I've been listening to lots of podcasts from artists who love painting en plein air like I do - the interesting thing is, I come from the school of painting what should be there but most of the artists I've been listening to seem very focussed on determining the exact shade of colour (temp and hue) and the exact value of each shape and finding the right scene/subject.

When I discover a scene/subject to paint, I can guarantee you I will feel the need, rightly or wrongly, to shift some things around (lamp posts are never in the right place), and change colours and values to suit my idea. I have 2 thoughts about this, firstly, I am NEVER going to find the perfect scene so I might as well get down and dirty right now.  Secondly, I am an artist, it's my job to make whatever it is beautiful and meaningful and tell my story through paint.

Imagine how many hours I would lose just by simply wandering around looking for the right scene/subject? Most often I have 2-3 hours to paint on location, I better make it snappy. Don't get me wrong I deliberately go to places that I know will please me (crusty, rusty and horrible are the key words here) and I do like it when someone chooses for me and gives me a challenge - its all too easy to fall into the trap of painting the same things over and over.

Back to WHAT SHOULD BE THERE. So what should be there? well that's up to you to develop your skills of observation and your sense of good taste and design. While in Raglan NZ recently, I went to paint the orange dinghy - how disappointing ... i could barely tell it was orange ... back in the day it positively glowed and reflected into the bay, not only that, the fab building behind it doesn't exist!! My biggest problem is I believe my own press ... I really remember the house being an architectural wonder but I think i painted it that way many years ago and the painting is stuck in my memory!! So I decided to paint the old Dairy Factory behind the nasty building, it's obscured from every vantage point so I'm going to have to make it up, there will be ladders and brooms and mops and buckets, maybe a bloke walking by with a fishing rod. What i really need to consider is how important is the Dairy Factory and if i decide it's very important then i will have to decide what elements I will need to help me communicate "Dairy Factory" without getting naff or kitsch!! 

The secret message today is, use the scene/subject/photo as your inspiration, not something to be copied faithfully, just because it's there doesn't make it right for a work of art, if they brought back bell bottoms would you wear them? Give your artistic license a whirl!!

ciao i miei belli amici!!
​Amanda

Come paint with me in Italy
Watercolour for Beginners - Auckland New Zealand
Weekly Classes - Auckland New Zealand
En Plein Air - One Day Workshops

Do I have to finish my painting on site for it to be classed as en plein air? When is a plein air piece 'en plein air' and when does it become a studio piece? 

I reckon if a work is substantially created on location, let's say 95%, then it is an en plein air painting. To add a couple of additional marks when you return to your studio does not make your painting/sketch a studio piece, it just means you know how to finish a painting or you had to pack up quick to get away from the approaching storm. At the end of the day it really only matters if you are entering en plein air competitions and then you'll be on site in the thick of it.

It seems there are too many rules and regulations about art and creating, it seems to me that most of these 'rules' are handed to us from either 150 years ago or by some 'expert' who is not a painter! To be a creative is to not be bound by other people's 'rules'. 

For example, for me, it does not make sense to go back to the same place for several days running to complete a painting - I certainly would not be able to do that in NZ (4 seasons in one day - and fairly unpredictable unless mid-winter and then you know it's going to be rainy or stormy!). Further, I want to push my skill as a watercolour painter and develop my creativity and thinking, watercolour is fast and immediate, i want to take advantage of that while I can.

For me, plein air is all about getting to know a scene/subject, understanding it's essence and getting a sketch down and dirty as quick as possible. I give myself 1.5 hours - after this time, light and atmospheric conditions have changed substantially and only provide a new set of facts that are likely irrelevant to my current work. My plein air sketches provide me with detailed notes so I can create a finessed studio painting, sometimes my plein air works are good enough to sell, sometimes not - so be it - do it again!

​My methodology is to scope out the scene, sit and observe the light and shapes from my selected spot, create/design a couple of thumbnail value sketches, take a mental snapshot and get stuck in. A painting buddy pointed out to me recently that I don't refer to the actual scene very much after that except for a few detail reminders. For me it's all about the essence of the scene, and certainly, sometimes I wonder who made me paint in that particular locale - it's all their fault!! :)

Please remember these are 'rules' i have set for my myself and you don't have to follow them blindly - they might not work for you/your current style/medium/whatever. I think this is where students get caught up, rule #10181614172930 works for X and X swears by this rule and may insist their students follow it too (when a tutor start telling their students there is only one way and it's their way or the highway, I choose the highway!) Remember, there are no magic bullets - you might have to forge on and create your own methodologies - experiment and have fun!!

ciao bei pittori xx

Amanda

Come paint with me in Italy
Watercolour for Beginners - Auckland New Zealand
Weekly Classes - Auckland New Zealand
En Plein Air - One Day Workshops

You probably know this - colour mixing in watercolour is vastly different from other mediums. There are several reasons for this, including the fluidity of the medium - water; the watercolour paper; sizing; the pigments; and, the white of the paper. 

