At first glance wet into wet paintings appear to be an easy way to paint.  One should just wet the paper and drop paint into it, watch it spread and have a beautiful painting.

Hold on, hold on! As with most everything it is not as simple as it appears.  Ask yourself these questions before you begin your painting:

Have you decided which paints to use?

Do they complement each other?

When they come together on the wet paper, what color will they make?

My students were amazed at how much paint it takes to make a bright sky.  When they put the paint down, it seemed they had added too much, but as it spread and dried there was hardly any paint color left.

The way I prepared for this class was to paint a chart of the colors I thought would make this painting beautiful.  I charted pinks and reds, yellows and greens.  Before hand I had also determined if all the paint was transparent. This was determined by drawing a line down the middle of a piece of watercolor paper and painting each paint color over it. Wanting to be sure how the paints would look when glazed, I then painted another chart. When we were ready for class, I knew which colors to recommend and why.

All of this and my students haven’t arrived for the workshop yet!

After discussing the charts and how I determined which colors would work  best and why, we settled down to start the wet into wet process.

So, another round of questions came up -

How much water do I need to put on the paper?

Should my brush be dripping wet?

How much paint do I need on my brush?

These are questions I will answer in the next blog post.  Be sure to check back for these important answers.

Until then, remember to “Honor Your Creative Spirit!”

Ellene

Ellene Breedlove Davis

Web site - http://ellenebreedlovedavis.com

Follow me on twitter - http://twitter.com/ellenebdavis

Friend me on facebook - http://facebook.com/ellenebdavis

For more art information listen as “The Landscape Artist Speaks” on Blog Talk Radio at 10am each Wednesday Morning.  http://ellenebreedlovedavisradio.com

“Can you tell me how you got to where you are with your work. I mean, my art is all over the place. I don’t know where to begin or when to finish. There’s no commonality in anything I am making. How do I make paintings like the ones that you do?” (Questions taken from Nancy Reyner’s “Painting Blog” January 8, 2010).

My answer to these question would be – you choose to be an artist for a lifetime! There are times when you would much rather be doing something else and not sit at that art show in the hot sun. But, you have chosen to be an artist.

How long will it take to paint a cohesive body of work? Do you have a subject that you are passionate about? Then paint a series of work that accentuates this passion. Set a number for the amount of paintings you will paint for the series, when the series is finished, you will have a much clearer picture of what and how you want to be known for.

Practice makes perfect and your art is no exception. After deciding on the type painting to paint for the series, the number of paintings in the series, then the hard part begins.

How much experience do you have in the type painting that you have selected? If it’s not much, then your time will be longer. Practice, practice, practice. Even tho I’ve painted for 30+ years, if I decide to paint something in a style that I haven’t perfected, it takes many hours of practice before I feel I have mastered the techniques such as the way to hold my brush, or lay down the colors and on which ground do I want to paint this picture.

I have always been a landscape artist, but I’ve grown in that I started with oils, when I was called away from my easel for a while, due to the illness of my daughter, I didn’t want to paint with just oils anymore. While I wasn’t painting I read watercolor and pastel books and learned that other mediums offered beautiful ways to express my creative spirit also.

But, when I was back at the easel, there was much practice that had to be done and I accumulated quite a stack of used watercolor and pastel paper before I had a painting that was good enough to exhibit.

If you have chosen to become an artist, I invite you to download “Choosing To Be An Artist – For A Lifetime”, the first chapter is an interview with an artist that has been an artist for a lifetime. I think you will enjoy this Special Report and gain insight and encouragement for your artistic journey.

Ellene
http://ElleneBreedloveDavis.com
http://ElleneBreedloveDavisRadio.com
http://facebook.com/ElleneBDavis
http://twitter.com/ElleneBDavis

Painting with only a single color wash makes a clear color. But, a single wash does not make the brilliant color wanted, in most cases.

1. Use transparent colors near each other on the color wheel.

2. Use a soft brush and gentle hand to apply the paint.

3. Glaze to add brilliance, in the shadows, texture and depth of paintings.

4. When we glaze we add another color over the dried, first color, which gives a greater richness or glow than one color alone.

5. Adding glaze to a shadow impacts the way light and dark play against each other.

6. Glazing helps to emphasize the contrast between light and dark.

7. At times you may place as many as 6 glazes to get the effect you want.

8. Glaze can be applied warm transparent color over warm transparent color, or cool transparent color over cool transparent color.

