Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 7

 

            I’ve spent at least twenty hours developing the composition, including value and color sketches, layouts and drawing the final composition in pencil before going to the painting.

I transferred the pencil drawing to 300 lb Arches watercolor paper. The size of the painting will be 24” by 18”. I always prepare the paper by first soaking it in water (in my bath tub) for about twenty minutes, then laying it on a towel for a few minutes. After that I staple it to a board and let it dry overnight.

            The sky is the first area to be worked on. I wanted to get a combination of yellow toward the right side and lower in the sky (where the sunlight is coming from) and blue. I wanted the yellow (new gamboge) to be most intense just above the background tree line and fade upward and toward the left. I mixed a dilute solution of new gamboge, enough to do the area. Since it would be easier for me to work from top to bottom, I turned the painting upside down in preparation for a graded wash. Then I wet down the entire sky area, from below the tree line to the top of the painting. With the painting turned upside down, I worked the new gamboge in wet in wet from below the tree line downward. As I moved downward I added more clear water to dilute the wash, eventually losing the yellow altogether. The wash was very light, so I did two more layers of new gamboge before I felt the color was the right strength. I was careful to make sure the paper was completely dry between layers.

Then, I turned the painting right side up and allowed it to dry thoroughly. After it was dry, I re-wet the sky area down into the yellow and, working wet in wet, did a graded wash of winsor blue into the yellow.           

The next step in the painting is the background trees. That will take more time. I’m not sure how much detail to put in. It is background, after all, and not a center of interest. So, it must look like a forested area but not draw much attention. The first thing I wanted to do here is establish the base color and then I’ll work in more suggestions of trees and ground later. Looking at my color sketch and my color swatch sheet (where I test color combinations) I mixed up a combination of winsor blue, new gamboge and permanent rose. This combination resulted in a gray but with a hint of violet. There are areas where there will be lighter values, such as mid ground trees, and the two thin tree trunks on the right, as well as the roof of the Mill. These areas should be covered with liquid masking. I wanted to preserve the bridge, the rest of the Mill and much of the hemlock tree on the right as well, even though they will be darker later. This just looks better to me and is a personal preference. So I masked these areas as well.

Once the masking fluid dried, I wet the entire area of the background trees up into the sky area. Then I washed in the violet gray wet in wet with a fan brush. The wet in wet allowed for a softer edge to the tops of the trees. On the right hand side I washed out the background color behind the trees, where the ground begins.

From here, I’ll start working on the background trees more.