Drawing of the Day

"Snohomish Woods," 6" x 9" pen and ink in a
Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2015

Drawing of the Day

"Portland Japanese Gardens" (4.5" x 6.5")
Pen and ink in Stillman and Birn Epsilon sketchbook.

Painting of the Week – "Spanish Aqueduct”

“Spanish Aqueduct,” 10” x 13” mixed watermedia.
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2015.

This painting was an interesting challenge. I was so inspired by the beautiful, blue sky in the photo reference that I decided to use that color as the unifying theme for the piece. To begin, I laid down a thin wash of Ultramarine Blue acrylic, then washed in areas of Quinacridone Violet (also in acrylic) towards the bottom of the paper. When this was dry, I started building the piece in watercolor. At this point I wasn’t sure how much gouache I’d be using in this final piece. Just enough for end highlights? Or more? As it turned out…I used gouache for at least half the piece, and I’m glad I did. The more opaque paint gave the rocky scene the feeling I was going for — solid, heavy, and old.

I’ve seen this remarkable location (Ronda, Spain) painted in the most gossamer of watercolors, creating an ephemeral look. I’m not sure I’m ever going to be that kind of painter…and I’m not sure if that’s a sad thing or not! As it is though, I’m pleased with the results, it’s not just a copy of a photo…I can feel the place! One day I’ll go there and see if I’ve caught it right.

Painting of the Day – “Moss Forest”

“Moss Forest” 11” x 15” mixed watermedia
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2015

I've spent many years marveling at the drippy, amazingly-rich colors of Washington’s mossy forests. The colors shift with the weather but on rainy days the bright-green mosses are particularly eye-catching. Mosses covers everything here, anything that stays still long enough for them to colonize. And although this can, and does, pull down structures, the gentle, neon-green-splotched groves are a rich and welcoming sight to my artist’s eyes. This painting is my latest attempt to capture a moss-drenched forest scene. I used distinct layers of acrylic, watercolor, and casein to try and capture the luminous quality of the greens.

Color and Acrylic Paint

I’m not too familiar with acrylic. True, I’ve done a couple of paintings in it over the years, but always with an eye towards curiosity more than anything else. However, I've now reached the point in my Stephen Quiller DVD – “Color Foundations for the Painter” where he talks about underpainting in acrylic as a tool for better understanding color. 

Unlike watercolor and gouache, acrylic won’t move when dry. This makes it perfect tool for studying the effects of warm or cool light glazed over similar underpaintings.

In the video, Quiller makes two identical studies in acrylic which he then overpaints, one in warm yellows and the other in cool pinks. I endeavored to do the same. The acrylic colors I used in my underpaintings were: Turquoise, Manganese Blue Hue, Phthalo Blue, Cadmium Red Medium, and Indo Orange Red.

Acrylic underpainting (right hand study)

I tried to keep both underpainting studies as similar as I could in value and color.

Two acrylic studies showing different light

Here are the final studies. The left is overpainted in yellows and yellow-oranges and shows a sunset scene. The study on the right, overpainted in cool pinks and magenta, shows a pre-dawn scene.

Pretty cool, eh?

Acrylics are pretty fun to work with, especially as they dry brighter than when applied. I'm looking forward to doing more with them.

Painting of the Day

"Snoqualmie Falls" 9" x 12" watercolor & gouache.
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2015

Two more studies

Seattle view, two studies, watercolor

...showing the same location as the studies done yesterday. I am exploring different methods of laying down paint. The two studies today, and the two yesterday, used two colors of paint: Ultramarine Blue and Orange, either Cadmium Orange or Permanent Orange. It's amazing how much you can do with only two colors. And you learn so much in the process!

A couple of landscape studies

What I'm doing this afternoon. Two landscape studies handled differently but both using only two colors: orange and blue.

A scene from Seattle looking at Lake Washington, watercolor.

Painting of the Day

"Fall at Blackman's Lake" 10" x 13" watercolor

I'm doing NaNoWriMo this month and with all the creative outpouring of words, I've had little chance to paint. And so, after nearly three weeks of no-painting I just had to get out my brushes and paint something.

I've been watching the trees for weeks, trying to remember the process of color in transition from Summer to Fall. We had several strong wind storms early on that tore the leaves from the trees. But a few in sheltered areas kept their leaves for a bit longer. One morning at dawn I looked out my window and saw one tree still dressed in golden leaves catching the morning sun. I did a quick sketch in colored pencil and took some color notes. Then I left the sketch on my desk for nearly two weeks. Tonight. I decided to try and capture the image in watercolor.

I like the result. I think it suggests the trees in the marshland behind my house pretty well. It's also nice to know that I haven't forgotten EVERYTHING I've ever learned about painting after all that time off. ;-)

Two ways to look at foliage

I find painting flora very challenging. I live in the Pacific Northwest where there are stands of trees everywhere you look. I love drawing and painting trees, but figuring out how to best interpret them in watermedia is an on-going challenge.

I have been a representational artist for many years. Right now I’m stretching my boundaries and learning how to abstract. This is a wonderful and challenging process that's forcing me to see the world in new ways. In service to this process I’m tinkering with different ways to paint masses of foliage. Here's what I've been working on this week.

"Foliage study #1" (casein)

In the small casein study above I've used a palette knife and calligraphy brush to make random marks that can be seen as leaf groupings.

"Foliage study #2" (watercolor)

In this watercolor study, I've used negative space to create shapes that can be read as non-specific plants and a distant forest scene.

Of the two, I like the second approach much better. It feels like a real place to me, even though it's not, and it reads as harmonious. Painting it was fun and interesting. For me, it's clearly the winner in my little art contest. Funny to think of it that way, but subjectivity IS a big part of art.

The cutest painting I’ve ever done (or at least the smallest)

“Magnuson Park Boat Launch” casein, 6” x 4”

I wanted to use up some leftover casein paint on my palette and painted this little postcard, a memory of the spot where Matt and I ate our sack lunches last weekend. I've never painted anything so small! It certainly showed me which brushes were up to the challenge.

Two words on that...synthetic flats!

But it was quite fun. Could this be a new trend for me…?