9. Another way is to lay down the warm color first and lay the cool color over it.
Glazing can bring wonderful effects to oil paintings or watercolor paintings. The technique for glazing oils is just a bit different.

10. Especially in watercolors, only go over the area once. This needs to be very dry before applying the next color.

11. In her book”Building Brilliant Watercolors, Judy D, Treman advises to apply reds last.
The reason being they go everywhere if a drop of water or wet brush happens to touch them. She also advises to paint reds with a single, smooth wash.

Glazing is a technique I frequently use and experiment with. I think it’s fun and effective.

Ellene
Ellene Breedlove Davis
P S To see my paintings click on http://ellenebreedlovedavis.com

There were 7 students (3 new) in class. These are often ladies that have known each other for a lifetime. They are serious about learning watercolor fundamentals! They do not take this workshop lightly.

The subject this month was a poppy. Everyone had a great picture, even the ones that had not painted before.

Would you like to learn to paint with watercolors? They are more forgiving than everyone thinks. In fact, several students made note of this when I was showing them that changes are relatively easy with watercolors.

Contact me,(just click the Contact button at the top of the blog) and tell me YOU want to learn to paint with watercolors.

“Honor Your Creative Spirit!”

Ellene
Ellene Breedlove Davis
http://ellenebreedlovedavis.com
http://ellenebreedlovedavisradio.com
http://twitter.com/ellenebdavis
http://facebook.com/ellenebdavis

These are some areas of variety could be described as variety of shape, variety of tone values, variety in edge shapes, variety in texture and a variety in graduation.

Each of these elements has a rhythmic quality of its own and it’s a long list.

The shape of variety is one of the most common things found in nature.

To give our paintings life and interest, try to draw a row of trees. All about the same height and the same distance apart, from your imagine.

Do you see how hard it is to get nature into them?

No matter how imaginative you may be, or how far you are able to go with design, there comes a time when it will be imperative that you study from nature.

To see how I use nature to inspire my paintings. Opt in to receive the Valle of Yellow Creek Art Studio E-Zine and receive a short report “Choosing To Be An Artist – For A Lifetime as a free gift to you from me. You will enjoy and learn more important art information in the E-Zine and Report. The E-Zine is published on the 1st and 3rd Saturday.

“Honor Your Creative Spirit!”

Ellene

P S Here are some ways to learn more art information.
My website - http://ellenebreedlovedavis.com
My twitter - http://twitter.com/ellenebdavis
My facebook - http://facebook.com/ellenebdavis
Blog Talk Radio - http://ellenebreedlovedavisradio.com

Please join me in any of these venues.

The combination of horizontal and vertical lines as in the Cross.  The Cross is a combination of lines that instantly rivets the attention, and probably has the most powerful effect upon the mind that could ever have been devised.

These lines and others help paintings have a natural appearance.  An emotional significance depending on some arrangement of abstract lines is to be found underlying the expression in every good painting, usually hidden by the artist.

Ellene

Ellene Breedlove Davis

http://ellenebreedlovedavis.com

http://ellenebreedlovedavisradio.com

http://twitter.com/ellenebdavis

http://facebook.com/ellenebdavis

Horizontal and vertical lines are very important in rectangular pictures, as they unite the composition to its boundary lines by their parallel relationship.

As a contrast to the richness and beauty of curves they are of great value and are often used for this purpose.

Horizontal lines create a feeling of calm and contemplation. An example would be the long line of the horizon on a calm day at sea.  This line gives us a sense of peace and rest, a touch of infinity that no other line can convey.

The vertical line creates a feeling of elevation.  Picture a pine tree and how it is typical of the sublime that we associate with the vertical in nature.  Churchs often use their spires to create this vertical feeling of line for their impressiveness.

Ellene

Ellene Breedlove Davis

http://ellenebreedlovedavis.com

http://ellenebreedlovedavisradio.com

P S Above the header you will find a button that states “So You Want To Be An Artist?” I invite you to click this button, register with your name and e-mail address and receive my gift for you.

This report “Choosing to Be An Artist For A Lifetime” is written to encourage you to be the best artist you can be.  The first chapter is an interview by a gallery owner and artist, who has spent her life painting, teaching and encouraging many artists in their art accomplishments.

