Step 5: Underpainting

When I start a painting, I always do a wet-in-wet under-painting.  First, I will mask any areas where saving the white of the paper is critical.  This lets me be freer with the under-painting. I use a colorless art masking fluid. This is applied with cheap disposable brushes; I mean really cheap brushes. Test the brushes in water first because sometimes the hairs come loose and you wind up with hairs in the fluid. On this painting, I only masked the edges of the main leaf, which will be my center of interest. Usually, I drop in different colors throughout the entire painting.  On this one, I mostly used Winsor Yellow. The masking fluid also allowed me  to add the green at the bottom of the leaf.  The masking fluid acted as a dam around the leaf, so the green did not bleed into other areas of the painting.  This main leaf is almost totally completed.  All I need to add is the stem down the middle of the leaf.  When the paint is dry, I cover it with a piece of tracing paper and lay a Masonite board over it to flatter the paper for the next painting step.

Step 4 Pre-mix dominate colors

After transferring the drawing to my watercolor paper, I will pre-mix several of my dominate colors, if I am painting on a large painting. I label them with a grey scale value of 1 to 10, with black being 1 and white being 10.  I do not use any black pigment or white pigment on my paintings.  You can see which pigments I use for each color.  I also keep this reference sheet for future use. I file it along with a photo of the completed painting, value drawing and other notes about the process.

I do not use these colors without adding something from one of the other colors or from another color on my palette.  These pre-mixed colors are a starting point for all my leaves and stems.  For instance, there is a banana leaf in the very middle at the bottom of the painting.  When I paint the stem that runs down the middle of the leaf, I will paint the entire stem with color/value 8.  While it is still wet, I will add some paint from color/value 7 at the very bottom of the stem, and add a little Winsor Blue to the stem at the top of that leaf.  It adds a little variety to the stem.

Step 3: Enlarge the drawing and work out details.

After I have worked out the value plan, the next step is to enlarge the drawing.  I project my small drawing onto a full size sheet of transparent paper.  In this case the size will be 22" wide by 30" tall.  The photo below shows this large drawing.  When you go from such a small drawing to something 10 times that size, the drawing can get distorted by the projector lens.  I also work out more of the details of the background.  I want this drawing to be as completed as possible.  When I am finished with the drawing, I transfer it to the watercolor paper using graphite tracing paper.

Step 2: Value plan

In this step, I have taken my preliminary drawing, which is only 2.5" by 3.5", and created a value plan for my painting. This value plan helps me to spot any problems that I might run into when I start painting.  I typically follow this plan pretty closely, although I can make adjustments along the way. The next step will be to enlarge the drawing and transfer it to my watercolor paper.

Starting a new Painting

These are the five different photographs that will go into my new painting.  I may only use a leaf from one photo. I may also flop an image to make the leaves go in a certain direction in order to make your eyes move around the painting. These are old photographs taken in Hawaii many years ago. The next time I go there I will be photographing with a digital camera.

Here is my finished preliminary drawing. Next, I'll do a value plan for the painting.

This painting will be 22' wide x 30" tall.  It will be painted on Arches 300 lb Cold Press watercolor paper; it's my favorite paper.

Completed Color Charts

These are my recently completed watercolor color charts. I did all the colors that I use on my palette, it consists of: Cobalt Blue, Winsor Blue, French Ultra Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cad Red, Cad Orange, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, New Gamboge, Winsor Yellow, Yellow Ochre and Winsor Green. All my paints are Winsor & Newton paints. It's not that I don't like other brands, it just that I have been using this brand for over 30 years and I know how they perform. I always encourage the students in my workshops to make color charts. You learn a lot by mixing all the colors together. 

Color Chart

I'm working on my color charts this evening. I do these every few years. It really helps me find a starting point when I am trying to match a color. I am working in watercolor but I also do these for oils as well.