Tips on How to Watercolor

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August 28, 2009

Discovering some good watercolor tips can help you to find your feet in the wonderful world of watercolor painting. There  are more elements involved with the art than simply brushes, paint and paper, as the options for each are immense in themselves, and all will have a great deal of effect upon the outcome of your painting. From the pigments you choose, to the quality of the paper, it is good to learn and understand how the different variables come together to form a painting. Starting off as a beginner in watercolor painting may seem daunting, but it is something which should be experienced with joy. After the desire has set in to paint, you will need some watercolor supplies.

When it comes to mixing colors, many of the cheaper paints will not be as bold, and they may be sold as hues of colors. Before purchasing any of these cheaper items, ask yourself why it may look as if you are getting more for your money, and then consider that most hues and shades can actually be concocted and mixed from a very basic palette. It may not be necessary to purchase them just because there is quantity over quality. Weigh up the options of whether spending a little extra on a few quality paints will be better for your projects. Remember never to leave any paint to dry on your brushes and to clean them regularly as well as drying them out properly.

If your budget does not stretch far enough to purchase a good, high end ceramic palette, then you can look around the home for cheaper alternatives. Working your way up to owning the best watercolor supplies will naturally be the ideal thing to do, but along your journey of discovering the art, find ways and means to express yourself without breaking the bank. Ice trays, white plates, plastic pill boxes or the Styrofoam containers from food products will also serve a purpose as palettes. Most of these will be one time use only, especially if the surfaces start to stain.

Check the balance of brush when you are looking around in your watercolor art supplies store. Find ones that feel comfortable to you, and do not just judge things on price. You have to be comfortable with the tools you are using, so that you can allow your creativity to flow without interruptions. Check how different papers react to the paints you are using. Papers vary a lot in weight and absorbency, therefore working with them will produce different results. Experiment and see which suits your style. Some cheaper papers may give you a unique effect that you can use and explore further.

Learn as much as you can from people around you, as well as your peers. By learning to how to use watercolor techniques to create your own pictures, you will no doubt come across artists who you take to your creative heart as favorites for inspiration. It is good to understand what motivated them, what techniques they used, and how they communicated so well through color. That way you will be able to practice and emulate them, learning new skills along the way to further your own painting individuality. Books, the internet and local art classes are a great way to learn new hints and tips which will expand your own repertoire of watercolor techniques. How to watercolor made easy :)

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St. Albans by Peter De Wint

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August 28, 2009

Peter De Wint, a descendant of an old merchant family of Amsterdam, like Glover, painted in oils and water colours, but his work was far superior. He selected broad and open country for his scenes, which were executed in a rich tone with a tendency to heavy uniform green. The neighbourhood of Lincoln, where his wife, a sister of W. Hilton, R.A., was born, had special attractions to him. St. Albans shows the abbey in the ruinous state it had become from the time of the Reformation. Its restoration was not commenced until 1856, under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott, and completed later by Lord Grimthorpe.

St. Albans by Peter De Wint

“ST. ALBANS”

BY PETER DE WINT

(Size, 9¾ × 14½ IN.)

(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)

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VIEW IN NORTH WALES by John Glover

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August 23, 2009

John Glover was a landscape painter and produced works, both in oil and in water colours, into which he frequently introduced cattle. His father having been a small farmer may account for this partiality for animals.In water-color painting he followed the methods of William Payne, the inventor of a grey tint known as Payne’s grey, in producing foliage by splitting the hairs of his brush in order to give a feeling of lightness, and he was partial to sunlight effects.

He was President of the “Old” Society on two occasions, but he resigned his membership, so as to become eligible for election to the Royal Academy. He failed in his object and joined the Society of British Artists. Glover suddenly left England in 1831, and went to the Swan River Settlement in Australia. Afterwards he removed to Tasmania, where he died.

VIEW IN NORTH WALES by John Glover

VIEW IN NORTH WALES by John Glover

“VIEW IN NORTH WALES”

BY JOHN GLOVER

(Size, 16? × 23 IN.)

(In the possession of Victor Rienaecker, Esq.)

