Let's Catch a Little Sun - WIP stages explained.

This post is to share the work-in-progress at various stages how the painting 'Let's Catch a Little Sun' was developed in watercolor.

Fig 01

To begin with, a clear tonal value study was done prior the start of the painting to finalize the composition in terms of distribution of light and dark shapes over the available rectangular space, [Fig 01]. The thumbnail sketch needs not to be a detailed one however it should have enough information to be able to use it as a road map to develop the watercolor painting. It helps to reduce any confusion about tonal value placement in the middle of the painting. Based on the value sketch, a very light outline was marked on the water color paper to place the main element. The paper used here was a 300 gsm [140 lb] Fabriano cold pressed paper which has medium surface texture. The paper is securely taped with masking tape on a drawing board.

 

Fig 02

A very loose and juicy wash was laid from the top left corner of the paper letting it flow downward taking advantage of gravity while keeping the board at an angle, [Fig 02]. Various cool and warm colors were allowed to mix and mingle directly on the paper to keep them vibrant and fresh. While top edge of the geese was painted with a hard edge to define the catching light against dark, the bottom portion was painted over the edge and inside to merge with the background. This helps to maintain the play of soft and hard edges at later stages of a painting,

Fig 03

The wash was continued towards the bottom right side including the underside of the geese all in one go to keep soft blending of various colors, [Fig 03]. At this stage it is important to consider the various underlying color placements as they will show through layers of transparent washes later on and will maintain a harmony as well freshness. It is also important to 'preserve' the white of the paper as the lightest value as per the value sketch right from the beginning. Though small portions of the white paper can be brought back to light by lifting colors while it is still damp or even after it has dried, it is very hard to get back to the pure white paper once color is applied and specially if stained pigments are used. Notice the bold splatters towards the bottom portion of the painting. This Simple approach helps to create textures and interest without dominating the main focus.

Fig 04

Once the first wash has dried completely, the 1st layer of dark green foliage is applied again from the top left corner of the paper, [Fig 04]. This layer was also painted with loose brush strokes. The few areas which missed the brush marks conveys some leaves catching light on the dark background. It also helps adding some interest on that big darker shape.

Fig 05

The challenge of this painting was to maintain that sharp light by painting juicy dark pigments without loosing the overall vibrancy of the painting. Also to capture the beautiful and bright reflected light and the form shadow on the white geese without adding much details. Starting from the orange beak, continuing through the head, neck, chest, the feathers through the bright orange legs towards the casting shadow on the ground was painted as a connected shape, [Fig 05]. Care was taken to maintain tonal values and changes of color temperatures. Notice how the feet are merged together with the ground giving the illusion of one single shape.

Fig 06

Added some definitions on the feathers catching light and creating form shadows, underside of the body, the legs and enhanced the cast shadow to balance with dark shape from the top left side of the painting, [Fig 06]. Extra care needs to be taken at these final stages of the painting to avoid over working and keeping off extra brush marks which may ruin the freshness of the painting after the initial hard work.

Fig 07

The dark was enhanced from top left corner towards bottom to create contrast near the head as this is main focal area of the painting, [Fig 07]. Also splatters were added to the bottom of the dark shape to connect with the ground with similar textures. The tone and intensity of the beak was enhanced to capture the back lite effect as well the bright reflected light. The eye was defined and it was time to sign off the painting.

It was a pleasant experience and I hope you enjoyed the stages as much as I did while painting through them. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave your comments down below. Thanks for going through the post :)!

Medium: watercolor on paper
Size: 13 ½ “ H x 9” W


Original reference picture courtesy by Smitha Shivaswamy. Thanks Smitha.

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© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved.

Watercolor Workshop Demo at Chennai, 26th-27th April, 2014

My demo on Techniques of Watercolor at the recent 2 days Watercolor Workshop in Chennai on 26th - 27th April, 2014. 

We practiced from simple washes to building tonal values with transparent watercolor layers, differences of using various pigments, usages of warm and cool colors within a composition, some brushstrokes and fun tricks too. 

Thank you everyone for your participation and I am pleased to see your passion for this beautiful medium! Looking forward to meet you all again!!!

Medium: watercolor on 300 gsm Fabriano paper [cold pressed]
Size: 10 1/4" H x 14" W

© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved.
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Updates on Watercolor Workshop in Chennai

Kindly click on the image for a larger view

Here's an update regarding my Watercolor Workshop on techniques in Chennai on 26th and 27th of April, 2014.

Workshop name:
  Watercolor Techniques and Beyond

Skill level:
  Basic to intermediate  [since the focus is on watercolor techniques, basic knowledge of drawing skill is required]

Location:   
  http://www.thevijaypark.com/,


Dates:
  26th-27th April, 2014

Timings:
  9.15 am to 4.30pm [including Tea/Cofee/Lunch breaks]


Seats:
  Limited to a maximum of 15 participants only. The registration is based on first come first serve basis.

Materials:
  The participants will be notified a recommended list of suitable watercolor materials required which they are expected to bring along to the venue during both days of workshop. Any extra art materials will be provided at the venue.

Note:
  The full course fee per participant has to be paid at the time of registration via bank transfer prior the workshop to confirm the participation. Kindly send a mail to get details regarding the registration procedure.

