Saturday, April 10, 2010

English Thatched Roof Cottage

On Fall Holiday

Watercolor 8" x 10" Mats to 11" x 14"

As I continue with my teaching unit on landscapes, the focus this week in my advanced classes was a thatched roof cottage.   In addition to the technique to paint the thatched roof, other techniques used in this painting include:  painting rocks, masking (the gate) scratching (highlights on the foreground branches) sponging (background tree foliage), and a wash for the fall foliage, and path. 

Watercolor tip:
I used a slightly different technique to paint the sky in this painting. I applied clean water to my sky area and while it was still glossy, dropped in Ultramarine Blue and Paynes Gray using a mop.  Instead of my usual method of painting the entire sky area and then using a tissue or paper towel to lift out the clouds, I painted around the clouds and softened the edges with a wet brush.  This helped to create an autumn sky to help put "a chill in the air" and tie in the colors of the thatched roof and the rock fence. 

Next week will conclude my series on landscape painting and we will be working on how to paint a still life in May.

Happy Painting!

3 comments:

Adventures in Art said...

Great tips! Your posts are always interesting and helpful. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Karen, I absolutly (s/p) loved this painting. Thanks for sharing, Bill

Rebecca A. Maynard said...

A-bamboo woven wainscoting ply veneer bamboo wainscot board : this is weaving w/ inner bamboo strips or outer bamboo strips into 4 foot by 8 foot matting form with herringbone weave pattern/basket weave pattern and multiple patterns and arrange of colors as brown,iron fence gate