15 October 2015

another Texas sunrise


I'm not too happy with the way this turned out --- there were strips of white edges in the clouds that were lost in the wet-on-wet washes even as I tried to be careful. Also, the blues weren't quite what I wanted. I think I'll try it again sometime using masque to keep the whites.

6 comments:

  1. When I was 11, I was at scout camp and had a morning guard at time of sunrise. It was fascinating - and the most fascinating was the thing, that I wanted to write down to my diary all the changes I was looking at, but everything was changing so quickly, that I was not able to write down everything. The first bird started singing.... Then the sky started changing colors, changing shapes of clouds etc... How you can draw it.

    When I was doing my sunset, I was going to the fields for about four - five days to finish my sketch. It's fun. One day I wanted to sketch a lilly in front of our house - but it was closing its petals so quickly, that I had to change the lines in my sketchbook...

    How do you do your sunrises, Vicky?

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  2. My answer may disappoint you: after studying the shape and color of the clouds, thinking about how I would paint it, I take photos and work from those.
    To paint the skies, I wet the area with water, then add colors with a large brush. More moody skies, I use a very thin wash of raw sienna type color instead of pure water to wet the paper, then add colors. Darker cloud forms can be added later after wash is dry.

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  3. Why :) I also take photos, but I love to start sketching outside - sometimes I finish it, sometimes not, then the photos can help... But I always have such a feeling, that if I do it outside, there is something more in it, what I am not able to do from the photos. Thank you for sharing your steps, I don't use large brush, it may be useful. I have still a lot to learn!
    Wish you a nice time at the seaside!

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  4. Some people think it isn't "real" unless it's done from life only or finished on site. I think artists should be free to use any tool or method that gets the result they are after; no rules!
    A large flat brush or a floppy squirrel brush is wonderful for wetting paper for large wet-on-wet washes!

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  5. Hmm, I love your sketches because I consider them just real! I think, if you tried to sketch it many times, and you have experiences, you can do it even "by heart"... That's not my case :-)

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  6. It has taken me many years to get over 'niggling the details", trying to exactly reproduce what I see. That exactness is especially impossible when painting wet-on-wet skies. I am learning to let go of control and just see what happens.

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