ArtinBrittany

How to Make a Tonal Scale.   A tonal scale is a really useful tool. It's simple to make and use and it's creation is a good visual exercise too. You can make it with any medium. Take a strip of white paper and divide it into five squares with no borders.  Number the squares 1,2,3,4 and 5. Square number 1 stays paper white. Fill in square 5 with solid black - or as dark as you can achieve with your medium of choice. Using squares 1 and 5 for reference use your visual judgement to find the mid tone between the two and fill in square 3. Using squares 1 and 3 for reference fill in square 2 with the tone that falls exactly between them. Repeat the process using squares 3 and 5 to complete square 4. Use a hole punch to make a hole in each square.

Paints. Pans, Tubes, Pencils….. Watercolours are basically ground pigment mixed with a binder, traditionally Gum Arabic - the gum from the Acacia tree, they come in many forms so let's take a look at the merits of the different formats -   QUALITY .Most manufacturers produce pigments in professional and student ranges. The professional colour will use superior quality pigment with less binder than the cheaper student range, which offers an economical alternative - ideal for beginners. WATERCOLOUR PANS and HALF PANS . These are small, usually plastic containers filled with a 'cake' of prepared dry pigment. The size of these pans is not standard across manufacturers but a half pan is roughly 19mm x 15mm x 8mm. These can be bought in convenient boxes with integral mixing palettes and room for storing a brush or two, brilliant for painting on the go and individual replacements can be purchased....

Understanding Watercolour Paper. An Overview of Terms. If you are new to water-colours one of the most baffling subjects is understanding the terms for different types of paper, often referred to as 'supports', and choosing the right one for you. You will need to consider the surface, weight, materials and format of the paper you choose - quite daunting when you just want to get painting! Commercially made water-colour papers are produced in three main surface types; ROUGH - this is pretty self explanatory, the surface of the paper is highly textured with plenty of 'tooth' which will grab applied pigment enabling you to create great textural effects. SMOOTH - also known as HOT PRESSED. This is a very smooth and even grained paper ideal for highly detailed fine work. NOT - or COLD PRESSED . This is the most popular watercolour paper. It has a gentle texture and suits a wide range of watercolour styles. The most common...

How to Stretch Watercolour Paper. Watercolour is often stretched to prevent ‘cockling’, a distortion of the paper due to uneven applications of water during painting. It is not always necessary - if you only use light washes or work on very heavy paper for instance. However, stretching your paper allows you to work wetter without the fear of a distorted surface. It’s a simple process but you need to allow plenty of drying time. You will need; - ·       A bath or large tray for soaking the paper. Clean and grease free. ·       Clean water! ·       Sturdy flat board (I use sealed MDF). Clean and grease free. ·       Large clean, grease free sponge. ·       Gummed parcel tape – the type you wet and stick. ·       A place to dry the stretched paper flat. Process. 1.     Soak your w...

At this time of year, before the early bulbs have opened, it’s easy to think that the outdoor world is bleak and colourless. However, there are some bright highlights to be found in gardens and hedgerows. The Witch Hazel, Hamamalis, is an unassuming tree for most of the year but now it’s branches explode with colourful blooms and is a perfect subject for artists who love colour. This fast and loose study is painted in watercolour and uses the ‘negative’ painting technique. Negative painting is where the space around objects (negative space) is painted rather than the object itself. In this example, the first stage was to drop some bright colour on to wet paper to produce the petal colours. When dry, a transparent wash of blue was applied to the negative areas, (all the areas that are not flower or stem). The crisp petal edges are achieved by keeping the paper dry in that area – the outer areas are pre-moistened with clear water to allow each wash to bleed out. Lay...

Colour theory is an essential reference for any artist. Most of us have a vague memory of colour wheels from our school days but apart from reminding us that yellow and blue make green, blue and red make violet, and red and yellow make orange, what use is it? First things first - the subtractive colour wheel is based on the three primary colours of red, yellow and blue. This is the colour wheel for painters and creators of things which are seen via reflected light. If all three primaries of this model come together you get, (in theory), black, (in practice mud!). Other colour models exist; you will likely be aware of the red, green, blue, additive colour wheel which works for projected light images, (on your computer for example). If these three light based colours come together they produce white light - think Dark Side of the Moon prisms! As painters we need be concerned only with the subtractive colour wheel. The theory states that from the three primary colours, (red, yello...