I never thought that I was someone who was able to do art-didn’t have that “gift” and so admired everyone who did. But I love to try and to to learn new things. About six years ago I was given an opportunity to join a group of friends who painted in watercolor and to try it out. I learned that painting is another skill that anyone can study and learn, and I have come to love it! But I was not familiar at all with this planning process that you’re describing so this is very interesting to me. And I love the idea of taking a step back and doing more planning, and thinking about the process before beginning a painting. Thanks for these articles! I’m 74 years old, still learning, and still excited to be seeing how much more there is to learn. In the photo you provided, I see the challenges as getting the light in the right place, and as many have said, the reflections in the water to look like chill reflections. I love the scene, and think the boat will be a great addition.
Kathleen, just turned 74 myself. Sometimes I say, I’m an old person and a young painter. Yes, you got it right. Learning watercolor is a skill. I think of it as “deep play” , a term I learned from poet and novelist, Diane Ackerman.
Good for you for having the courage to take the risk to learn new stuff. I find making art one of the most satisfying things in my life. I , too, am a beginning watercolor painter. I look forward to seeing what you’re doing and connecting with each other on this site.
One challenge is to simplify the scene. I would group the trees into interesting shapes. All the greens need balancing with the right red for a boat ( or the person in the boat).
Also about the photo: the reflections seem to be the same color as the trees. But the color would need to be adjusted to say “I’m a reflection!” and I’m not sure how to do that.
In the photo at the end of your article, I would struggle with the still water reflections. I can do an OK job with rippled reflections but I suspect I’m settling for OK rather than really good.
And in reply to the ongoing discussion, I spend a lot of time thinking through things like pigment choices, the order I’ll paint not just washes but other elements, whether and how I’ll use wet on wet, wet on dry, dry bush, etc., what else I’ll use to apply the paint besides brushes. And more. I’m maybe an over thinker.
Your comment about settling for okay instead of really good raises an important question: what would make those reflections “really good”, for you?
I wouldn’t consider all that over-thinking. That’s just a pretty good list of things you’ll have to make decisions about at some point in your painting. (Thanks a for saving me some work for next time!) 😀 People take different approaches to how much they want to figure out before starting and how much they want to figure out as they go. Temperament, how often you’ve tackled the same challenges before, and what results you’re after all play a role. No one right or best way!
Making the reflections really good: at the moment I’m painting lots of small pieces (usually 5x7) for birthday and other greeting cards. So I can make squiggly lines to suggest reflections, and since the painting is small, it’s OK. But I do still aspire to somewhat larger paintings, and in those I want the reflections to capture something more of what they really look like. And something more than squiggles in the cards would be a good start. Or so I think!
“ ... even a few skills, knowing some fundamentals of visual art along with curiosity and a spirit of play has and will serve me well.” <---- this wisdom from Sylvia! ❤️
Not to worry. I didn't stay disheartened for long. I have been used to the opaque media process for planning a painting. When I considered it for longer, I realized some of the process that I used would still be useful for planning the composition. The “ all or nothing” perfectionist part of me thought I would have to learn far too many new watercolor skills/ techniques before doing my next watercolor painting. I remembered that reality for me is that even a few skills, knowing some fundamentals of visual art along with curiosity and a spirit of play has and will serve me well. I look forward to your next articles and learning and playing.
That process is good for learning techniques, but painting should be more spontaneous ... I usually take a small scrap and do a wet on wet triad blended blotch to see if my color choice fits ... do a quick basic sketch ... spend a few minutes THINKING through the steps I plan to take ... the THINKING through is so important
I like to be more spontaneous when I'm painting, too. I'm always a little wary of "should" when it comes to art—I think each artist has to decide for themselves what their art should be—but watercolor certainly forces you to be more flexible and not get too tied to a particular plan. The importance of thinking--yes! I agree! Before painting, and whenever watercolor decides to have a mind of its own and do something different than you planned. So many times, what watercolor does on its own is too good to pass up on, so a plan . . . and a willingness to be spontaneous and reconsider that plan when a happy accident occurs . . . is a great way to proceed in watercolor!
My first step in using a photograph is to edit it by bumping up the contrast (making the lights lighter and the darks darker), then I turn it into a black and white or monochromatic photo. At this point in your photo it is easy to see the meandering dark areas that lead your eye around the scene, the midtones, highlights and white, or high key areas. For me this is the easy part. Because I am new to this media, I find texture to be the biggest challenge.
That's a great description of how to use photo-editing tools to speed up the planning process. Thanks for sharing that! Good news if you find suggesting texture to be the biggest challenge: it's one of the easiest to pick up quickly and you can find a lot of ideas online for suggesting textures in watercolor. It will definitely come up in our examples, so hopefully soon you'll feel like you have more tools for dealing with that challenge.
