Painting Beautiful Watercolor Landscapes: Transform Ordinary Places into Extraordinary Scenes

130 Pages·20.279 MB·English

by  Hicks Joyce.

ART TECHNIQUES/WATERCOLOR
P A I N T I N G B E A U T I F U L
WATERCOLOR
LANDSCAPES

P
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I Transform Ordinary Places into Extraordinary Scenes
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Learn the ART OF SEEING E
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and tap into the BEAUTY of I
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the EVERYDAY!
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The scenes around you don’t have to be perfect to inspire beautiful watercolor C
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paintings. In Painting Beautiful Watercolor Landscapes, Joyce Hicks shows you
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how to transform ordinary landscapes into gorgeous, lush works of art.
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First you’ll learn to look differently at the world around you by slowing down
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and seeing beauty in the every day to fi nd settings you can’t wait to paint. Then,
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by learning to understand design elements and principles, use color and make the A
most of artistic license, you’ll gain the confi dence you need to create light-fi lled N
watercolor landscapes. Finally, add fi ne details to make the painting distinctly yours. D
With Painting Beautiful Watercolor Landscapes, you will: S
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• Discover your inspiration in a scene by training yourself to see it A
differently and creating a workable, simplifi ed composition. P
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• Practice techniques like glazing, color mixing, creating texture
and more.
• Complete 12 step-by-step projects to develop your signature
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watercolor style.
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Begin to paint from the sacred place within … with Painting Beautiful K
US $26.99
Watercolor Landscapes. S
U3158 (CAN $29.99)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4403-2957-9
ISBN-10: 1-4403-2957-5
52699
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artistsnetwork.com
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UP ideas. instruction. inspiration.
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Painting Beautiful Watercolor Landscapes
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P A I N T I N G B E A U T I F U L
WATERCOLOR
LANDSCAPES
Transform Ordinary Places into
Extraordinary Scenes
JOYCE HICKS
A WAY OF LIFE
CINCINNATI, OHIO
artistsnetwork.com
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 6
1 | GETTING STARTED 4 | REDISCOVERING
8
YOUR IDEA
Discover and Record What Inspires You 52
Maintain an Artist’s Library Defi ne and Paint What You Love
Choosing Equipment and Supplies Develop a Good Composition and Value
Choosing Brushes and a Palette Knife Study
Choosing Transparent Color Draw and Paint Shapes, Not Things
DEMONSTRATION—How to Use Your Defi ne Your Focal Point
Brushes and a Palette Knife Perspective in the Landscape
DEMONSTRATION—Putting It All Together Paint Small to Accelerate Artistic Growth
DEMONSTRATION—Putting Artistic
2 | FINDING
Concepts into Practice
INSPIRATION
24
5 | USING THE ELEMENTS
Where Can You Find Inspiration?
AND PRINCIPLES OF
What Is Your Visual Response to the Scene?
DESIGN
What Is Your Emotional Response to the 68
Subject?
Design Elements
How Can You Communicate Your Response
Design Principles
to the Viewer?
DEMONSTRATION—Elements and
How to Transform Your Idea with Imagination
Principles of Design in Action
Four Ways to Transform a Scene
DEMONSTRATION—Painting Your 6 | STEP-BY-STEP
Inspiration
DEMONSTRATIONS
86
3 | SAYING IT WITH DEMONSTRATION —Simplify Scenes to
Uncover Beauty
COLOR
38
DEMONSTRATION —Turn a Gray Day into a
How Color Evolves Sunny One
Luminous Darks DEMONSTRATION —Use a Focal Point to
How to Mix Natural, Organic Greens Welcome Viewers into Your Painting
Greens in the Landscape DEMONSTRATION —Create the Illusion of
Depth
Grays That Rest the Eye
DEMONSTRATION —Rearrange Shapes for
Warm and Cool Grays
a Better Composition
How to Glaze for Impact
DEMONSTRATION —Keep Brushstrokes
DEMONSTRATION—Be Expressive with
Loose
Color!
GALLERY 120
ARTIST’S STATEMENT 123
INDEX 124
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 126
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS/DEDICATION 127
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LAUREL MOUNTAINS HIGHLAND FARM
WHAT YOU NEED
MATERIALS PIGMENTS
9" × 12" (23cm × 30cm) 140-lb. Alizarin Crimson | Benzimida Orange |
(300gsm) cold-press Arches watercolor Burnt Sienna | Cobalt Blue | Gamboge
paper | Binder clips | Eraser | Gator | Hansa Yellow Light | Manganese Blue
board | Palette knife | Paper towels or | Permanent Rose | Prussian Blue |
tissues | Princeton Series 4050R brushes Quinacridone Gold | Raw Sienna | Sap
nos. 8, 10, 12 | Princeton liner brush Green | Ultramarine Blue | Vermilion |
no. 4 | Sketchbook | Soft lead pencil | Viridian
Spray bottle | Watercolor palette
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INTRODUCTION
Watercolor found me when I least expected it. After retiring most ordinary scene can be transformed into an extraordi-
in 1998, my husband and I traded our brick-and-mortar nary one. The watercolor medium is an exciting adventure
home for a forty-foot luxury home-on-wheels and led a into the unknown, and it’s willful, unpredictable personality
nomadic lifestyle traveling the United States, Canada and requires patience if our hope is to be able to nudge it in the
Mexico. It was during this travel that I had an epiphany of right direction. Perseverance and determination are traits far
sorts, and the power of the experience changed the course of more important than any talent you may possess, and the
my life, leading me to this moment. quality of your work will be in proportion to the enthusiasm
While traveling down the rugged Pacifi c Coast Highway, you have for your subject. Once you have mastered the fun-
I saw beauty I never imagined. My response to it was so damentals and can execute them instinctively, you will be on
profound that it ignited a desire to fi nd a way to describe the your way to developing your own signature style.
