October Mist ... A Step-by-Step Lesson

This is a small (12"x4") demo painting I did for my classes this week and below is the lesson I prepared for my students. If you are a painter, give it a try!

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This lesson involves creating a misty or foggy background by using a technique I learned from the book “Zoltan Szabo’s 70 Favorite Watercolor Techniques.”  The “fog” is created by flooding a wash of titanium white watercolor over the background. There are other ways to create fog, of course, but this is a useful technique which can also come in handy to “fix” paintings that don’t quite meet your expectations. 

A few general notes: 1) I used masking fluid to preserve the foliage at the top of the painting and a few leaves on the road, but you could easily paint around those shapes or blot them out if you don’t have masking fluid;  2) I use a hair dryer to speed up the process, but if you prefer, you can let the painting dry naturally between steps; 3) The specific colors I used were by M. Graham, including cobalt blue, burnt sienna, new gamboge, sap green, naphthol red, and burnt umber. However, you could substitute any similar colors you might have; 4)  I created the fog effect in Step 7 by covering the background with a wash of M. Graham Titanium White Watercolor.  Chinese white or zinc white will also work, but don’t use white gouache … it is too opaque and chalky. 

Step One …. Lightly draw the horizon line, the road, and a few trees. Use masking fluid to preserve the foliage at the top of the painting and a few leaves on the road.  Hint: I used a torn piece of soft sponge to mask the foliage. Dampen the sponge, dip it in a shallow puddle of masking fluid, and lightly tap it along the paper, turning it at various angles so you don’t get the same shape each time you tap. Dry the masking fluid before proceeding.

Step Two … Prepare separate puddles of medium-strong blue, yellow, orange and green. Wet the background above the horizon and drop in random strokes of the colors prepared.  Don’t over-mix; let the colors blend on the paper.  Don’t worry if they seem a little strong; they will dry lighter and they will also be toned down in Step Seven when we paint the fog. After the colors have blended, dry the painting. 

Step Three … Prepare light washes of blue/gray and brown/gray. (I used mixes of cobalt blue with burnt sienna and burnt umber). Working on dry paper, paint the lightest background trees.  Dry the painting.

Step Four …. Add a little more pigment to the washes in the previous step, and  paint more trees with darker values in front of the light trees.  Dry the painting.

Step Five …. Paint the foreground as follows: Wet the left side and drop in soft browns, oranges, greens, yellows, etc. to create the fallen leaves on the ground.  Use a tooth brush to spatter some darker colors into the wash while it is wet.  You can also sprinkle in a little bit of table salt for texture.   Wet the right side of the foreground and repeat the same process. (Optional:  I added a stone wall by dropping in darker grays and browns and scraping out the rock shapes with a piece of an old credit card.) Use some burnt sienna to define the fallen leaves along the edges of the road. Dry the painting.

Step Six … Wet the road and paint it with a graded wash of blue/gray, keeping it light in the distance and adding stronger color toward the bottom of the painting. Use a toothbrush to spatter in some darks to create texture. Dry the painting very thoroughly.

Step Seven …. This is where we create the fog. Note: It is a good idea to practice this technique on an old painting or on a scrap before you do it on your painting :) ) Prepare a wash of titanium white watercolor (NOT gouache!) that is about the consistency of light cream. Make sure to mix well so that there are no lumps of white pigment in the wash. Also, make sure you prepare enough white, since you make need to use two coats to get the effect of fog.  The amount you need depends on the size of your painting.  Mine was quite small (12”x4”). When your white is ready, gently wet the entire painting with a soft flat brush or mist it with a spray bottle.  Use a large flat brush to apply the white over the whole background and slightly into the top edges of the foreground. Use gentle strokes, and do not scrub, or the background colors will lift and combine with the white.  Use a dry paper towel or tissue to lightly blot the white along the bottom edge, where the foggy background meets the foreground.  At first the white will look really thick and opaque, but the background will gradually emerge as the white dries.  Dry the painting.

Step Eight: Use some rusty browns to lightly define the top edges of the foreground. Mix some medium-dark washes grays and browns and paint the foreground trees.  Add as much detail as you wish.  Mine was so small I didn’t add bark texture, etc. If you added a stone wall in Step Five, add shadows and details to the stones. 

Step Nine: Remove the masking fluid and paint the foliage at the top of the painting with various yellows, greens and rusts.  Paint the fallen leaves on the road the same way, and add tiny shadows below them to “set them down” Add as much detail as you want to the woods on both sides of the road, I.e. grasses, bushes, etc. That’s it! You are done. 

Finished paintings from October 12th Classes

As always, my two Thursday groups met at 9:00 and at 1:00.  

Here are some of the paintings they produced from the Dark Water Reflections class. This was a pretty tough subject and it included some unfamiliar techniques, along with some tricky timing issues.  All students get a big Congratulations from finished this one!

