Down the Snowy Lane

Down the Snowy Lane
Watercolor 9" x 12" Mats to 14" x 16"

How to Paint Snow
In watercolor painting, much of the snow is painted by simply allowing the paper to show through and painting the shadows.  The snow is not actually "painted" at all.  In my watercolor above, Down the Snowy Lane, you can see the shadows and "bare" areas of the ground are painted with the following colors:

• Ultramarine Blue
•  Payne’s Gray
• Burnt Umber
• Sepia
• Yellow Ochre

Leave the areas of the snow in the brightest light completely unpainted. 

The snow on the tree branches were "painted" in the same way.  Parts of the tree with snow were simply left unpainted. 

During this cold winter, find a winter scene to paint, fix a nice cup of hot cocoa and enjoy painting the winter weather!

Happy Painting!
Karen

"IF" Technique

 

Winter Aspens
Watercolor 11" x 15" Mats to 16" x 20"

My watercolor above, Winter Aspens, uses the "IF" technique to make the large trees in the foreground.  Being able to mask out these trees, makes it much easier to paint the sky and the background trees and shrubs in an unbroken line.

What is the "IF" method? 

“IF”  or HOW TO MASK LARGE AREAS


One can use the “IF” method to mask large areas for watercolor painting. “IF” or ironing freezer wrap is a quick and easy way to mask large areas. It is not as messy and much faster for large areas than using liquid masking fluid.


The instructions are simple:


• Using a sharp pencil drew the painting on your watercolor paper making a dark pencil mark, but not pressing too hard into the paper to leave an impression.


• Place the freezer paper, waxed side down, over the area to be masked. Carefully trace this area onto the freezer paper. Secure the freezer wrap with small pieces of masking tape if needed to keep the wrap from slipping.


• Remove the freezer wrap from the sketch and cut the shapes from the freezer wrap using scissors.


• Apply the freezer paper, waxed side down, over the area to be masked on your watercolor paper. Make any adjustments necessary.


• Using a hot iron (linen or hot setting) and working quickly, press the shape onto the watercolor paper.


• Allow the paper to cool before painting.


So IF you need to mask large areas, give the “IF” method a try!

Happy Painting!
Karen

Welcome 2011 - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day is often a time to make resolutions for the coming year.  My cousin, Jim White (aka Tennessee Granddaddy) posted the following definition of a New Year's Resolution in his blog:

What is a New Year’s Resolution?   A resolution is nothing more than a promise to yourself to change something you do for the better.

If you plan to make a New Year's Resolution, think about that definition and consider my suggestion:

Be realistic in your goals. 

Would I like to be able to do a watercolor painting every day?  Of course, I would  --- I would definitely enjoy painting it.  BUT, is that a realistic goal?  Of course not!  So, I considered my present time commitments and decided a completed painting a month would be a realistic and attainable goal.    Does that mean I can't do more?  No, it simply means that I will fit into my schedule time to paint one watercolor per month. I will paint whenever I have the time, but set a goal to paint at least one per month!

The most important part of making resolutions regarding your art and setting realistic goals is to never let the goal become more important than the art!  When you lose enjoyment of your painting to attain a goal, you miss the point of what painting for enjoyment is all about.

Happy New Year and Happy Painting!
Karen

Cookies for Santa

Cookies for Santa

Watercolor 11" x 15" Mats to 16" x 20"

Merry Christmas!

My watercolor above, Cookies for Santa, is my way of wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!  This is a fun and quick painting......with very little actual drawing and a great way to get into the holiday spirit while painting!

Watercolor tip:

The window panes were simply drawn in with a white Crayon so that when the blue was washed in for the sky the panes did not take up the color....no masking fluid or tape required. 

So, get your cookies and cocoa ready for Santa tonight and have a very Merry Christmas!

Happy Painting!

Karen



Mug for All Seasons!



A Mug for All Seasons:  Mug liners for Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall

Do you need a quick, but personalized Christmas gift? 

I purchased some of the insulated mugs that have a screw off section to allow placement of photos, pictures, children's drawings, etc.  Then I cut out a template from a piece of watercolor paper  and painted several watercolors.  The one above is a "mug for all seasons" as I have interchangeable paintings for each of the seasons of the year. 