joy I felt. A few days later, I saw amazing watercolor paintings The most common mistake artists make, as beginners,
at a local art gallery, and I knew I had found a medium is to follow the natural tendency to try to say too much in
that could help me interpret my feelings for the landscape. a painting. Doing so leads to confusion and overshadows
Not long after that, we found ourselves navigating hairpin the piece’s main message. Remember that less is more, and
curves high above the blue Pacifi c in search of a nearby town knowing what to leave out is far more important than how
where I could buy art supplies. I came away that day with an much you leave in. As your skill and experience grows, you
armload of how-to books, brushes and paints, and a yearning will learn to eliminate unnecessary clutter from your work
to get started as soon as possible. It was never my intention to and to focus on composition instead. If your goal is to take
become an artist, but once I lost my heart to the landscape, I your work to the next level, you must fi rst understand the
could do no less. A love affair with watercolor was also born meaning of design as it relates to art before you can move
that day as I set forth on a journey to teach myself all I forward as an artist. You need to visualize your subject in
could about the subject, and my passion for it has not simple terms so you can paint relationships between shape,
wavered since. color and value instead of painting “things.”
I have been inspired and infl uenced by the beautiful For many who fi rst begin to paint, the tendency is to act
paintings of many great artists and have benefi tted greatly as a human camera recording subjects as accurately as pos-
from their combined knowledge. I’ve studied their teachings sible instead of using time-honored principles and elements
and techniques in depth, and my personality has fused the of design to produce works of art that are more pleasing and
information into a signature style that is uniquely my own. worthwhile. Knowledge is power, and the lack of it is what
I’ve come to view how we, as artists, put paint on paper as a leads to failure. Fear of failure blocks the way to bold, confi -
refl ection of how much we love our subject and I now know dent statements and paintings that look as if they had almost
that it is essential that we stay true to the concept. I think the painted themselves. It is not enough to simply want to paint
art of seeing has been lost because there are so many distrac- beautiful pictures; you must also arm yourself with necessary
tions in today’s world. It is pure joy when we really begin to skills and knowledge if you are to have any hope of doing so.
see and feel beauty, and if we slow down enough, maybe we For me, the thrill of painting with watercolor is all about
can attempt to describe it. the beauty of translating feelings with brushstrokes of color.
Being up close and personal with the landscape allows When I push luscious, transparent watercolor paint across
me to reconnect with my past and, for the briefest moment, bright white paper, I am transported to a creative inner place
understand why we are here. Over time I’ve trained myself to that can’t be analyzed. It is pure joy, and Lord only knows
simplify scenes and see them as I wish them to be, not as they how the process happens. I don’t want to interrupt the magic
really are. Charles Webster Hawthorne’s quote says perfectly with techniques such as masking, pouring or salting, which
what I believe is at the heart of all great art and it became a may slow the rhythm of my brush, so I choose instead to
personal mantra as I sought to reach my artistic goals. “Any- keep it simple. Before starting a painting I go to great lengths
thing under the sun is beautiful if you have the vision. It is to make sure that all potential problems have been worked
the seeing of the thing that makes it so.” out before I ever pick up my brush. Once I have a well
I wanted to write this book so I could share the principles thought-out plan and feel confi dent with my choices, I take
and concepts that were most important in accelerating my up my brush and place it in the hands of my heart. I attempt
artistic growth. I wanted to share my simple techniques for to describe what it is about the scene that moved me to want
deconstructing the landscape and to show how even the to paint it in the fi rst place.
6 Visit artistsnetwork.com/painting-beautiful-watercolor-landscapes for bonus content from Joyce Hicks.
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My purpose is to create a work of art that invites viewers I FOUND IT IN WALDPORT
to experience the same joy I feel for the landscape. I keep the
following words in mind each time I paint. I heard them long
ago and have never forgotten them: “A painting isn’t good
because it looks like something. It is good because it feels
like something.”
Writing this book was a labor of love and a wonderful
opportunity to present my simplifi ed approach for
transforming the landscape. It is not an attempt to teach
you to paint like me but is meant as a helpful resource and
inspiration for developing your own unique style. And if it
opens the door to your heart even slightly and allows you to
visualize the landscape with artistic eyes that are able to see
beauty where, on fi rst glance, it may seem there is none, then
I am pleased beyond measure!
7
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A FARMHOUSE I SAW IN VIRGINIA
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1
GETTING
STARTED
Choosing art supplies and equipment can be an overwhelming task
because there are so many choices. I fi rmly believe in the old adage
“less is more” and feel it’s best to be conservative in the beginning
until you are informed enough to make wise choices. Until that time,
you can always take the suggestions of artists who have gone before
you. Once you’ve mastered the technical aspects of watercolor paint-
ing, your artistic personality will begin to emerge and you’ll have
a better idea of what’s needed in order to express your own unique
vision. However, I also believe that curiosity and having the courage
to experiment ultimately lead to great works of art.
IN THIS CHAPTER
• Discover and Record What Inspires You
• Maintain an Artist’s Library
• Choosing Equipment and Supplies
• Choosing Brushes and a Palette Knife
• Choosing Transparent Color
• DEMONSTRATION—How to Use Your
Brushes and a Palette Knife
• DEMONSTRATION—Putting It All
Together
9
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