To explore colour mixing with water further, water is used to lighten and deepen values and saturates. The more used, the lighter the value; The opposite is also true, the less water used, the stronger the colour, saturation and value. Although there are many ways to paint a watercolour, a process for the beginner watercolour painter to live by is to start your paintings with more water and less pigment, subsequent washes should have less water and more pigment until your final marks are virtually paint straight from the tube!

In addition to using water, the colour we have that's not a colour is the white of the paper. In transparent washes, light travels through the paint to the paper and bounces back and helps to optically lighten values, this is also the reason we use a white palette. 

Professional grade watercolour paper is not actually paper at all; Exhibition quality 'paper' is made from cotton rag, versus student papers which are made from wood pulp. Exhibition papers are archival meaning they are acid free and, providing they are kept thoughtfully (not under the bed), in a dry, cool environment, away from direct sunlight they will be perfect for a LONG time!! Framed paintings should be hung away from direct sunlight just like any other artwork.

I have to admit I am not an expert on watercolour paper sizing (i'm not much into the science - I just want to paint, so I'm not going to pretend), what I do know is that the sizing helps to keep the paint on the surface of the paper thereby helping to retain your painting's brilliance, lustre and transparency. A good quality paper will be sized to it's core not just on the surface. This means that, from a colour mixing perspective, different papers work differently and will allow the pigment and water to work differently. 
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Although black and white pigments are manufactured, typically, we do not use a black for dark value washes, nor a white to lighten. My reasons for not using black as a wash is because I find it exceedingly boring. For me watercolour is about poetry, there is no poetry in black!!  Watercolour painting is about creating beauty and light and life, as Delacroix said 'Colour is the fruit of life'. I encourage you to step outside and find a dark area and observe the light bouncing around and colours reflecting, treat watercolor as an adventure. I prefer to make my own darks, creating areas of light and dark, warm and cool, opaque and transparent - so much more interesting!! If you are desperate, paint a black painting and get it out of your system! Apart from that, most blacks are created using a kiln firing process and seem to be very sooty, my eyeliner is the only black near me!! I have to admit I LOVE white gouache, I slap it in to darks (with restraint, sometimes not!) just for the fun of it. I also love white marks in a watercolor painting, however, white watercolour and gouache is not so pretty when used as a wash (and unnecessary!) proceed with caution.

There is vast range of watercolour pigments available falling into 4 main categories: transparent, opaque, earth and staining. Many of the pigments are made from natural minerals and due to these natural qualities, react and bounce off each other, quite fun to watch and experiment with.

To give yourself the best shot at painting watercolour, be kind to yourself and buy a set of transparent primaries in a professional grade of paints, however I recommend you seek advice from a specialist watercolour artist before purchasing. 

For a beginner watercolour painter, I recommend just four pigments - get used to them and understand how they work together - do resist the urge to splurge - you will have more fun with a limited palette!! The pigments I suggest are artist quality tube paints, Permanent Alizarin crimson, phthalo blue (or french ultramarine), Indian yellow (or new gamboge) and burnt sienna. The most useful tool you can make for yourself is a colour wheel made from your own pigments. Just choose any yellow, blue and red then mix a purple, orange and green - complimentaries - yellow is opposite purple, green is opposite red and orange is opposite blue.

This is important because the colour wheel, for example, will show you the complementary colour to neutralise a bright/saturate pigment eg neutralise or dull a yellow by adding a touch of purple or it will help you decide which colours to charge into a luscious apple's shadow and which colour to choose to make one colour stand out from another. From these pigments you make a gorgeous silvery (or warm) greys, a luscious rich lively black and a myriad of other colours just with 4 pigments!! You can progress this by mixing a light value colour wheel and then a dark value wheel just by altering the amount of water on your brush.

Colour charging is exciting and frightening all at the same time - while the paper is damp, and without washing your brush, load up another colour and simply 'charge', ( ie slop, slap or drop) this new colour into or next to, the original colour. With watercolour, fewer brush strokes are definitely more, this also works for colour mixing on your paper. When charging in colour use ONE brush stroke - every additional brush stroke is another step toward opaque, 'dead' colour and lost luminosity.

Due to its transparency (even opaque pigments are transparent) glazing can be used to modify a value or temperature or simply mix colours. Glazing is washing over a previously painted area, use a soft bristled brush to ensure previous layers are not disturbed. For example, if there was an orange car in the distance but it's too bright and taking over, you could knock it back to the distance by glazing a wash of a blue (or purply-blue) over the orange, its not necessary to be neat just wash over everything that's intended to be in the distance, soften off an edge here or there and you're done! 
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Colours can also be mixed onto dry paper with wet brush/paint (aka wet into dry). Place colours beside each other and catch the bead from the previous mark, the secret is not to touch the same mark again, just keep catching the bead of the previous mark until you get where you're going.

