I am a professional Australian watercolor artist and tutor. I intend to use this Blog to put down in writing some of the things I have discovered about watercolour and to promote my work and activities as they develop. My work can be seen at my companion web site http://www.joecartwright.com.au/
Figure 1: Watercolor painting demonstration of boats and early morning rising mist
This is my latest watercolor demonstration painting which I have loaded onto my PaintingWithWatercolors wetsite.
The painting is titled "Rising Mist" and is of an early morning scene on San Diego harbor with the mist rising. It is based on a photo my wife took a number of years ago as she was sailing out of the harbor on the way down to Mexico.
The demonstration takes you from the initial photographic inspiration, through how to draw boats and objects into the light, the initial wet on wet under wash, how to create a mist effect with watercolor paint, painting boat details and finishing with how to paint the reflections on the water.
The above is a speeded up version of a Pen, Ink and Wash painting I did recently. I will probably post the real time version after I finish editing it.
I like to paint with pen and ink as it allows me to play with a full range of tones without getting too tight. Drawing directly onto my paper with the pen means I have to look before I draw and then just leave it and go on with the next line or wash - it makes for a freer and faster painting.
Pen, Wash and Ink complements watercolor as it is a very liquid medium but without the problems of potentially creating mud. I often have my students do some pen and ink work interspersed with their regular watercolor paintings. I also find it a great medium for travelling as the gear takes up very little space and can be set up quickly
Anyway this sped up version is a bit of fun which I thought you might like to have a look at. The actual time for this Pen, Ink and Wash street scene painting was about 60 minutes.
Sydney Harbor my latest watercolor painting project
This is my current watercolor painting project which I am working on to enter in the Sydney Royal Easter show in about 6 weeks. I have been thinking about how to tackle it for some time as it has way more detail in the scene than I normally like to put into my watercolor paintings. For the distance (North Sydney) across the harbor I will just paint over the pencil marks with a varied watercolor wash so as not to bring it forward - and so I don't go crazy with all the detail!
My photo reference was taken from the Island Shangri La Hotel, a big hotel at The Rocks, in Sydney, about two years ago.
I want this to be a sunset scene (sun sets on the left of the painting) so I can play up the lights and darks. I have not drawn in a lot of the detail on the Sydney Harbor Bridge as I will do the last of that directly with the watercolor.
The painting covers topics like the mixing of various greens with watercolor paint, tones and aerial perspective, as well as the use of foliage to direct the eye in a painting.
I have just finished posting my latest watercolor landscape painting demonstration. It is of the Grose river watercolor painting I posted a couple of weeks ago.
I have just finished my latest watercolor painting demonstration.
The painting is of a Venetian Canal and is based on a photo I took when I visited Venice for a couple of weeks last year. I never get tired about painting Venice, it is so full of history, atmosphere and texture that it is like a watercolor artist's paradise!
When I left Venice after my last trip I briefly had a thought that I may have finally done Venice, but within a few weeks I was already looking forward to my next painting holiday there.
Here is an image of the finished painting:
You can find the full demonstration on my Painting With Watercolors site at this address: Narrow Venice Canal.
I have just posted a new watercolor demonstration on my Painting with Watercolors site.
The demonstration is of sand dunes.
Please have a look if you are interested.
Here is the finished painting:
Watercolor Demonstration of Bridge Street, Melbourne
I have just posted a new watercolor demonstration on www.watercolordemos.com.
The demonstration is of Bridge Street, Melbourne set in the late afternoon, please have a look here if you are interested.
Joe
I have created a sister site to this blog which will focus on watercolor demonstrations and techniques.
It has been running for a few days and so far has two demonstrations loaded. I hope you find it useful!
The site url is www.watercolordemos.com