There are two lines that have the least variation and they are the perfectly straight line and a circle. A perfectly straight line obviously has no variety at all. And, the circle, by curving at exactly the same ratio all around, has no variation of curvature.  It is of all curves the one with the least possible variety.

Line rhythm or music depends on the shape of your lines, their relation to each other and their relation to the edges (boundaries) of your paper or canvas. In all good work this music of line is in harmony with the subject (artistic intention) of your picture or drawing.

These two lines are the dullest and are not usually used in paintings except to enhance the beauty and variety of objects.

So if your lines aren’t perfectly straight and your circles aren’t  perfect, be glad, you have just added artistic music to your painting!

Ellene

Ellene Breedlove Davis

http://ellenebreedlovedavis.com

http://ellenebreedlovedavisradio.com

http://twitter.com/ellenebdavis

http://facebook.com/ellenebdavis

There are two methods of dividing this subject, two points of view from which the subject can be approached.

Number 1 is Unity and Number 2 is Variety.  These are qualities that we think of as being opposed to each other, such as harmony and contrast in the realm of color.

Unity is concerned with the relationship of all the parts to that oneness of conception that should control every detail of a work of art. All the profound qualites, the deeper emotional notes, are on the side of unity in the subject.

On the other hand variety holds the secrets of charm, vitality and the picturesque.  It is the “dither” of the play between the larger parts, that makes for life and character. Without variety there can be no life.

I invite you to click on the “So You Want To Be An Artist” button at the top of the page, this will take you to the page to  register for a free 18 page report – Choosing To Be An Artist – For a Lifetime.  Just enter your name and email and the report will be on its way to you. This also entitles you to receive the Valle of Yellow Creek Art Studio Blog E-Zine at no charge to you.  It is published on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month.  The E-Zine has lots of art related information.  I’d love to have you as a member!

You will want to read the interview of a gallery owner and artist. It’s interesting to see how she has remained faithful to her calling of being an art teacher and artist for a lifetime.

Ellene

Ellene Breedlove Davis

http://ellenebreedlovedavis.com

http://ellenebreedlovedavisradio.com

http://twitter.com/ellenebdavis

http://facebook.com/ellenebdavis

From 1906 until 1908 there was a Symbolist artist association in Moscow.  They emphasised color as a ‘tonal’ medium to construct rhythm in a painting and the elimination of shape and contour.  Their style was inspired by the Russian Impressionist, Viktor Borisov-Musayov.  The name of the group was “Blue Rose” and was derived from the poem Blue Flower by the poet Novalis.*

Vladimir Mayakovsky, the poet/critic said of the group in 1907, “The artists are in love with the music of color and line.

In our case, the word rhythm is used to indicate the power of lines, tones, colors and masses by the way they are arranged in a painting.

These are used as different notes and combinations as sound is used in music.  Just as in music, sounds appeal directly to our inner life.  It’s the same in our paintings. It is an abstract music of lines, tones, colors and masses.

The study of rhythm is a very interesting subject. It can be traced back to primitive man when we see the work he left behind.  We find deep feelings that moved him as he expressed his emotional life on painted walls and carved into stone.

Rhythm, line and mass are tools used as the basis of artistic expression. Without these tools it would be difficult to produce a painting without creating total calamity.

When we use these principles, we gain experience, and save ourselves needless frustration.

In every picture there is a structure of lines and masses.  This may not be obvious, at first, as they will be found in the basis of every painting.

We could view this structure of lines as boundaries of the masses, or that masses are the spaces between the lines. But however we look at it, there are emotional qualities similar to music that affect us in line arrangements , tone and mass arrangements.

Please continue to read the Valle of Yellow Creek Art Studio Blog as I bring this study of rhythm, line and mass and how to achieve it in fine art paintings.

Remember to “Honor Your Creative Spirit.”

Ellene

Ellene Breedlove Davis

http://ellenebreedlovedavis.com

P S  At the top of this blog is a button – so-you-want-to-be-an-artist, click there, register and receive an inspirational report that will encourage you on your journey of a lifetime.  Choosing To Be An Artist – For A Lifetime, will help you learn to set boundaries, keep your files in order and set up your supplies.

Take advantage of this report, it’s at no cost to you.  It’s my gift, I hope you download, read and enjoy it.  If there are questions or comments me please contact me at 678-528-7099 or yellowcreekart@aol.com

*Reference from “The Blue Rose:  Russian Symbolism in Art” by John E. Bowlt, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Rose_(art_group)”