One of the main advantages of watercolour is wet-into-wet painting. For amazing blends of colour, soak a piece of watercolour paper in a 'bath', submerged for no more than 5 minutes, let the drips run off and place the wet paper onto marine ply or gatorboard. The paper will stay wet for sometime and you will be able to paint until it is dry.

Watercolour is the oldest known painting medium - the sistine chapel fresco is a type of watercolour! Think of painting watercolour with a feather - that's all it needs - a gentle touch!!

happy painting miei cari amici xx
Amanda


Come paint with me in Italy
Watercolour for Beginners - Auckland New Zealand
Weekly Classes - Auckland New Zealand
En Plein Air - One Day Workshop

The cool thing about Watercolour is that it is mostly not too difficult to fix.

I know, I know, everyone says how it is the most difficult medium but truthfully, the myth sayers are the ones who have given up.

The main issue most beginners in watercolour painting have is determining what the problem actually is!!

Sometimes there actually isn't a problem but we've got to that dreadful middle stage and don't know what to do next. If you definitely have an issue to solve, read on McDuff!!

If you decide the composition or design is a problem, redraw the corrected composition on spare paper and re-work the improved version into the painting. Yes - that's right paint over it, you might need more paint!

Could you draw/paint it better? Practice drawing the shape you require on spare paper, then practice painting the shape/colours etc on some spare watercolour paper. Wet the offending area, sponge out problem shape/area carefully and re-draw and paint.

A shape is not quite right - I've solved this problem in my paintings in 6 or 7 different ways. Here's a couple you can try (1) wedge a dark tone next to the problem area correcting the shape, (2) stencil lift to correct the shape or (3) soften an offending edge with a damp sponge.

What watercolour problems cannot be fixed? The most difficult actual watercolour problem I have found is too much opaque pigment mixed too much on the palette and then stirred up too much on the paper - too dead!

Sometimes a stencil-lifted highlight will work or you could try adding more detail to another part of the painting to draw attention away from the offending area or carefully glaze a transparent complementary colour over the problem area to knock it back.

Always try to push yourself to finish every painting whether you've decided it will be a 'good' painting or not. The truth is, you might not be able to fix a work you've deemed irretrievable but the effort of trying will teach you more about watercolour/painting/process than starting yet another painting that you'll struggle to complete. Further, if you've already deemed the painting a failure, you really can't make it any worse - keep at it!!

check out my Paintbox Tips for more watercolour help!!

happy painting!!
Amanda



Copyright 2009-2018 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, thanks for respecting my art and creativity.

There’s nothing easy about painting watercolour en plein air but, for me, it is an exhilarating and fun experience.    
 
My early attempts, however, were difficult and my paintings absolutely atrocious! It seemed to take me forever to get to grips with this new style of painting in the great outdoors.
 
Without realising, I was faithfully following the 80/20 rule, 80% observation 20% drawing /painting. Later it dawned on me this rule does not apply to painting watercolour en plein air - I was trying to follow a guideline for the constant situation of studio/observational drawing from life.
 
When painting in the field, from the time you select your subject to your end-game, the painter has about 1-1.5 hours, 2 hours at most, to capture the subject before light and atmospheric conditions change too much. No mean feat but, if you practice, you will improve every time.
 
Another element to consider is the subject. My first attempts at painting  en plein air  were with groups of artists who love painting landscapes. For me, it was a big problem. Although I love good quality landscape paintings, I’m not interested in painting them myself. I’m a city girl afterall, I’m attuned to light and shadows bouncing around architecture and the people who inhabit amazing spaces. Just think of Lisa Douglas (Eva Gabor) and you'll have hit your nail on the head!
 
I often tell my students to slow their painting process down but in the case of painting watercolour en plein air, I’m going to contradict myself and tell you to speed up! Speed up so you catch the light and changing conditions. Give yourself 5 minutes, and only 5 minutes, to take photos and sketch 1 or 2 value thumbnails and most importantly, take a mental snapshot. Make your memory work for you and, even if you think your result is "wrong", your work will be formed of the essence of your subject. Perfetto!! What a great excuse to go out and paint it again!! Your next work at the same scene will include different features and details and the next different again. 

My personal strategy is to map the subject onto my watercolour paper with a 5 minute sketch and then not refer to the actual scene again. I am painting my interpretation of the scene not a photograph. Changing light and shadows become mighty confusing and create confusing paintings.
 
Learn the tools you need to assist you:

• Perspective drawing using a pencil to measure angles.
• create 5 minute value thumbnail sketches.
• Develop your composition skills.
• Learn to understand the relationships within your painting.
• Most importantly have fun and remind yourself that painting en plein air is a great sketching tool for studio work.

 
 x
Amanda​