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“HACKNEY CHURCH” BY JOHN VARLEY

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August 17, 2009

Amongst the founders the name of John Varley stands out beyond the others. He was born at Hackney in 1778. Receiving but little instruction in art besides the assistance given to him by Dr. Monro, he became a teacher of considerable reputation.Amongst his pupils were many who afterwards became famous. To mention only a few, there were William Mulready, who married his sister, Copley Fielding, who espoused his wife’s sister, W. Turner (of Oxford), David Cox, William H. Hunt, Oliver Finch and John Linnell. Varley was a prolific worker, and contributed more than seven hundred drawings to the “Old” Society, averaging about forty works annually. His style was broad and simple, with tints beautifully laid, without resort to stippling. He wrote some works on drawing and perspective. He also was an enthusiast in astrology, and compiled a “Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy.”
“HACKNEY CHURCH” BY JOHN VARLEY

“HACKNEY CHURCH”
BY JOHN VARLEY

(Size, 11 × 15 IN.)

(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)

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The Classical Scene by John Sell Cotman

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August 6, 2009

John Sell Cotman, a member of the Norwich School, was another pioneer who did much for the advancement of water-colour painting. Unfortunately, his work was not appreciated during his career. If he had lived in the twentieth century he would have had no cause for the fits of depression to which he was subject during the greater part of life. It can be well recognised that in the first half of last century the public, who were mainly accustomed to carefully drawn topographical scenes, failed to appreciate such paintings as the Classical Scene, executed with such freedom and vigour. It was recently exhibited at the Special Exhibition of Cotman’s Paintings at the Tate Gallery, when five other classical landscape compositions were also shown. Cotman’s work was not understood. His paintings, both in oil and water colour, often only realised less than a pound apiece. He was compelled to resort to teaching in order to support his family. Eventually, through the influence of his friend, Lady Palgrave, and the strong support of Turner, he obtained the post of drawing-master at King’s College School, London. His position then became more secure. Still, teaching boys in the underground rooms of Somerset House could not have been inspiriting to one who yearned to seek Nature in the open air. He could not exclaim, like “Old” Crome, when he with his pupils was once met on the banks of the Yare, “This is our academy.” He died of a broken heart. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was a feeling amongst the artists who worked solely in water colours that they were not being fairly treated by the Royal Academy. They were ineligible to be elected members of that body, and they were of opinion that their works were never placed in a prominent position on the walls of the galleries. William Frederick Wells, a friend of Turner and said to have suggested to him the idea of producing his “Liber Studiorum,” proposed to his fellow artists that they should form a separate society for the promotion of water-colour painting. After considerable negotiations, ten artists met together in November, 1804, and founded the Society of Painters in Water Colours. The first exhibition was held in the Spring of the following year at rooms in Lower Brook Street. After various vicissitudes and many changes of abode this society, known in later years as the “Old” Society, eventually obtained a lease of the premises in Pall Mall East. Thus, after much roving for seventeen years, a permanent home was secured, and the centenary of the occupation of these galleries has just been completed. Varley and Glover were two of the original members. 6 De Wint, Copley Fielding, David Cox and Samuel Prout were subsequently elected Associates, and afterwards became full members.

“CLASSICAL SCENE” BY JOHN SELL COTMAN

“CLASSICAL SCENE”

BY JOHN SELL COTMAN

(Size, 11½ × 8¼ IN.)

(In the possession of G. Bellingham Smith, Esq.)

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Lucerne: Moonlight by J. M. W. Turner

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August 5, 2009

As limitation of space will not admit of giving any account of the life of Turner, already well known, it may be sufficient to say that Lucerne: Moonlight was painted in 1843, and was originally in the collection of Mr. H. A. J. Munro of Novar. Ruskin, who calls it a noble drawing in his “Notes on his Drawings by the late J. M. W. Turner,” makes a mistake in the title and describes it as Zurich by Moonlight.
Lucerne: Moonlight by J. M. W. Turner

“LUCERNE: MOONLIGHT”

BY J. M. W. TURNER, R.A.

(Size, 11½ × 18¾ IN.)

