ways of looking & layering light

plein air watercolor studies, step-by-step

This Sunday, June 2nd, 10:30am-12:30pm central:

Image Word Mystery “Ekphrastic Fantastic: Poetry inspired by the art of Mati Klarwein”. Free. Hosted by Vision Train

Three days with good friends, some art supplies & a secluded swimmin’ hole was life-giving.

While soaking in sunshine and bird song, I practiced my plein air watercolors — which is my mission this summer— and documented my process to share with you…

Here’s my step-by-step process from last weekend:

(Including what worked, what didn’t & what I’ll do differently next time…)

Day One! I set out to draw clouds, but in a rare turn of events, the sky was an endless blue…

1) Watercolor paper taped to the front of my sketchbook 2) I focus on the pond. First, I decide where I want the horizon line to fall on the page and get a sense for my foreground, middle and background. 3) I begin sketching in major shapes and negative space with a light blue Prismacolor watercolor pencil. This will anchor the lightest blue value.

4) Using a water brush, I unify my sketch into blobs of light blue. Watercolor builds from light to dark — I am careful to leave areas of bright white where I know I want light & pure color to radiate through.