Yes indeed, I just want to paint without all the planning. I have to snag a few minutes to paint whenever I can, so simple is best for me. I hope you do some more tutorials -- I learned so much from your guidance on postcard paint-alongs. Thank you!
Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that I can help you paint without planning. What I'm hoping to do is help you do the right kind of planning. If you're planning simple paintings, you can use super-simple planning that just takes a minute or two. Then you can use similar tools to work up to more complicated paintings, if you have time and interest. On the subject of more paint-alongs: Thanks for your kind words; I'm glad you found those postcard videos useful. Your comment happened to land after a flurry of similar ones, and tipped me over into "I really just need to be honest and clear about this", so I'm going to respond at more length than maybe you were looking for. Lucky you, dubious-sweepstakes-winner of the day! ;) I've tried to keep my business-related struggles to myself, but it feels more and more dishonest to leave the impression that maybe someday I'll get back to paint-alongs. I've tried to write a post explaining why not, but I'm struggling with how much to share. But I need to at least share the bottom line, which is that I won't be making any more paint-along tutorials. I am sorry to disappoint all of you who found me during the pandemic and got the impression that paint-alongs are "what I do". I fear a lot of people who found me back then have the impression that this more-recent stuff about designing your own paintings and finding your own style is a digression, but it's the other way around. So if anyone is just hanging around waiting for more paint-alongs, I have to be honest with you—not happening. (My feelings will not be hurt if anyone unsubcribes as a result. No reason our interests have to align for all eternity. :) )
So glad for this discussion and your teaching. I have begun doing some value studies before tackling my paintings with color, in an effort to see if I can plan my lights and darks more effectively. I’ve enjoyed it more than I anticipated, and found a certain freedom while painting these studies in one color. After doing a value study I am having better luck with contrast once I get to the actual painting. It’s hard for me sometimes to tell if the color I’m looking at is a mid tone or a dark.
I didn't tell the whole truth in this article. :) I quit using these studies, but I fairly quickly came back to them, because I also found them helpful for things like this. But it doesn't really do any good to just go through the motions if you don't have a purpose like this. And most people find their own reasons a little at a time, depending on how they work and what they are trying to do with their art. That said, I definitely agree this is one very good reason for doing value studies! Separating value and color is hard for everyone. Our perception of color and value are intertwined, and also heavily influenced by the surrounding values and colors. This is because of the adjustments our visual system makes to help us see things as essentially unchanged when the lighting changes. There's really no way to force our brains to turn off the connections between value, color and context, but to mix the right colors and values on our palettes, we need to learn to compensate for this quirk of our vision. Tools like value and color studies help us test what we think we're seeing, so we don't get fooled as easily once we're distracted by all the other things we have to think about while painting.
I have found it useful to determine composition, simplify shapes , do value studies, and connect areas with similar values and paint monochrome study before doing color watercolor. I look forward to considering, sharing and exploration of various ways to approach a watercolor painting.
It is as if you were in my “studio” yesterday! I was watching a video lesson on drawing and he spent at least an hour on value sketches, thumbnails, etc. I look forward to learn more about your approach and creative process. With all this info I can develop my own. I look forward to working on the assignment. I have several photos that I have attempted to paint without any success. Hoping this helps. Thanks, Lynne!
Synchronicity! I am in the process of doing the thumbnails, value studies, notans etc. to prep for a series of paintings of clouds in watercolor. Most of my experience has been working in opaque media; oils. As a fairly new watercolor painter, this post came just in time to show me how many more things I need to work out to make these paintings successfull. Dang, must admit I,m feeling a bit crushed now. However, I must thank you for this article. I look forward to the follow ups. This will be an interesting, challenging, learning opportunity. This helps me know why I can’t just jump in that pond and expect to swim.
Forgot to mention, if you’re new to planning a watercolor, you may find this video helpful: https://www.dragonflyspiritstudio.com/from-design-to-plan-painting-sequence/ It describes a sort of default painting sequence for painting a watercolor that often mostly works. It may need to be modified for a particular scene but at least gets you started.
Oh dear! I hoped you would feel liberated, or at least validated, not crushed! But good news for you, one of the best strategies I know for figuring out your painting sequence in watercolor actually involves doing a study in opaque media. You’ll be able to use your background in oils to help you plan your watercolors, so take heart. 🙂
I never thought that I was someone who was able to do art-didn’t have that “gift” and so admired everyone who did. But I love to try and to to learn new things. About six years ago I was given an opportunity to join a group of friends who painted in watercolor and to try it out. I learned that painting is another skill that anyone can study and learn, and I have come to love it! But I was not familiar at all with this planning process that you’re describing so this is very interesting to me. And I love the idea of taking a step back and doing more planning, and thinking about the process before beginning a painting. Thanks for these articles! I’m 74 years old, still learning, and still excited to be seeing how much more there is to learn. In the photo you provided, I see the challenges as getting the light in the right place, and as many have said, the reflections in the water to look like chill reflections. I love the scene, and think the boat will be a great addition.