The main Contents of this Watercolor Workshop are:

1. Watercolor as a beautiful medium
2. Brief talk about various materials used in watercolor
3. Demonstrations of various Techniques in watercolor
4. Participants' practical use of the various techniques in watercolor
5. brief talk about color, values and composition
6. Demonstrations of the usage of techniques on a painting.
7. Participants creating their own paintings using the techniques demonstrated
8. Evaluation and critiques of works.
9. Q & A session.

For further information regarding participation & registration kindly mail at:

dhrubafinearts[at]gmail[dot]com

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Overcome techniques to paint expressively!!

© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved.
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Color swatehces - a study

Fellow watercolor artist Nirupam Konwar has recently posted this beautiful, moody and atmospheric image clicked early in the morning hours from his native in Assam and it immedietly caught my attention. It has limited but nice color range. I did a small exercise of picking up the existing colors into swatches, both warm and cool hues and also analyzed their postion in tonal value scale from light to dark. These kind of exersize can help to simplify and narrow down the color range to a limited palette creating harmonious color combinations. Also the grey values help to build the solid underlying structure bringing out the more saturated hues inside the picture. Hopefully I will post a quick sketch based on these studies soon.

Original picture courtesy Nirupam Konwar.

© dhruba mazumder, 2014. all rights reserved
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Value shapes comparision

we often talk about using different numbers of value as shapes for compositional purpose, for example either of 3/4/5 etc. also we often do a quick thumbnail or detailed value sketch before going for the colored version to use as a 'road map', more specially for watercolor, to construct the composition in stronger way. but afterwards how often do we check or know if we have achieved it closely if not exactly.

so this is a small exercise i do most often if not every time after a sketch or a painting has been completed in color and turned into a digital format. i not only often do a value sketch before the colored version, but also convert the final digitized color version back to grey scale or completely desaturated it discarding all its colors keeping only the value shapes to see if the colors i have used holds the desired initial value shapes.

as you already know, all colors apart from their hue and intensity also holds a value of its own. all colors are relatively more or less darker or lighter than the other ones and vise versa and more than often we ignore this hidden but important aspect of colors as we get carried away with our emotions while applying the beautiful hues. and at the end the results may be disappointing because of not using enough value range and contrast from light to dark resulting the painting as 'flat'. by observing a finished painting or sketch as a grey scale or desaturated image helps us to check and analyze this again how close we are to our initial planned value sketch.

© dhruba mazumder, 2014. all rights reserved.
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A little bit about Artistic Block

artistic block is a term where one get stuck without much inspirations to work on, self doubt, lack of creative influence, failing to express etc. leaving a person blank. this can be momentary, few days, weeks or even months if not years. it gives the feeling that, all the creativity is over and we cant do anymore expressive works, we are finished in artistic term. however if we think positively, this is also a good time to experiment, experience and learn new things and scale new horizons with very less expectations. this can be either experimenting with a completely new medium, approach and style, subject, working time letting yourself more open towards experimenting new things with much less expectations for end results unlike of regular artworks that you have been doing so far. this may be the correct time to browse through the inspirations that you have always tried to explore. you may never know what new ability you could discover of yourself just because that you have never given the chance to experiment.

a very quick experimental sketch based on a profile picture of Kruttika Susarla. thanks Kruttika for the pic.

watercolor on awoen sketchbook.
size: 7 1/2" H x 5" w approx.
time: 35 min approx.
source: from reference pic.

© dhruba mazumder, 2014

Looking at the shapes of Light & Shade

give me some light and shade and i will try to capture it the most abstract way. many have wondered how i capture the most mundane objects. well its those beautiful light and dark shapes attract me most. when i saw this view, i had hardly any time to capture it on my sketchbook as the settings sun vanishes in quick seconds. so i captured the basic shapes in simple lines and added few notes for future reference. later on i completed this sketch with color from these notes.

it's almost impossible to let go a view like this in vein! happy sketching/drawing/painting!

© dhruba mazumder, 2014

Another source of inspiration

a sneak peak about my source of inspirations for these kind of quick sketches. there is always something interesting around you to capture in the paper. for me, it's the play of light and dark abstract shapes that catch my attention at any place and time that inspires me most, a thing i can't ignore ! it's a good idea to give another closer look at these shapes trying to observe them in abstract manner and not as simple subjects what we are logically aware of. and if you still find them interesting it's the right time to do that quick sketch!!

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2014. all rights reserved

From doodles to final painting - stage by stage approach.

sometimes my original paintings are based on ideas generated from random and quick doodles done in fun way. here's an example how the idea was conceived for the watercolor painting 'Deep in the woods'.

kindly click on the image to view a bigger version. thanks!!

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2013. all rights reserved

Another WIp post.

Few stages with added notes of a recent sketch i did live from our kitchen window of the street in front couple of days back.

Kindly click on the image to view a bigger version. I would like to hear your feedback. kindly leave a message!

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2013. all rights reserved

the major wip stages of the cylinder watercolor sketch i did couple of weeks back. hope this helps!

a feedback is very much welcome, i would love to hear about it. thank you all :)!


kindly click on the image to view a bigger version.

© dhruba mazumder, 2013

had a very nice workshop on the subject 'fantasy landscape' or 'landscape from imagination', organized by penciljam studio, Bangalore in November '12, primarily focusing on composition and water color as main medium, though not necessarily limited to. there were 9 participants and it was 2 days of nice experience for all of us!!

here are couple of pictures!

thanks to all...