AMANDA BRETT WATERCOLOUR ARTIST
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PaintBox Tips​

PaintBox Tip #74 what is this painting about?

31/3/2022

4 Comments

 
Picturewith my notes about why I wanted to paint it, mostly memory joggers
Students often struggle to understand what their painting is about.

This understanding is key because it's all wrapped up in your story and what you want to say. It follows that students often feel they have little of import to say therefore this is irrelevant to them. 

Your story is important because it will help you design a work that you are passionate about and will help you to focus on the important elements that attracted you in the first place. Thereby helping you avoid over-stating support and background elements.

What am I most interested in?
 
your painting (story, poem, sculpture, composition, drawing etc) must have a purpose and, yes, the purpose can be learning but more than this – why paint it? What is it about? What drew you (pardon the pun) to want to paint it? Without your want, your passion to paint it, there’s no story, there’s no purpose. Might as well put your best foot forward and crack it!

We’ve talked about this before, sometimes it comes down to making yourself want to paint “it”. Do your research, study your subject, create design thumbnails etc (this research and study also has another purpose for discussion later). Design your painting, what can you use to create a painting with strong design?

So what made you want to paint this?
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Was it a fleeting light?

Shapes interlocking and overlapping that piqued your interest?

Unusual colours juxtaposed?

A strong light/dark contrast?

People involved in some interesting activity?

An idea – what if I put this with that?

Whatever it was that intrigued you is your story. It’s really only necessary to explain it to yourself, to keep you on track, write it down. So then your painting becomes a concept about how to tell this story and the visual language you’ll need to tell it.

For example, let’s talk about a stiped canopy.

I might want a strong light and use the stripes and shadows to help me describe the shape of the canopy. There’s probably a door or a window under the canopy, this could be used for a strong value contrast – lightest light against the darkest dark. There might be a group of people nearby, can you link them to the canopy/doorway? Is it a shop, they’re going to walk through the door? People walking out with shopping bags filled with goodies. My focus must stay on the canopy and elements that help me describe the scene and the story of the canopy, maybe it's blowing around in the wind. Exaggerate anything that leads to the focal area, minimise supporting gorgeousness.

What's your why?

ciao bei pittori xx

Picture
4 Comments

PaintBox Tip #67, 7 things I'm thinking while I'm painting

25/3/2022

6 Comments

 
edited from original post 011214 WP
 
The superbly cool thing about watercolour is, once you've done all your research and preparatory drawings, design etc and you're hitting paper with water ... it's all on ... right now!!

The difficult thing about watercolour is that once you're hitting the paper with water, it's all on ... very scary ... right now!!
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ooohhh ... what to do?

here are 7 things i'm thinking while i'm painting ...
  1. this part is wet but it's raw sienna and it looks stunningly luminescent and glowingly beautiful with burnt sienna dropped next to it ... let them mingle. i'm using harmonious colours.
  2. this part should be a dark shadow so i'll drop some dark cool violet or a neutral violet mixed from my palette. i'm thinking about my value range.
  3. i've got too many hard edges, while it's still damp i'll spray some water to get some of them to run and blend. I'm thinking about Edge variety.
  4. In my focal area, i'm about to place my brush next to a vibrant green so i'll need some neutral lightish red next to it ... maybe alizarin with some of the vibrant green mixed into it or burnt sienna with a tiny amount of cobalt blue in it - depends on what palette i'm using. Here I'm thinking about complementary colours.
  5. i've painted enough brush strokes with my 1 inch flat brush time to change to my number 16 round. I'm thinking about shape variety.
  6. this part should be in the background but is has a light yellow pulling it forward, i'll neutralise it and make it recede into the background with a glaze of a dark coolish purple - perspective.
  7. i've got a really super shape here, i'll repeat it 2 more times, different sizes, different directions and not exactly the same shape - repetition.
and there's much more as you can imagine.

Watercolour painting demands your complete attention, keep focussed while you are painting and stay in the zone. 
have fun!!
​
cheers
Amanda
6 Comments

PaintBox Tip #​65 how to get fired up when you're not fired up

12/3/2022

8 Comments

 
Pictureode to country & western!!
edited from my original post 070115

It’s really hard to create a painting about a subject I have no interest in, having said that, I can make myself want to paint a particular subject simply by working through a research process and getting to know and appreciate the subject.