Kathleen, just turned 74 myself. Sometimes I say, I’m an old person and a young painter. Yes, you got it right. Learning watercolor is a skill. I think of it as “deep play” , a term I learned from poet and novelist, Diane Ackerman.
Good for you for having the courage to take the risk to learn new stuff. I find making art one of the most satisfying things in my life. I , too, am a beginning watercolor painter. I look forward to seeing what you’re doing and connecting with each other on this site.
One challenge is to simplify the scene. I would group the trees into interesting shapes. All the greens need balancing with the right red for a boat ( or the person in the boat).
Also about the photo: the reflections seem to be the same color as the trees. But the color would need to be adjusted to say “I’m a reflection!” and I’m not sure how to do that.
And thanks for reminding me I need to share a few tips about how to see subtle color variations!
In the photo at the end of your article, I would struggle with the still water reflections. I can do an OK job with rippled reflections but I suspect I’m settling for OK rather than really good.
And in reply to the ongoing discussion, I spend a lot of time thinking through things like pigment choices, the order I’ll paint not just washes but other elements, whether and how I’ll use wet on wet, wet on dry, dry bush, etc., what else I’ll use to apply the paint besides brushes. And more. I’m maybe an over thinker.
Your comment about settling for okay instead of really good raises an important question: what would make those reflections “really good”, for you?
I wouldn’t consider all that over-thinking. That’s just a pretty good list of things you’ll have to make decisions about at some point in your painting. (Thanks a for saving me some work for next time!) 😀 People take different approaches to how much they want to figure out before starting and how much they want to figure out as they go. Temperament, how often you’ve tackled the same challenges before, and what results you’re after all play a role. No one right or best way!
Making the reflections really good: at the moment I’m painting lots of small pieces (usually 5x7) for birthday and other greeting cards. So I can make squiggly lines to suggest reflections, and since the painting is small, it’s OK. But I do still aspire to somewhat larger paintings, and in those I want the reflections to capture something more of what they really look like. And something more than squiggles in the cards would be a good start. Or so I think!
Sometimes I end up liking my studies better than the paintings. Internal editor much quieter in studies perhaps.
“ ... even a few skills, knowing some fundamentals of visual art along with curiosity and a spirit of play has and will serve me well.” <---- this wisdom from Sylvia! ❤️
Not to worry. I didn't stay disheartened for long. I have been used to the opaque media process for planning a painting. When I considered it for longer, I realized some of the process that I used would still be useful for planning the composition. The “ all or nothing” perfectionist part of me thought I would have to learn far too many new watercolor skills/ techniques before doing my next watercolor painting. I remembered that reality for me is that even a few skills, knowing some fundamentals of visual art along with curiosity and a spirit of play has and will serve me well. I look forward to your next articles and learning and playing.
That process is good for learning techniques, but painting should be more spontaneous ... I usually take a small scrap and do a wet on wet triad blended blotch to see if my color choice fits ... do a quick basic sketch ... spend a few minutes THINKING through the steps I plan to take ... the THINKING through is so important
I like to be more spontaneous when I'm painting, too. I'm always a little wary of "should" when it comes to art—I think each artist has to decide for themselves what their art should be—but watercolor certainly forces you to be more flexible and not get too tied to a particular plan. The importance of thinking--yes! I agree! Before painting, and whenever watercolor decides to have a mind of its own and do something different than you planned. So many times, what watercolor does on its own is too good to pass up on, so a plan . . . and a willingness to be spontaneous and reconsider that plan when a happy accident occurs . . . is a great way to proceed in watercolor!
Yes! That is WHY we like watercolor! It gives surprises and challenges that keep us on our toes! We do our best thinking, then wing it!
love winging it!
My first step in using a photograph is to edit it by bumping up the contrast (making the lights lighter and the darks darker), then I turn it into a black and white or monochromatic photo. At this point in your photo it is easy to see the meandering dark areas that lead your eye around the scene, the midtones, highlights and white, or high key areas. For me this is the easy part. Because I am new to this media, I find texture to be the biggest challenge.
That's a great description of how to use photo-editing tools to speed up the planning process. Thanks for sharing that! Good news if you find suggesting texture to be the biggest challenge: it's one of the easiest to pick up quickly and you can find a lot of ideas online for suggesting textures in watercolor. It will definitely come up in our examples, so hopefully soon you'll feel like you have more tools for dealing with that challenge.
