Kim
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Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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This was my first experience with watercolours and the water brush pen. Quite different to acrylics and oils! It's been great to make a start on this whole other world of painting. The brush pen took some getting used to in terms of controlling the water content in the brush but I can see that, as a painting implement, it increases the contact time with the page and allows me to get a lot of colour down quickly. The colours are fresh and surprisingly nuanced. I'm also surprised by the amount of control I can get in tint, tone and shade. The weather has been terrible in Heidelberg this last week so I've been referencing colour palettes from a book on the Amazon rainforests. The dry pigment can look a little different when wet. The white page is much more effective in conveying whiteness than the white paint. Light purples are an interesting alternative "tone-maker" to grey with a touch of warmth or coolness to them. The watercolour palette seems very flexible in that it can capture the intense oranges of a sunset as well as the soft umber hues of a bird feather. The black colour seems very strong on the page - one to use carefully!
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There's often a huge flock of geese (>75 birds) grazing on grass shoots on the banks of the Neckar in Heidelberg. I've been wanting to check them out up close for some time and this exercise was a great incentive. I learned so much sitting among them watching. They move like dinosaurs! There are at least four breeds sharing the space (greylag, swan, Canadian, and Egyptian) - though they keep to their own within that space. There are individual birds among the swan geese that steer the entire flock with honking calls; the breeds have quite different sounding honks. The air was filled with the sound of their grazing! -
This exercise was hard but also really fun! I didn't realize how much my brain autopilot takes over when things are "the right way up". Looking for shapes and the distances between them helped a lot.
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I compared two flowering plants in Parc Micaud, Besançon (FR). This comparative exercise is so useful for probing into questions of form. I would have liked to have a magnifying glass at hand to learn more; it was quite difficult to see some of the finer details with the naked eye but I had the feeling there was much more to learn!
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My sit spot was in Heidelberg's (DE) old graveyard. This massive Friedhof hugs the side of a hill and is shaded by towering trees of all kinds. I found a relatively quiet spot along one of the less travelled paths with views into the canopy from side on and below. The canopy and undergrowth was humming with life! It was amazing! I noticed so many new species of birds that I've never spotted in Europe before (probably because I had not taken the time to wait for them to emerge). And they were quite curious about me too funnily enough.
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An amusing exercise :-) My squiggles look more like road kill. I certainly need to sharpen these skills: a sense of time - how long it takes to cover distance with the pencil - and spatial perception - where is the start of this thing again?!
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Wonderful course, I'm learning a lot! In drawing this onion and pair of magnified coffee beans I too was chasing shadows (similar comments below). Not so easy to capture the chiaroscuro effect on the round onion... I'm pleased with how the drawings turned out all the same.
There's often a huge flock of geese (>75 birds) grazing on grass shoots on the banks of the Neckar in Heidelberg. I've been wanting to check them out up close for some time and this exercise was a great incentive. I learned so much sitting among them watching. They move like dinosaurs! There are at least four breeds sharing the space (greylag, swan, Canadian, and Egyptian) - though they keep to their own within that space. There are individual birds among the swan geese that steer the entire flock with honking calls; the breeds have quite different sounding honks. The air was filled with the sound of their grazing! 
This exercise was hard but also really fun! I didn't realize how much my brain autopilot takes over when things are "the right way up". Looking for shapes and the distances between them helped a lot. 
I compared two flowering plants in Parc Micaud, Besançon (FR). This comparative exercise is so useful for probing into questions of form. I would have liked to have a magnifying glass at hand to learn more; it was quite difficult to see some of the finer details with the naked eye but I had the feeling there was much more to learn! 
My sit spot was in Heidelberg's (DE) old graveyard. This massive Friedhof hugs the side of a hill and is shaded by towering trees of all kinds. I found a relatively quiet spot along one of the less travelled paths with views into the canopy from side on and below. The canopy and undergrowth was humming with life! It was amazing! I noticed so many new species of birds that I've never spotted in Europe before (probably because I had not taken the time to wait for them to emerge). And they were quite curious about me too funnily enough. 
Wonderful course, I'm learning a lot! In drawing this onion and pair of magnified coffee beans I too was chasing shadows (similar comments below). Not so easy to capture the chiaroscuro effect on the round onion... I'm pleased with how the drawings turned out all the same. Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)