Imagine what it would be like for me to be told Country & Western theme ... ?**$#@!!**^??

Guess what? You can get fired up about any subject too!!

While I was still working in the corporate world but dabbling in watercolour painting, I was thrilled that my tutor would supply the subject matter. It meant one less thing for me to worry about, all I had to do was turn up every week and she'd have an amazing array of cool stuff she had pulled together for us. Barbara was a tremendous creative facilitator.

Another upside to this was that I learned to accept what was in front me, whether I liked it or not, this was no time to be fussing and complaining, I had 3 hours of painting time in front me, better get to it quick!

In writing this post I realise too, part of my inspiration for a subject came from our group discussion about the subject and everyone's ideas. Some of my best painting experiences have been painting in a group.

The more research I do about a particular subject the more passionate and determined I become to paint it. I fall in love with the subject ... it could be something as simple (?) as a brick wall or the way the light falls on a glass and the shapes and colours it creates. The intricacies of a subject become fascinating, although I don’t paint a lot of detail (this must have been written a while back!), I go through a process of studying the detail and deciding what I will leave out, what to include and which details describe my message best for that piece of art.

Typically my research might include a small sketch or two on site as well as a bigger more formed sketch I call a plein air painting. When I’m in my studio, if I’m painting from my imagination, I create lots of doodles and lots of composition thumbnails. I’m  reluctant to paint  scenes from a photo preferring to paint en plein air, not always possible and although I’m wary, I’m very happy with a lot of them.

For me, there is a driving force to create and always has been. Among other creative endeavours, I’ve always drawn and painted. It seems stronger now than ever and I think this may be, in part, because I work as a professional artist creating and painting most days - total immersion is good!

My brain is more switched on to looking for subject matter and planning my next work – everywhere I see a painting waiting to be painted. The more I look for subjects the sooner they appear - the more I paint the more ideas I get.

Happy painting!!
ciao amici!!

Picture
Picture
Early Morning, via Vittorio Veneto is a case in point.

3 reasons not to paint this scene
  1. there's a lot of pink - yikes
  2. I couldn't draw it
  3. it had never occurred to me to paint this scene

My painting buddy said let's paint pink!! I was so frightened!! 

I didn't want to paint there - frightening!! but what made it worse? I couldn't draw the jolly thing!! I was so frustrated, I could not get my head around it at all!! So I drew straight onto my watercolour paper.

To compensate for my inaccurate drawing of the scene, I jimmied it around a little to suit. 5 years later I'm still so happy with the result, it's still one of my favourite paintings. I had to work really hard, there were so many barriers, sometimes a challenge is the way to move us out of a funk!

For me easy and comfortable are not always the best.
8 Comments

PaintBox Tip #37 Perfection, something out of place

10/3/2022

0 Comments

 
I know many creatives and many of them never finish a work. The same work is done and re-done and done again because it’s never right. There’s always something out of place, a comma, an invisible brush mark, a chord that seems not right – not perfect = imperfect! We do it again and hope it will be better next time.

And so now, this work gets put aside in the hope (read dread) the next one will be better.

What people don’t realise is, there’s no such thing as mistakes. What happens is, we get a different result from what we expect, we don’t know what to do with it.

This is often the result with watercolour, we have a vision and an eye on our goal – but something happens or we return from a cup of tea to find our painting looks different from just 10 minutes ago.

We’ve become so results driven we’re forgotten to enjoy the process, play to our medium’s strengths and just have fun playing with the paint. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t attempt specific subjects, what I’m saying is have fun along the way. Explore your paint and ask yourself “What would happen if …?” or tell yourself “I’m just going to have a play with this and see what happens!” - my favourite way to start new work! It banishes fears and performance anxiety and sets up an easier happy attitude!!

happy painting dear friends!!
​Amanda

0 Comments

PaintBox Tip #95 my new kit for Sketching Out

5/3/2022

4 Comments

 
Picture
I'm still in my self-imposed "lockdown" with my continuing knee problem, It's a lot better but not better enough .. thwarted by my feeble attempts to "keep calm and carry on".
​
Something that’s really bugging me is my studio clear-out/tidy up/re-shuffle/reorganise started before Christmas. It was a good idea at the time but now I have 2 piles on the floor that are attempting to morph into 3 and I can’t get down there to do much about it. It’s making me crazy! PLUS while I’m nursing my poor wee ginocchio Dennis has now gone back to work, Amy’s back to work and there’s no-one here to entertain me!! YIKES!!

