Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Watercolor: Wet and Dry

Here's a 4-minute video showing how I paint the snow pile behind the supermarket where I demonstrate more of the wet wash vs. dry brush techniques. (Link to YouTube)



The basic strategy is to combine both wet and dry passages in a single painting. I place the big wet washes first with a flat brush, and then add the drybrushed branches and small details second.

To prepare the brush tip for drybrush, I load the tip with plenty of pigment, pinch it to splay out the hairs, and test it to make sure most of the moisture is out of the brush.

Detail (about 1" wide and 3" tall in the final painting)
In the detailed slice above, you can see the variety of kinds of strokes, including some dragging of a brown colored pencil. A certain amount of randomness is more convincing than being overly methodical with each branch or twig.

You can also see that I use a little gouache at the top and the bottom of the snow pile.

Materials:
Paint is M. Graham gouache: Ultramarine, terra rosa, cadmium yellow lemon, and white.
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5 comments:

  1. nuumFebruary 20, 2019 at 11:27 AM


    I was reading

    http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/12/part-12-creation-of-dinotopia-book.html

    and that Turner Publishing sent you on a three-month-long book tour.

    ..."They put me on Good Morning America and Larry King Live and a lot of other TV shows.Which was funny, because I haven’t owned or watched a TV since the mid 1970s. So I had never watched those programs and didn’t know the celebrities."

    :):):):):):):)

    I don't know these lying faked celebrities either.

    And hear this from a TRUE worldwide celebrity like you, make this old post one of my favourites here in gurney journey.

    Here in Brazil there a "famous" rock band that has these "wonderful" lyrics in one of their songs : "My heroes have died from overdose..."

    What a sad generation, my friend.

    MY HERO don´t have a TV set, read National Geographic as a child and is a worldwide known Painting Master, Illustrator and Art teacher and has a beautiful family.

    Parents, turn off their TV sets.
    Buy Books for your children.

    Made them happy and smart.
    Thanks you, Master.

    God Bless you, Jeanette, the kids and Smooth.

    And keep far away from these "famous" people that is ruining America.

    By the way: Beautiful painting as always.

    Paulo (nuum)
    from Rio.

    ReplyDelete
  2. James GurneyFebruary 20, 2019 at 11:39 AM

    Paulo, thank you, sir. We still don't have a TV or cable, but we finally got internet at home, so there's every distraction available on YouTube. I have as hard a time as anyone staying away from it. We just got back from a LONG walk in the winter forest (there is still snow on my boots as I write this) and we never see the tracks of any other human back there. It's so beautiful back there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. nuumFebruary 20, 2019 at 11:57 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. nuumFebruary 20, 2019 at 11:59 AM

    God Bless You, James.

    A Nineteen century man teaching us now, in the 21st century, the art to be complex and simple at the same time.

    A True Man,
    A True Artist.
    A True Artisan.
    A True Hero.

    An American Diamond.

    ReplyDelete
  5. LynnwoodFebruary 22, 2019 at 12:55 PM

    So beautiful...

    ReplyDelete

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