Bonus Lessons

Bonus Lesson

Storefront with windows in old San Gimignano, Italy
This lesson shows a straight on view of a close up storefront with a window. Windows reflect as well as mysteriously allow an image from within to peek out. This lesson uses a layered approach. The cool colors of cobalt blue and permanent magenta are used to capture the cast shadows. Then the warm colors are layered over the cool colors to create the grays.

Karlyn draws this scene from the Placa in Athens, Greece to demonstrate two-point perspective. This is when parallel lines along the width and depth of an object meet at two points on the horizon.  Establishing the horizon line or eye level is the first thing that you must determine.  After you have figured out the horizon line, grab your HB pencil and begin your drawing.    To create the shadows, mix together cobalt blue and Windsor orange to make a gray.  Use more orange in the sunny areas and more blue in the shadow areas.  Use more water for a lighter gray and less water for a darker value.

The foliage has more vibrancy if you apply the yellows and blues and allow them to mix on the paper.  Place primary yellow first, then Quinacridone gold and finally the Antwerp blue.  Mixing Quinacridone Burnt Orange and Antwerp blue will make that dark green needed for the final details.  The sky area was wet first and then French Ultramarine blue was applied next to the buildings.

A subtle but very enriching understanding of controlling the warm and cool color temperatures found in our composition.

The subject stairs at a 17th century convent in Frayssinet, France.

This new lesson focuses on capturing the gray shadows, using a mixture of cobalt blue and Windsor orange. While this mixture is still wet, charge in pure warm and cool colors. This added enhancement is so exciting.

Areas in the sun should have a warm temperature and colors in the shade should have a cool temperature.

Painting waterfalls is a very exciting and actually a really fun subject. After much trial and error, I decided that painting everything that frames in the waterfalls is the best way to approach this subject. This lesson is about values and keeping the initial framing in very dark makes the waterfalls look light.
Draw your subject with an HB pencil on Arches 140# cold press paper. Using a palette knife, flick a fine spray where the water hits the base of the falls. Be very generous, these fine particles of mist and spray really make the finished painting sparkle. There are two ways to paint the rocks. The foreground rocks should be very precise. Wet the rocks in the foreground very carefully with water. Add a warm color, and then add a cool color in the bottom two thirds of the rock and let the colors mingle on the paper. I used Quinacridone burnt orange, followed by cobalt blue.
Place wax paper over the wet surface and let it remain until almost dry. When you remove the wax paper, adjust the textures and values so that the darkest value is on the bottom third of the rock. The middle of the rock should be mid tone and the top of the rock is the lightest area. Add more darks on the bottom of the rocks if necessary.
The rocks in the background should be misty and atmospheric looking. I wet the rock area in the background rocks beyond the actual rock area. Place a warm color down, followed by a cool color. Place a cut out wax paper shape of your rocks over this wet area. The area beyond the wax paper will just dry as a soft wet area. This will create rocks that look like they are in the atmospheric mist from the falls. Continue painting all the rocks that frame the falls. Remove the wax paper when dry.
Paint the background trees very soft and atmospheric. Mist the surface with water before you start painting the trees. Continue to soften the colors, leaving a few white dry shapes. Painting the trees frames in the water. You need the trees so you know where to paint the reflections in the water.
Paint the water on dry paper. This way, when you throw or dry brush the paint onto the surface, you will leave little white, random shapes that look like surf. The horizontal water is much darker than the falling water. The dark values in the water are created by the surrounding rocks and trees reflecting in the water. The falls are the lightest value, going all the way to the white of the paper.
When painting the falls, start with a mid- tone value at the top of the falls using a mixture of Quinacridone burnt orange and cobalt orange. Add pure water and tip the paper so gravity forces the water to fall downward. When the water reaches the bottom of the falls, lay the painting flat and immediately lift away the color with a tissue to create the misty part. Also add table salt to this misty area. When the painting dries, remove the masking and salt.
(My demo starts out on 140# cold press half sheet paper. The water part is done on a full sheet stretched over a wooden frame. The stretched paper will require a finish of either Dorlan’s wax medium or four coats of Acrylic spray with UV protection.)

Dried sunflowers.

Karlyn draws this composition from life on 140# cold press Arches paper.  This tutorial takes liberties with randomly adding QOR Cold Press gesso for texture.  This ground also functions as a glue when adding the Unryu and Ogura papers. After this surface dries, watercolor paint was added.

Bonus Lesson

Bonus Lesson

This underpainting was prepared by gluing down pieces of newspaper with YES Paste.  White gesso was applied with a small piece of mat board or an old credit card over the newspapers and in selected areas on the surface and allowed to dry.

Mix a sepia tone color using Quinacridone burnt orange and French Ultramarine blue.  Using a piece of mat board, add shapes of paint to form the windows and the large shapes.  Keep cutting the end of the mat board off so you always have a clean surface to work with.  Whenever you want a soft edge, spray water onto the surface and work over it with the mat board to soften the colors. Use the tip to make more precise shapes.  Last minute, I decided to add a red color accent to the umbrellas.

This scene was drawn on location in San Gimignano, Italy.  It took over an hour to draw but only a few minutes to scrape the color over the surface.  This “alla prima” approach adds a lot of life to the subject and does not look overworked.  Any combination of compliments would create a lovely gray to scratch over the linear shapes.

Choosing color compliments and color accents.

Limiting your colors to compliments can add more impact to your paintings.  This subject was drawn with my black Stadler pen in a small village in Tuscany.  Limiting the shadows to a green tone helped to simplify the already very gray subject.  Adding the red Vespa was an idea suggested to me by my co-teacher Pauline Hailwood from New Zealand.  I love motorcycles so adding this red Vespa really put the finishing color accent that this painting needed.

This motorcycle subject was drawn in a small village on a Northern Greek Island.  Pauline also told me about the black Stabilo watercolor pencil.  This small tool is always with me when I travel and paint.  You can paint in the gray shadows in minutes and then add the color over these shadows anytime.  The motorcycle had to be red for that added color accent.

Bonus Lesson

This lesson is a fun and free interpretation of the work created by our ancestors. My first introduction entering a prehistoric cave was an unforgettable experience. I hope to visit many more caves and keep inspired to paint interpretations of this subject.

Start your interpretation by wetting the paper on both sides. Paint the darkest colors mainly on the top and bottom of the picture plane and save the center for lighter colors. Tip the paper a lot to suggest the wet walls of the cave. Draw in the symbols for your composition with a watercolor pencil, a watercolor crayon or a small brush. Add wax paper, salt, stamping and color sanding.

Bonus Lesson