Yes indeed, I just want to paint without all the planning. I have to snag a few minutes to paint whenever I can, so simple is best for me. I hope you do some more tutorials -- I learned so much from your guidance on postcard paint-alongs. Thank you!
Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that I can help you paint without planning. What I'm hoping to do is help you do the right kind of planning. If you're planning simple paintings, you can use super-simple planning that just takes a minute or two. Then you can use similar tools to work up to more complicated paintings, if you have time and interest. On the subject of more paint-alongs: Thanks for your kind words; I'm glad you found those postcard videos useful. Your comment happened to land after a flurry of similar ones, and tipped me over into "I really just need to be honest and clear about this", so I'm going to respond at more length than maybe you were looking for. Lucky you, dubious-sweepstakes-winner of the day! ;) I've tried to keep my business-related struggles to myself, but it feels more and more dishonest to leave the impression that maybe someday I'll get back to paint-alongs. I've tried to write a post explaining why not, but I'm struggling with how much to share. But I need to at least share the bottom line, which is that I won't be making any more paint-along tutorials. I am sorry to disappoint all of you who found me during the pandemic and got the impression that paint-alongs are "what I do". I fear a lot of people who found me back then have the impression that this more-recent stuff about designing your own paintings and finding your own style is a digression, but it's the other way around. So if anyone is just hanging around waiting for more paint-alongs, I have to be honest with you—not happening. (My feelings will not be hurt if anyone unsubcribes as a result. No reason our interests have to align for all eternity. :) )
Thanks Lynne for this inciteful view on watercolor planning. I look forward to the follow up.
For me, looking at the photo you provided, my biggest worry would be getting the water and reflection right.
That's one of the major challenges I see, too. We'll definitely need to find some strategies for figuring that out!
So glad for this discussion and your teaching. I have begun doing some value studies before tackling my paintings with color, in an effort to see if I can plan my lights and darks more effectively. I’ve enjoyed it more than I anticipated, and found a certain freedom while painting these studies in one color. After doing a value study I am having better luck with contrast once I get to the actual painting. It’s hard for me sometimes to tell if the color I’m looking at is a mid tone or a dark.
I didn't tell the whole truth in this article. :) I quit using these studies, but I fairly quickly came back to them, because I also found them helpful for things like this. But it doesn't really do any good to just go through the motions if you don't have a purpose like this. And most people find their own reasons a little at a time, depending on how they work and what they are trying to do with their art. That said, I definitely agree this is one very good reason for doing value studies! Separating value and color is hard for everyone. Our perception of color and value are intertwined, and also heavily influenced by the surrounding values and colors. This is because of the adjustments our visual system makes to help us see things as essentially unchanged when the lighting changes. There's really no way to force our brains to turn off the connections between value, color and context, but to mix the right colors and values on our palettes, we need to learn to compensate for this quirk of our vision. Tools like value and color studies help us test what we think we're seeing, so we don't get fooled as easily once we're distracted by all the other things we have to think about while painting.
This is a good idea. And thanks for relieving me of guilt over not doing studies!!
I have found it useful to determine composition, simplify shapes , do value studies, and connect areas with similar values and paint monochrome study before doing color watercolor. I look forward to considering, sharing and exploration of various ways to approach a watercolor painting.
It is as if you were in my “studio” yesterday! I was watching a video lesson on drawing and he spent at least an hour on value sketches, thumbnails, etc. I look forward to learn more about your approach and creative process. With all this info I can develop my own. I look forward to working on the assignment. I have several photos that I have attempted to paint without any success. Hoping this helps. Thanks, Lynne!
Synchronicity! I am in the process of doing the thumbnails, value studies, notans etc. to prep for a series of paintings of clouds in watercolor. Most of my experience has been working in opaque media; oils. As a fairly new watercolor painter, this post came just in time to show me how many more things I need to work out to make these paintings successfull. Dang, must admit I,m feeling a bit crushed now. However, I must thank you for this article. I look forward to the follow ups. This will be an interesting, challenging, learning opportunity. This helps me know why I can’t just jump in that pond and expect to swim.
Forgot to mention, if you’re new to planning a watercolor, you may find this video helpful: https://www.dragonflyspiritstudio.com/from-design-to-plan-painting-sequence/ It describes a sort of default painting sequence for painting a watercolor that often mostly works. It may need to be modified for a particular scene but at least gets you started.
Oh dear! I hoped you would feel liberated, or at least validated, not crushed! But good news for you, one of the best strategies I know for figuring out your painting sequence in watercolor actually involves doing a study in opaque media. You’ll be able to use your background in oils to help you plan your watercolors, so take heart. 🙂