This one is by Eleanor

This is Helen's painting

Jerry painted this one

Here's Joan's Dark Water Reflections

This one is by Judy

And this one is Maggie's

Mary T.  did two versions

And finally this one was painted by Paulette. She chose a wider format.

Here are some more finished paintings from earlier classes and some that were done by individuals outside of class.

A painting from Carol Hawaiian vacation 

This is Carol's finished painting from the Mt. Desert Island class.

Helen also finished her painting of Bass Harbor Light from the Mt. Desert Island class.

This is Marguerite's finished work from the Mt. Desert Island session.

Carol also brought in another painting she did on her own from her Hawaiian vacation.

Dark Water Reflection ... Finished Student Paintings ...

Here are the Monday night student paintings for my "Dark Water Reflections" class ...  everyone worked from a step-by-step lesson I wrote, and I also did a demo during the session. No one finished during our three-hour class, but they all completed them on their own.  As always, they each had a slightly  different approach and got different results, but I think they are all great!

By Elizabeth, who originally requested this class

By Kathy ...  one of two versions she painted

By Kathy ...  one of two version she did

Marion's painting ... she chose to do a small format

This one is by Pat.

This one is Ralph's painting

Sandy K. Painted this one.

Catching Up on Some Student Paintings

I have been catching up on some student paintings from earlier classes. 

This is Sandy K's work from the Mt. Desert Island class ...
she really caught the light!

This is Jerry's painting from the Mt. Desert Island class

This is Kathy's painting from the Becker Skies class

Kathy did this gorgeous painting of an osprey on her own ... really nice!

This is Sandy K's painting from the Becker Skies class ... love the water!

"East Door" accepted in Audubon Artists Online Juried Show

I just learned that "East Door - Baltic Mills" was accepted into the Audubon Artists 75th Anniversary Annual Exhibition!

It is a huge honor for me to be included in this prestigious exhibition!

Normally held at the Salmagundi Club on 5th Avenue in Greenwich Village, the Audubon Artists exhibition this year is displayed online from October 1 - December 31, due to the Salmagundi Club's centennial celebration, which caused the art galleries to be unavailable. 

The online exhibition can be viewed at http://audubonartists.org/annual-exhibition-gallery/.

Student work from Monday night, October 2

On Monday night, everyone began working on the autumn reflections images.  All chose to do the lesson I created for "Dark Water" (see below), which I just finished on Monday afternoon. I will post their finished paintings next week.

Here are a couple from last week's Mt. Desert Island class

This one is by Elizabeth. The colors of the sky and water are perfect, and the details of the dead tree are wonderful. 

This one is by Sandy ...  the lighting on those foreground rocks is great, and she did a fabulous job on the sun.  

Below is my final version of "Dark Water", which I did at 22" x 9".  

The ones we did in class were the usual 12" x 9" size.

There were a lot of useful techniques in this class, including: 

• the use of a clear gel pen to mask the tiny white branches, 
• using a torn paper mask to define the edge of the foliage, which was then painted with a sponge
• using gum arabic in the reflection to extend drying time and using a fan brush to blur the image
• using M. Graham Titanium White watercolor to paint the reflections of the trees

Class work from Sept. 28

Thursday, Sept 28, our class focused on images from Mt. Desert Island in Maine. 

Next week we will be working on Autumn Reflections. Painting water reflections is always a challenge.  I have lots of reference photos, and as always, painters are welcome to bring their own. 

These paintings are from the morning group. 

This lovely sunset image was painted by Mary Jo. I think she had a little bit more to do. Nice job!
I especially like the sky and the foreground ledges.

This was a small study of Bass Harbor Light, painted by Joan.  She liked this practice painting better than her larger one.
I think she really captured the mood of the image in this one.

This is Dianne's finished painting from the Summer Woods class a few weeks ago. I like the light and the feeling of space she achieved.

These shots are from the Thursday afternoon group.

Helen and Marguerite are enjoying some of my home-made Peach Tiara Cake ... judging from the smiles, I think they liked it. :)

Helen's beginning of Bass Harbor Light ... she needs to finish the ledges and add shadows to the light house.

 Maggie chose to paint one of the many beautiful stone bridges found on Mt. Desert Island

 Marion also chose the Bass Harbor Light and got off to a great start

Paulette picked an early-evening view of a dead tree and a star-studded sky. 

This the the beginning of Marguerite's painting which featured a pond with a rocky shore. She lifted out the submerged rocks and will add shadows. 

And, finally, here are some completed paintings from earlier classes

 This is Carol's painting from the Summer Woods class. I suggested that she should add a little detail to the background.

 Carol did this one on her own ...  she liked the apples but thought that the leaves needed some work.  I think adding a few shadows would make the whole thing "pop"

 This is Paulette's finished piece from the Pen & Ink with Watercolor class ...

Marion used salt to great advantage to create the foreground texture in her painting from the Summer Woods class