So now I find myself in this temporary situation of cabin fever - I'm desperate to get out and paint/sketch, so I've made myself a new plan for my coming escapades. in a feeble attempt to get back to normal, i went for a walk with Amy and the dog. I trailed far behind them, it was so nice to be out and hearing the birds and children playing, families and their picnics but, I have to say, I paid for it the next day ... mamma mia!!

It reminded me how dependent I am on my walking, it's my chief thinking time, my meditation and quiet time that allows my thoughts and ideas to run and play out. Another purpose for me is exploration, this is when I see things that inspire me, a fleeting light, shapes interlocking and overlapping, colours or some other interesting and diverting sights.

To get out of the house, I've been for a few outings in the car (bicycle is a no-go atm) to scope out some sketching locations but of course, even here in Auckland it's almost impossible to park close enough. So I've decided to go to cafes again, they have to be in the right place, scenic and comfy. 

There are so many ways to enjoy sketching out, for me, its a totally absorbing experience. Although I love my little value thumbnail sketches, I learn a lot about a scene using this process, I feel the need to change things up a little, expand my sketching and bring more of it into my life. So!! I bought a new sketchbook and made a sketch kit that's always with me. 
My new sketchbook has a soft cover, so a little lighter than a hard cover but I found an old light but rigid clipboard. My backpack is pretty old, so old it doesn't have a smart phone size pocket - urk! It has a great "book" pocket but without an easy small pocket, pretty much everything falls to the bottom. In my bag I also have a wee first-aid kit, a small professional pan-set, tramper's collapsible water cup, pencil case and a few other weird sketch tools to fun things up a bit!
In my pencil case, I have my standard soft pencils, a sharpener and eraser, tombow value brushpens, general’s sketching pencil, small view finder, calligraphy sketch pen, pastel and watercolour pencil, travel brush, small flat brush, water spritzer.

To protect pencil tips and brush points, I always place them in the case in the same direction and then “up” in my bag.
In Sketch class last week, Mary said “I can’t see enough detail, I’m too far away”. I agree, I need to see exactly what goes on, this helps me to build my story. Go for a walk to understand the lay of the land, what makes this place tick? How do those elements look close up? Always have your camera charged and set to hi-resolution and use a view finder to isolate your scene and cut out the overwhelming and extraneous, then you can just focus on what you want today.

have fun!!
ciao
Amanda

4 Comments
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    Author

    PaintBox Tips, secrets, random thoughts,
    scribblings and doodlings on art, my life as an artist who teaches, travels, muses and paints!

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    There is no ONE WAY to paint a watercolour - Amanda Brett

    Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working - Pablo Picasso
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    There are no mistakes in watercolour, just some extra surprises!!
    Amanda Brett

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Amanda Brett - Watercolour Artist

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Copyright © 2022 All images and text on Amanda's blog and website are the legal property of Amanda Brett and may not be reproduced without express permission from Amanda Brett or her authorised agent. Thank you for respecting her art and the livelihood of all artists.
Quality Guarantee: All my watercolours are painted with only modern professional grade watercolour paints on Museum exhibition grade watercolour papers, they are extremely lightfast and will become a family heirloom and passed down to subsequent generations. ALL art of ANY medium should be hung away from direct sunlight. If​properly cared for, watercolour paintings will last as long, if not longer, than oil paintings. I only paint on 100% cotton rag paper, mostly Arches and Fabriano, and frame to conservation standard with acid free materials.
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  • Home
    • News
    • About Me
    • More About Me & Watercolour
    • What I See
  • Gallery Shop
    • SHOP New Original Paintings
    • Shop Limited Edition Prints
  • Tuition
    • PaintBox Tips featured posts >
      • PaintBox Tips
    • Video Lessons
    • Weekly Watercolour Classes >
      • Feedback & Photos
    • student's page
    • Lessons featured posts >
      • Lessons
    • Workshops for your Group
    • Watercolour Magic on Youtube
    • FAQs >
      • My faves and where to buy
      • Resources
  • Contact
  • Join My Insider's List
  • Workshop Lucca Italy June 2022
    • Plein Air Supplies