Painting Rivers from Source to Sea E-Book

Rob Dudley

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Rivers can be enchanting or exciting, but are always absorbing. They provide a myriad of painting opportunities and challenges for the artist. Focusing on watercolour - one of the most direct of mediums - this practical book explains how to paint a river and capture its life, light, movement, colour and interest. With over 200 colour images, Rob Dudley shares his methods, techniques and ideas to make this beautiful book a must-have for all landscape and en plein-air artists. It explains each stage of a painting; inspiration and focus, sketching and information gathering, planning and painting; and advises on how to paint water so that it captures the colour, shape and tone of light and reflections. It also looks at the various moods and characters of rivers - from the early streams and cascades through to strong, busy waterways and finally to the tidal estuary, where the river meets the sea, and instructs on how to bring a painting to life by including the features of a river - the boats, wildlife, people and bridges. Finished paintings, examples and step-by-step sequences are used throughout to support the detailed instruction. Beautifully illustrated with 233 colour images.

Leseprobe

Painting Rivers

FROM SOURCE TO SEA

ROB DUDLEY

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2018 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2018

© Rob Dudley 2018

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of thistext may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 360 8

DedicationFor RS and JG to whom I shall always be grateful, but especially with love to Siân.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 Getting Started

Chapter 2 Objectives, Composition and Design – an Approach

Chapter 3 The Colour of Water

Chapter 4 The Young River

Chapter 5 River Moods

Chapter 6 The Working River

Chapter 7 Bridges

Chapter 8 Wildlife

Chapter 9 The Estuary

Suppliers

Index

Introduction

I love painting. That might seem a rather bold statement, but I really do, I love it. A stretched sheet of watercolour paper sitting on an easel, with paints and brushes at the ready, thoroughly excites me and I can’t wait to get painting. Some of my earliest memories are of the paintings that I produced as a small child. I can still remember drawing a face at my junior school with so much care and attention to detail that I sacrificed a break, or ‘playtime’ as we used to call it, just so that I could finish blending a red and yellow crayon to create a ‘flesh’ like colour. Both my parents must have been aware of how interested I was in ‘art’ because soon after that, better-quality paper and pencils were made available at home, and it wasn’t even my birthday or Christmas. I was hooked and have been ever since.

Learning how to paint requires persistence and endeavour; it’s not easy, it takes commitment and hard work. Like anything of worth, it requires effort. The nearest analogy that I can think of when it comes to learning how to paint is in learning how to drive a car. The first time sitting in the driving seat can make it all seem rather daunting: mirrors, manoeuvres, learning which pedal does what and when, lane positioning, signals, rules of the road, hill starts, requirements of the highway code – and all this whilst the car is moving at speed! So much to learn, so much to take in, but slowly, with guidance and practice the biting point of the clutch becomes second nature, dropping down a gear when going up a hill is almost seamless, reversing into a parking bay no longer such a challenge, over time the learner becomes a driver. It’s similar when learning to paint: it also can appear to be rather daunting at the start when staring at a blank sheet of paper, with a handful of brushes and brand new tubes of watercolour paints unwrapped for the first time; what to do next? But with practice and effort, what in the beginning might have appeared to be almost impossible becomes more achievable. Washes become controllable, compositions balanced and techniques mastered. I believe that with the right instruction everyone can paint, and I hope this book points you in the right direction.

Why paint rivers? From the trickle of a stream at its source, slowly meandering through rich green water meadows, to wide expansive estuaries and then to the sea, rivers have so much to offer the artist. They are full of life, light, movement, colour and interest. I have painted riverscapes for many years, and I never tire of them; they sustain me and I feel comfortable beside them. Every visit seems to present a different set of painterly possibilities. The Thames, Wye, Severn or Dee might be considered ‘Landscapes’ with a capital ‘L’, attracting tourists from far and wide to visit and admire as I do. However, my interest also lies with the smaller, less well known, nameless rivers or streams, ‘lower-case’ landscapes if you will. These are nonetheless beautiful and inspiring and although, one might think, not as awe-inspiring as their grander cousins, they should not be overlooked.

Within the pages of this book, through paintings, explanations and step-by-steps, I have tried to share with you my approach to the painting of rivers in watercolour. I don’t pretend that I will have all the answers to all the questions when it comes to watercolour, but I hope that by describing my methods, techniques and ideas you will be encouraged to pick up your brushes and have a go.

Chapter 1

Getting Started

Watercolour is one of the simplest of media an artist can choose: it doesn’t require the strong-smelling solvents common to oil painting; it is more stable when dry than a pastel painting; it is immediate, fluid and fun. With just a few tubes of colour, brushes, palette, paper and water you are ready to paint.

But where to start? It’s no wonder that when confronted with racks of papers, dozens of colours and scores of brushes in various shapes and sizes, that many would be painters feel bewildered by the options available. So let’s take a look at the essential requirements for the watercolour painter: namely paper, paint and brushes.

The Stream near Modbury. Size: 42 × 25 cm (16½ × 10 inches).

PAPER

The choice of paper is often overlooked by those new to watercolour painting. How often have I heard from students when asked what paper are they using, ‘I don’t know; it’s just paper’? To the watercolour painter there is no such thing as ‘just paper’, its choice is crucial to the overall success or otherwise of a watercolour painting. Choose the right paper and certain effects are possible to achieve; choose the wrong paper and those desired effects might prove disappointing or even impossible. For instance, a paper with a smoother surface will tend to lend itself to a finer, more precise type of painting, whereas a rougher paper is often better suited to a looser style of watercolour.

The four qualities that artists consider when making their choice of paper on which to paint are: texture, weight, hardness, and whiteness or colour.

Texture

From left to right: Hot pressed, NOT and Rough papers. Note how the texture of the paper has a direct influence on the mark created.

Watercolour paper is manufactured in three different types of surface texture. The types are known as Hot Pressed (HP), Cold Pressed (NOT) and Rough, the classification decided upon by the surface texture, the ‘tooth’ as it is sometimes called. You might like to think of them simply as smooth, medium and rough. A smoother paper will prove easier to work on when producing a tighter, more detailed painting, whereas a rougher surface allows for a looser, more expressive style of brush stroke.