results as movement of the plastic wrap will disturb the pattern. 

When dry, remove the plastic wrap and see how the plastic wrap created your light reflections in the pool. 

Very light lines are painted across the various ledges of the pool as shown in the finished painting above.

Painting the Swimmer:
The swimmer is very impressionistic and the only parts that are seen are the legs, arms and shoulders (hands and feet are covered by water and are very blurry and indistinct).   Prepare washes of the following colors to paint flesh tones:

• Burnt Umber
• Crimson
• Yellow Ochre
• Vandyke Brown
• Paynes Gray

Using a round brush and a very light wash of Burnt Umber paint one body part at a time.  Add darker colors to indicate shape and shadows.    Refer to the painting above to contour the shape of the body using various shades of the above colors.    Allow to dry.

To indicate the water covering parts of the swimmer, add a very light wash of Cerulean Blue across random areas of the arms and legs.  Allow to dry.

Painting the Hat:
Wet the hat with clean water.  Paint the band of the hat with Cerulean Blue and allow to blur slightly.  Add shadows with Paynes Gray and a touch of Crimson as well as Cerulean Blue.  Keep the circular shape of the hat with the way the shadows are painted.  Allow to dry.  If needed, go back and repaint sections of the band to give more emphasis to the shape.  Allow to dry.

Details:
Using a wash of dark blue either Ultramarine or Windsor Blue or a combination of both, spatter the water in the pool.  Be certain to cover the swimmer with a piece of paper towel before spattering.
Allow to dry.

Using a utility knife, scratch in some white highlights, if needed. 

Deepen shadows around the swimmer with a wash of the darker blue, if needed.    Do not overwork the water in the pool or the design of the plastic wrap will be removed.

Sign your painting.  Congratulations - it's a wrap!

Happy Painting!
Karen

The Right Track

The Right Track

The Right Track
Watercolor painting
11" x 14"

I have always enjoyed old train depots and imaging the many travelers and their destinations.  One can sense the hustle and bustle and excitement in these old building.  So, when I saw this old train station when on vacation, I knew I had to paint it.  I specifically left off the name of the city as well as changing the landscape up slightly (artistic license, of course) so that this old train depot could be a depot in any town or city.....all with the same excitement and history....and melancholy of a day gone by.








The watercolor above is a 11" x 14" done on Arches 140 lb. cold press paper. 

 

Supplies Needed:
Watercolor paper  (size of your choice)
Masking Tape
Watercolor board
Brushes:  flat and round (size of your choice based on the size of your paper)
Paint:

• Cerulean Blue
• Yellow ocher
• Sap Green
• Ultramarine Blue
• Sepia
• Burnt Umber
• Burnt Sienna
• Crimson
• Paynes Gray
• Van Dyke Brown

"Kleenex" tissue or paper towels

Painting Instructions:


I sketched this drawing on my watercolor paper.  However, if you feel you may need to erase multiple times, you may want to drawn on a piece of sketch paper and transfer your completed sketch to the watercolor paper.  I discuss how this can be accomplished in my blog of May 11, 2016. 




As a reminder:   Multiple erasures can damage watercolor paper and cause pooling of water as well as differences in the way the paint is absorbed into or on the paper.   Deep sketch marks will show up in a finished painting, even if they are erased.








Correct perspective is an important part of this painting for both the tracks and the depot.  Confirm that you like the perspective that you have executed in your sketch before you start painting.  A poorly executed sketch done in a hurry cannot be overcome no matter how great a job one does with the paint. 






Let's Paint!


Sky:
Wet the sky from the top down to where the sky meets the mountains on the horizon using clean water.  Using a wash of Cerulean Blue, apply the paint working from the top of the painting down to the horizon allowing the intensity of the color to become lighter.  Using a tissue or piece of paper towel, remove some of the sky color to indicate clouds. 






While the sky is still wet, drop in a small amount of yellow ochre at the horizon and let it blend into the light area of sky.  Allow to dry.






Note:  It is not necessary to use masking fluid to mask out the telephone phone since you will be painting a darker color over the top of the light blue sky. 

Mountains/Trees and Background Foliage:
Mountains:  Prepare a wash of purple for the mountains using Ultramarine Blue and Crimson and paint the mountains. 






Trees and Background Foliage:
The taller trees were painted using Sap Green and Yellow Ochre.  The smaller trees/bushes were painted using Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre.  Wet this area first with clean water and paint in the trees with a round brush and allow the edges of the trees to blend together.  Drop in some Sepia to deepen the color of the tree leaves in random places.  Allow to dry.   Tree limbs and tree trunks can bee added after the foliage has dried.  The evergreen trees on the right side of the background were painted after the other trees had dried with a mix of Sap Green and Ultramarine to make a rich shade of green.    Again allow to dry. 






Train Depot:
I painted the train depot next starting with the roof and working my way down. 


Roof:  Using a wash of Paynes Gray and Ultramarine, paint each roof segment separately.  Refer to the painting above for shadows, etc.   After the initial wash drives, add a few lines to indicate shingles.  Do not paint each individual shingle.  Allow to dry.






Depot:  The depot is made of old and weathered wood.
Painting old wood is easy to do using a mix of different muted colors.



Here's how:
Wet the wood area with clean water and apply a place wash of yellow ochre, Payne's gray, and sepia. Drop in the colors in various locations. Some areas can even remain without color. Since the area was wet before the paint was applied, the color will run and blend.

Let this dry. Using a flat brush with the bristles fanned out slight, dry brush in wavy grain lines with a wash of Sepia and Payne's gray.

Let this dry and use a fine liner brush and draw in a few lines to further indicate the wood grain.

