BeckerArt FLOAT-YOUR-PIGMENT Newsletter Oct. 22nd, Soft Clouds

Published: Tue, 10/22/19

Hello

Welcome to the FLOAT-YOUR-PIGMENT Newsletter #230,

What a great workshop last weekend for the LaGrange Art League. Three days with a lot of assignments and loads of learning. I love when an art league signs me up for a workshop because you get artists from that area who already know a lot of the other artists and everyone has that art club in common.
If you belong to an art group and you are looking for a demonstrator or an instructor please give your club my name and email and I would gladly work something out with your club to come and teach.

My next official workshop is in Florida at the Villages... I will have a watercolor workshop and an acrylic workshop
See Info HERE

For all those of you that have been asking me where online can you get the Holbein Masking Pen...GO HERE

Yes to Class, at the Civic Center in Libertyville,Thursday, Oct. 24th 1pm to 3:30pm

Yes to Class at the BeckerArt Gallery in McHenry, Saturday, Oct. 26th 9:00 am to 11:30 am

Soft Edged Clouds

In many of my classes and workshops, I work extremely hard to have my students learn how to create a soft edge in watercolor. The first day or 2 days of my workshops I teach students to control their watercolor washes by having them work wet-into-wet.

The demo photo below has a beautiful sky with a lot of soft-edged clouds. The best way to handle a sky with soft-edged clouds is by painting them wet-into-wet. Learn to control an edge in a wet wash by adding more pigment if you want the pigment to stop floating away into the wet wash.

Follow along with the step by step painting demonstration below.

Photo was taken at Grand Marais, Minnesota at sunset.

I first pencil in the lines for most everything in the painting except the clouds. I work the cloud pencil lines so light that you can barely see them. If you pencil in the cloud lines too dark they will show up in the finished painting and flatten the look of the clouds with a hard edged line.

Next I wet the entire paper and I slowly work an area until that area is done and move on usually working left to right. I also do all the large washes first and then do the smaller more detailed washes on top of the large wash using more pigment and less water in the brush... let the water on the paper do the softening of the pigment that you apply on the wet-into-wet wash.

Then the dark washes go in and dark washes show details and many times have hard edges so you start them on dry paper. Work the image from back to front.

I keep on working forward with the detailed darks and adding more warm colors as coming forward in the image.

To finish off the painting I work back to front with all the small details. When doing the details take your time and make the details look exact and well drawn. I even use white paint at times if I didn't mask a detailed area of light in the beginning. Yes I use white, it is okay to use white just don't submit that piece to any exhibit were the rules don't allow white.

WORKSHOPS and DEMOS of 2020

WORKSHOP Village Art Center, W/C, Summerfield, Florida, Jan 13th and 14th, INFO HERE

WORKSHOP Village Art Center, Acrylic, Summerfield, Florida, Jan 15th and 16th, INFO HERE

PAINT PARTY Dunedin Fine Art Center, Dunedin, Florida, Jan 24th INFO TO COME

WORKSHOP Dunedin Fine Art Center, W/C, Dunedin, Florida, Jan 25th INFO TO COME

WORKSHOP Morris Watercolor Guild, W/C, Morris, IL., March 6th INFO TO COME

WORKSHOP Brevard Watercolor Society, W/C, Melbourne, Florida, March 15th-17th INFO HERE

WORKSHOP Lake Superior Watercolor Guild, W/C, Duluth, MN, March 26th- 28th INFO TO COME

WORKSHOP Dillman's, Lac Du Flambeau, W/C, Wisconsin, June 29th to July 2nd INFO TO COME

Product of the Week
Storage for your paint tubes

I have been looking for some storage bins or something to hold my watercolor tubes....will see if this works
Buy it here

Artist of the Week

Keene Wilson

I have never heard of this artist before but I just so happened upon his website and work and I love it!

BeckerArt Brushes

Click Here to Purchase BeckerArt Brushes

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For any other info please email me at david@davidrbecker.com