(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)

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The Landscape by Thomas Girtin

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August 4, 2009

Girtin, during his short career, had no selfish ideas of keeping his knowledge of painting to himself. It was mainly due to his initiation that a club was started amongst a small body of young artists for the study of landscape painting. They met at each other’s houses in rotation. One of its prominent members was Sir Robert Ker Porter, a painter, traveller and author, who afterwards married a Russian princess. He was living, at the time, at 16, Great Newport Street, which had formerly been a residence of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and subsequently that of Dr. Samuel Johnson. It was in this house that the first meeting of the club was held “for the purpose of establishing by practice a School of Historic Landscape, the subjects being designs from poetick passages.” Writing in The Somerset House Gazette, in 1823, W. H. Pyne, under the pseudonym of Ephraim Hardcastle, states “this artist (Girtin) prepared his drawings on the same principle which had hitherto been confined to painting in oil, namely, with local colour, and shadowing the same with the individual tint of its own shadow. Previous to the practice of Turner and Girtin, drawings were shadowed first entirely throughout, whatever their component parts—houses, castles, trees, mountains, fore-grounds, middle-grounds, and distances, all with black or grey, and these objects were afterwards stained or tinted, enriched and finished, as is now the custom to colour prints. It was this new practice, introduced by these distinguished artists, that acquired for designs in water colour upon paper the title of paintings: a designation which many works of the existing school decidedly merit, as we lately beheld in the Exhibition of the Painters in Water Colours, where pictures of this class were displayed in gorgeous frames, bearing out in effect against the mass of glittering gold as powerfully as pictures in oil.” Girtin had a partiality for 5 painting in a low tone of colour and frequently on rough cartridge paper, which assisted in giving a largeness of manner to his work. The Landscape is, however, rendered in a brighter key than his usual practice.
The Landscape by Thomas Girtin

LANDSCAPE

BY THOMAS GIRTIN

(Size, 12¼ × 20½ IN)

(In the possession of R. W. Lloyd, Esq.)

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Lake Nemi by John Robert Cozens

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August 1, 2009

John Robert Cozens, the son of Alexander Cozens, was the first artist at this period “to break away from the trammels of topography, and to raise landscape painting in water colours to a branch of fine art.” He traveled abroad and studied principally in Italy and Switzerland. The lake of Nemi, situated in the Campagna, some sixteen miles west of Rome, and reached by the famous Via Appia, has always been a favourite subject with both poets and artists. Near the north rim of the 4 worn-out crater, in which the lake is situated, is the village of Nemi, surmounted by a fine old castle, which passed through the hands of many noble families. Pope, Byron, and others have sung the praises of the lake. Turner has left at least five drawings of it, one of which is engraved in Hakewell’s “Italy.” William Pars, Richard Wilson and other artists of the early landscape school also painted the scene. Cozens made many drawings of Nemi and the vicinity. Two are in the Victoria and Albert Museum and another is in the Whitworth Institute, Manchester. Lake NemiThe painting, belonging to Mr. R. W. Lloyd, shows the lake with Palazzo Cesarini on a height by its side, and the Campagna in the distance. It is a fine example of Cozens’ work treated in his poetic manner, and into which more colour than usual has been introduced. Cozens’ last visit to Italy was made in 1782 in company with the noted William Beckford, the author of “Vathek.” On his return he gradually lost his reason. It is pathetic to think such was the sad end of a man inspired with such artistic talents. As it has already been stated, he was the pioneer in exalting water-color painting to a fine art. His footsteps were quickly followed by Girtin and Turner. The history of these two artists, how during their early struggles they were befriended by that art patron, Dr. Thomas Monro, a capable water-colour painter himself, and well qualified to give advice, is too well known to need repetition.

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Entrance to Vauxhall Gardens by Thomas Rowlandson

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August 1, 2009

The reputation of Thomas Rowlandson, who could paint landscapes with great ability, rests upon his caricatures, which were usually drawn in outline and tinted. He lived a somewhat dissipated life, and possessed an abundant sense of humor, as displayed in the Entrance to Vauxhall Gardens , the noted place of amusement and rendezvous of the fashionable set in the early part of the last century.
Entrance to Vauxhall Gardens
“ENTRANCE TO VAUXHALL GARDENS”

BY THOMAS ROWLANDSON

(Size, 9 × 12? IN.)

(In the possession of Victor Rienaecker, Esq.)

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