Don't forget to deepen the color in the shadows under the roof line and on the right side of the painting.




Train tracks:
Using Paynes Gray, Sepia and Burnt Umber paint the tracks in the following order:
Paint the vertical rains first, using Paynes Gray for the "silver" shine on the rail.  Allow to dry.
Using shades of Sepia and Burnt Umber, add the sides of the rails.  Allow to dry.




Tresses:
The wooden tresses are painted using a wash of Sepia and Paynes Gray.  Wet the area first and add the wash.  When the wash has almost completely dried, use the edge of your flat brush and add the darker lines of the tresses.  Keep these lines fairly straight, but do not go completely from one side to the other, leave a few gaps.  Paint these both inside and outside of the rails.  Allow to dry.




Sidewalk:
Using a wash of Paynes Gray and painting wet on wet, add the sidewalk deepening the color on the edges and where the sidewalk and building meet.  Refer to the painting above.  Allow to dry.




Foreground:
Working from back to front and left to right, wet the area with clear water.  Near the trees in the background drop in Burnt Sienna and move forward with a wash of Sepia and Paynes Gray.  Leave some areas unpainted and/or very light.  On the right side foreground paint the grasses  using Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber near the building and drop in some Sap Green.  While still wet, add a few lines of Sepia using the edge of your flat brush. 




While this area is still wet, spatter with Paynes Gray this section.  Cover all areas of the painting except for the foreground dirt and grasses with paper towels so that the spatter of paint does not spill on the tracks or the building.  Allow to dry.




Using a wash of Sepia and Van Dyke Brown, paint in the utility pole and the wooden supports on the depot.  Allow to dry. 




Finishing touches:
Look over your painting and add any finishing details you would like to add.    Then, sign your painting!




Congratulations!




Happy Painting!
Karen

Appalachian Bald

Appalachian Bald

 

Appalachian Bald
Watercolor
5" x 7"

 

The painting above is a bald which was painted from a photo taken during a hike in the spring.  This would have been a fun one to have painted plein air; however, I did not have my painting equipment with me.....so a camera had to capture the moment for me to paint later.

 

Balds are mountain meadows covered by native grasses or shrubs occurring in areas where heavy forest growth would ordinarily be expected.  These mountain meadows are called balds in the Appalachian mountains as the one above in the Great Smoky Mountains.

 

The watercolor above is a 5" x 7" done on Arches 140 lb cold press paper. 

 

Supplies Needed:
Watercolor paper
Masking Tape
Watercolor board
Brushes:  flat and round (size of your choice based on the size of your paper)
Paint:

• Cerulean Blue
• Windsor Blue
• Yellow ocher
• Sap Green
• Ultramarine Blue
• Medium Yellow
• Sepia
• Burnt Umber
• Burnt Sienna
• Crimson

Tissue




Painting Instructions:
Sketching:  Yes or No?
This painting can be painted without sketching at all.  However, if you feel more comfortable with a sketch on your paper, make a very basic sketch of the mountains/horizon.  The tallest mountain on the right is about one third of the way down the paper and the distant mountain on the left is only slightly shorter. 




Note:  The mountain on the left side of the paper is in the distance and is lighter in color.  The mountain on the right is in the near distance and is darker in color. 


Do not sketch in the trees as they will be done after the sky and mountains have been painted.




Sky:
Using a flat brush, wet the sky area first with clean water and painting wet on wet, use Cerulean Blue to paint in the sky allowing the color to be darker at the top and become lighter as you paint down towards the mountains.  On the left side of the painting where the sky touches the mountain, drop in yellow ocher and allow the colors to blend.  While the paint is still wet, use a tissue to remove some of the paint to create clouds.  Allow to dry.




Mountains:
Using a flat brush, wet the mountain area on the left side.  Using a wash of Windsor Blue paint the mountain varying the wash from dark at the bottom of the mountain to lighter at the top.  While still wet, drop in a light wash of Crimson to mix with the blue to create purple.  At the very top, a small amount of yellow ocher can be  added as well.  Allow to dry. 




Wet the mountain on the right side.  Using Sap Green paint, the mountain from top down to the start of the meadow.  While still wet, drop in Ultramarine and Burnt Umber in various locations to add some texture to the mountains.    Allow to dry.




Bald:
The bald is painted using bands of Yellow Ocher, Medium Yellow, Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber.  As well as bands of green grasses painted in Sap Green, Burnt Umber and Ultramarine.




Using a round brush, lay in the yellow areas first using a wet wash of Yellow Ocher and dropping in touches of Medium Yellow, Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber.  Refer to the painting above for placement.




Then paint in the areas of green grasses using predominately Sap Green and dropping in touches of Burnt Umber and Ultramarine.




Notice a dry area of dirt is located on the lower left side at the bottom of the painting.  Using a pale wash of Burnt Umber, paint this in with a round brush leaving areas unpainted.    Allow to dry.




Note:  Leave some area unpainted in the bald for highlights.   



When the bald area grasses are dry, use the flat brush with the bristles fanned out  pull in some individual pieces of grass.  You can also use the tip of your round brush to pull in the grasses.  Allow to dry.




Trees:
Decide on placement for your evergreen trees.   Using the edge of your flat brush, paint a narrow line from the top of the trees down to the bottom with Burnt Umber.  Using a mix of the following colors, use the flat brush to randomly dab in the branches of the trees. 




Tree washes:
Sap Green
Sap Green and Ultramarine to made a dark evergreen color
Sap Green and Medium Yellow
Sap Green and Yellow Ocher


Paint each tree using the directions above varying the heights of all of the trees. 


Allow to dry.




Check your painting for any details you would like to add.




Sign your painting!  Congratulations!




Happy Painting!
Karen