Mugs can be personalized with paintings of a person's favorite subject, sport, flower, season, landscape, etc.  These would make a quick Christmas gift for someone along with tucking a gift card inside to go along with their favorite activity.  Even a coffee shop gift card, a few packets of hot cocoa mix or tea bags would be a fun gift to give or to receive.

When selecting your subject for painting, select a painting that can be done quickly and has bright colors to show well through the plastic cover.

There's still time before Christmas to make a special gift for someone on your list!

Watercolor tip: 

Include washing instruction when you give this gift.  Just in case there is the chance of a "leak" if submerged or soaked in soapy water,  remove the mug liner from the cup and only wash that section.   When dry, replace the liner without worrying about getting the painting wet.

Happy Painting and Merry Christmas!

Karen Cooke

Let it Snow!

Snow Days
Watercolor 11" x 15" Mats to 16" x 20"

My watercolor above, Snow Days, continues with the winter palette.  Notice the use of a very limited palette to paint the house, barn and surrounding buildings as well as the trees.  Remember the following colors for the winter palette:
• Payne’s Gray
• Ultramarine
• Burnt Sienna
• Sap Green
• Burnt Umber

I did not use any green, but used combinations of the other colors.  However, I included one or two other colors to add interest and direct the eye to the snowman and sled.  Using bright red and yellow ochre helped liven up the cold winter scene.

So, fix a mug of hot cocoa and sit down to a fun afternoon of watercolor painting.

Happy Painting!
Karen

Seasonal Palette - Winter

Fence Posts in the Snow

Watercolor 11" x 15" Mats to 16" x 20"

My watercolor above, Fence Posts in the Snow, is one of my favorite winter season paintings for my watercolor students to paint.  It utilizes several techniques, but is a painting a beginner can accomplish and enjoy.

This week, I'll introduce the winter palette.

Even if isn’t covered with snow, the winter landscape rarely contains bright colors. Although bold red and yellow colors may be useful in other season, they are usually unnecessary in winter. Even bright greens may have limited use, as winter foliage tends to be dull and subdued – particularly the dark evergreen of conifers and the faded grey-green of grasses that have lost their summer freshness.

Winter Palette Colors:

• Payne’s Gray
• Ultramarine
• Burnt Sienna
• Sap Green
• Burnt Umber
A palette of only 5 colors is usually all that are needed for the winter palette. The slightly cool Payne’s Gray is a good starting point for all mixes. It can be used with Ultramarine for the sky and cold shadow colors. Sap green is good for foliage with burnt umber and burnt sienna to all some warmer tones.

Trees and their shadows are made from the following colors:
• Sap Green
• Payne’s Gray
• Burnt Umber

Sky and shadows reflecting the sky are mixed from:
• Ultramarine
• Payne’s Grey

Warmer foreground shadows are mixed from:
• Ultramarine
• Burnt Sienna
• Payne’s Grey

Winter Light
With so few local colors present in the typical winter landscape, your choice of colors will be dictated by the weather and the light. On a cloudy day, the landscape can appear monochromatic – simply a range of blacks, whites, and grays with subtle tinges of green, blue, and brown. In this case the emphasis will be on mostly neutral colors – Payne’s gray and burnt umber.

Colored Shadows
If you are painting a winter scene in sunshine, the sun will bring out a spectrum of blue and warm good that require the addition of ultramarine and burnt sienna. Sunlight winter grasses will require solid sap green.

As the sun appears closer to the horizon in winter than it does in summer, it creates longer shadows. These shadows contain a lot of color – particularly blues and green. Against the whiteness of snow, they can appear very translucent and bright with color.

Contrasting Tones
Snow creates extreme contrasts. The lightest tone is the dazzling whiteness of the snow itself; the darkest tones will be created by the silhouettes of trees and other objects.

Watercolor is the perfect medium for a wintery painting because you can use the unpainted white paper to represent the snow. The bright whiteness of snow makes everything else in the landscape appear dark in comparison.

Opaque White
Opaque white can be used in the final stages of a winter painting. This can be used as scattered snowflakes, which lend a decorative and realistic touch to a scene. This is an effective detail, which you can add to any snowy landscape.

