Jan Helton Artworks
February 29, 2020 Newsletter
|
|
Self-Critique Tip: Photograph Your Paintings
How do you decide what your painting needs? How do you know when it's finished? Taking a sequence of photographs throughout the painting process can help you to assess your progression at various stages of development and give you clues as to what to do next. It's simple: just use your cell phone camera to capture an image of your painting at the end of each work session.
I demonstrated the first layer of this piece during my recent Painting the Portrait in Watercolor workshop.
On the next layer, you can see that I've added a cool background glaze and begun to work around the painting, not working any one area to completion.
As I continue to work around the page, a couple more layers have been added. What a difference a warm glaze over the background makes!
I've added another warm background glaze and have begun adding darks near the face. Before I go any further, I want to check my values.
Removing all color from my photo helps me to analyze the values which will help me to make decisions as I continue.
I still have a long way to go on this portrait of my son, but I decided this was a good time to stop and see what the painting looks like in black and white. I'll explain how I remove color from a photo on my IPhone (hopefully you will be able to translate these steps to work on your own device.)
Once you've taken a photo of your painting-in-process on your mobile phone, select your photo in the Photos app, tap the Share icon, scroll down and tap Duplicate. This way you will preserve an original color version of your photograph. Now tap the Edit button in the top right corner. At the bottom of your screen be sure the Adjust icon is selected (It's the default selection on my phone and it looks like a dial with little white dots surrounding it). Just below your photograph you will see a row of adjustment tools; swipe across until you see the Saturation icon. Now all you have to do is swipe the slider bar until all color is removed. Tap Done. You can now assess your progress in black and white.
Note: I don't recommend the use of the Filter icon in your editing program (it looks like three overlapping circles). I've duplicated my photo three times and used the black and white filter settings to show you the difference. (See below.)
Noir
Silvertone
Mono
Color removed using the Saturation icon.
Do you see how different the above black and white images are? The first three do not represent the correct values in my painting. Only by removing the color with the Saturation bar do I get an accurate black and white image.
Now that I have a proper black and white image, I can evaluate my progress. A couple things become apparent to me immediately: The red cap is the same value as the background which I will want to change. Also, I don't want to go any darker than the hair next to the face (currently the darkest value).
I'll continue working on this piece, little by little, critiquing my progress along the way. Viewing my painting in miniature helps me to see the piece as a whole; and viewing it in black and white helps me make better value decisions as I move forward. This self-critique tip can be applied to any subject matter. Photographing my art throughout it's development is invaluable to me; I hope you find it helpful as well!
Paint. Love. Repeat.
|
|
Fresh from the Easel
A Time for Rest, 13" x 16" Original Watercolor Painting, Prints will be available soon.
|
|
NEW CLASS JUST ADDED!
Class fee: $200 for two days
Dates: Thursday and Friday, May 21-22, 2020
Time: 9 am - 3:30 pm each day
Where: Missouri Artists on Main, 321 S. Main, St Charles, Missouri
If you've been painting for awhile and still have trouble grasping the concept of negative painting, this watercolor workshop is for you! You will not be painting flowers and leaves or any "thing", instead you will learn to paint the space around the flowers and leaves, creating glowing blooms, foliage and layers of depth through multiple glazes. As you develop the skill of negative painting, you will practice seeing "shapes" instead of "things", learn to save your whites and lights without using masking fluid, and be able to create a full range of values in your paintings without "muddy" darks.
DAY 1
Negative painting is a difficult concept to master in that it is contrary to the way we naturally see things. You will learn exactly what negative painting is (and why it's a good skill to have) through explanations, examples, demonstrations, group exercises and practice.
DAY 2
The emphasis will be on skill development with more demonstrations and lots of painting practice with one-on-one assistance. Negative painting is a layered technique which requires drying time between glazes, so you may work on two or more paintings at once if desired. Paper will be provided.
*Some experience in watercolor is required.
*Class size limited to 6 students, with a minimum of 5 students needed to hold the class.
|
|
ONLY ONE SPOT LEFT!
Class fee: $200 for two days
Dates: Thursday and Friday, July 9-10, 2020
Time: 9 am - 3:30 pm each day
Where: Green Door Art Gallery, 21 N. Gore Ave., Webster Groves, Missouri
If you've been painting for awhile and still have trouble grasping the concept of negative painting, this watercolor workshop is for you! You will not be painting flowers and leaves or any "thing", instead you will learn to paint the space around the flowers and leaves, creating glowing blooms, foliage and layers of depth through multiple glazes. As you develop the skill of negative painting, you will practice seeing "shapes" instead of "things", learn to save your whites and lights without using masking fluid, and be able to create a full range of values in your paintings without "muddy" darks.
DAY 1
Negative painting is a difficult concept to master in that it is contrary to the way we naturally see things. You will learn exactly what negative painting is (and why it's a good skill to have) through explanations, examples, demonstrations, group exercises and practice.
DAY 2
The emphasis will be on skill development with more demonstrations and lots of painting practice with one-on-one assistance. Negative painting is a layered technique which requires drying time between glazes, so you may work on two or more paintings at once if desired. Paper will be provided.
*Some experience in watercolor is required.
*Class size limited to 10 students, with a minimum of 5 students needed to hold the class.
|
|
Class fee: $100
Date: Saturday, July 18, 2020
Time: 9 am - 4 pm
Where: Green Door Art Gallery, 21 N. Gore Ave., Webster Groves, Missouri
In this advanced**, all-day watercolor workshop, you will learn my process of planning and preparing an underpainting before painting your subject, moving into negative painting, and then adding finishing touches with positive shapes.
Techniques covered will include composition, using and combining your own photographs, glazing, color harmony, avoiding "mud," lost and found/hard and soft edges, and of course, positive and negative painting, with an emphasis on the latter.
*Class size limited to 10 students, with a minimum of 5 students needed to hold the class.
**NEGATIVE PAINTING for Watercolorists, SIMPLIFIED is a prerequisite for this class.
|
|
Thank you for reading my newsletter!
I'd love your feedback!
If you've found this information helpful, please share!
©2020 Janine Helton - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
|