Simply spatter the finished painting lightly with white and grey. The white will show up against the dark tones; the grey will stand out from the white snow.

Warning: White paint contains chalk. When white is added to other pigments the resulting colors become pale and chalky….this can destroy the natural transparency of watercolor paints. White paint is best reserved for special effects.

Happy Painting!
Karen






Happy Thanksgiving!

Drying Time
Watercolor 9" x 12" Mats to 14" x 16"

For those of you who do not live in an area where tobacco is grown or have never traveled through parts of the United States where tobacco is grown and dried, I wanted to let you know that the watercolor above is of tobacco drying in a barn.  Tobacco is grown in the southern United States, especially in Virginia and if often seen drying in large open ended barns.  Although I don't smoke, I like the color of the dried tobacco leaves and the throw back to earlier times.  Virginia tobacco leaves go from green, to yellow, to brown.  And my painting above shows some leaves in various stages of drying.

In my painting above, I focused on the contact of the dark interior of the barn and the lighter wood of the barn, and of course, the various shades of the drying tobacco.

Watercolor tip:
The tobacco leaves were first painted yellow and using a wet on wet technique, shades of yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and Van Dyke Brown were dropped in and allowed to blend.  After the tobacco leaves were dry, veins were added.  Color was lifted to lighten the veins, then Sepia was used to add a little detailed veining on the rest of the leaves.

Although this is not a traditional Thanksgiving painting, it reminds of the the fall season, harvest, and the pilgrims who settled the United States.

Happy Painting and Happy Thanksgiving!

Karen

Fall in the Smokies!

Autumn Cascades
Watercolor 9" x 12" Mats to 14" x 16"

Fall is almost over.....snow fell in the upper elevations of the Smoky Mountains this past week.  So, trees like the ones in the painting above will some be bare. 

Since the rocks will not change, but remain the same for all seasons, my blog today will give directions for painting the rocks.

How to Paint Rocks:
The rocks are painted with a wash of raw umber, burnt umber, ultramarine. Light washes are added with the darker colors added to the bottom, sides and edges of the rocks. Apply clean water to the drying paint to add texture. The water pushes the paint outwards, breaking up its regular drying pattern, scattering the particles of paint. As they dry, the “watermark” can be seen, providing an appearance of wetness and texture.



How to Paint the Mountain Stream:
As water tumbles across rocks and boulders and breaks around them, areas of white water appear. In watercolor, the best way to convey this is to leave areas of white paper showing as you paint around rocks and boulders. The more white paper you leave, the faster the water appears to be moving. Remember: Water rarely flows in a straight line. Paint the water area with a light wash of yellow ochre and will in with lines of raw and burnt umber….very light washes. Remember to leave areas white. When dry scratch off tiny flecks of paint with a sharp knife to represent light bouncing from breaking water. To create a feeling of distance, space the scratched areas of paper unevenly – closer together in the far background, further apart in the foreground. Reflected shapes in moving water appear as colors rather than discernable images.

Happy Painting!
Karen


 

Grab Your Salt Shaker!



Seasons at Herb Parsons Lake

Watercolor 9" x 12" Mats to 14" x 16"

An old tree with with a broken off limb made for an interesting subject found during an outing at a nearby lake.    This early fall scene made for an interesting subject to paint.

The background was painted in shades of green and orange which were allowed to blend together with no definition of trees, grasses, or leaves - only the impression of them.  Thus the emphasis was placed on the tree trunk and leaves.

Watercolor tip:

Now grab that salt shaker!

The lichen was painted by dropping in several shades of green and generously sprinkling with salt.  When the paint and salt dried, it was bushed off to the reveal the white areas of lichen shaped spaces.  No extra painting required!  This same technique was used in the area of the tree trunk on the upper right side where the bark had fallen off.  I dropped in various colors of paint:  Paynes' Gray, Yellow Ochre, and Burnt Umber painting wet on wet.  While the paint was still wet, the salt was applied.

Use different types of salt to create different sizes of shapes.....table salt, pretzel salt, and even ice cream salt make some interesting designs in the paint.

So grab that salt shaker and see what happens!

Happy Painting!

Karen