Brush Techniques : The Language Of Water Color (1947)

the language of paint has long been an effective way of communicating in this watercolor of a Florida scene Ogden pleischner gives us all its colorful details in the same language of paint Winslow Homer is interested in communicating to us a feeling of climate or mood in this portrait Richard Switzer tells us what an individual looks like gives an impression of her character George Gross here portrays human emotions and speaks bitter scorn of a political system an abstraction like this one by Karl canals can express a mood or give a pleasingly organized pattern of color and space as poetry our music does with sound and time this picture is the one you will see painted it will be done by Elliot O'Hara not as a finished work of art but as an example of how brush techniques help to speak the language of watercolor these are the tools employed in this age-old way of communicating the palette the container of water the brushes the tubes of pigment like the words in a dictionary or grammar these tools are useful only when you have learned how to employ them learn to use these tools and you may say interesting things and what you produce will be original if you have any strength of character here Mr O'Hara is beginning to interpret for us the scene before let us see how he uses the language of watercolor after sketching in essential parts of the scene he starts the sky area using a weak color filling the pores of the paper so stronger color won't stain it next before the first wash dries he adds color as needed no more water that would dilute the mixture to apply the color evenly he tips the board the water and paint run across the grain of the paper and the excess drains off at the bottom to do watercolor you must be able to make a smooth wash when this color has dulled but not dried the artist blocks out objects to be drawn in front of it using a knife held as if spreading butter these parts will be recolored later a special brush technique is employed to put in a gravelly surface a broad brush held rather flat and dragged rapidly across the rough grain of the paper ways that are good for showing sky or other broad surfaces may not be best for showing old wood for example the boards of the shed for this the artist picks up cadmium red from the pallet shapes the brush firmly and paints each perpendicular board by deliberately overlapping direct single brush strokes [Applause] the door is in shadow the bottom is left uneven to blend with a ragged top of dry grass that stands in front of it sometimes several identical areas are to be colored simultaneously for this a broad flat brush may be separated into desired sizes and with color applied to each part a space such as this window may be quickly and evenly filled there are other ways in which the brush and paint can speak simply and directly here is preparation for a descriptive stroke useful for anything with grain or long lines first crumple the brush into a lot of little brushes then get them all in the paint and now a look at the problem this tree has many small bare branches almost parallel but indiscriminate the crumpled brush at one stroke puts on many fine lines [Applause] the strands of telephone wires are done with a similar treatment with different color as this portion of the scene develops other brushes come into play a medium-sized round brush places boldly the tree trunk and various important branches either the tip or a smaller brush in force necessary detail character and refinement to smaller branches and twigs useless details are omitted in painting the areas of tall dry grass near the shed broad upward strokes of a flat brush pushed off raggedly at the top give all necessary character in detail to this portion of the scene [Applause] next the distant shoreline in contact with the sky the tip of the brush gives sufficient evenness to the shoreline the back of the brush leaves the uneven impression of bare trees and shrubs against the sky a little red indicates the jacket of the nearby a figure and also the color of distant buildings a foreground tree having small leaves with sky showing through calls for another technique rough brushstrokes describe this with more or less color according to whether the leaves are light or dark you smear the surface rather than paint it again the direct simple suggestion of branches in shadow if you go over this type of foliage too many times you will have only a solid disk lift a lollipop kind of tree this [Applause] tree has lush foliage a light side and the dark side you can paint the small branches and twigs with edgewise contact of a large flat brush instead of a stroke or you may stroke them in with a much smaller brush [Applause] for painting the trunk you may load one side of the brush with a light color for the sunny side and a dark color for the shaded side anything that can be done in one stroke is better than achieving an effect with a lot of little strokes with the same brush move diagonally you can make the branches [Applause] the same simple bold treatment and raised the idea of the shadows under the eve of the shared the shadow of the tree against the building an even greater shadow story receives the same broad direct treatment one large brush loaded with color lays in the shadow area of the car the wall and the building on the right and effectively silhouettes the car and the figure of the man back of it [Applause] now the tip of a small brush creates final effects of detail in the scene in nature essentials are often obscured in the total mass of detail the artist has exaggerated contrast here because his painting will be viewed in a weaker indoor light he has communicated simply and clearly the essentials of the scene through his skill in using the language of watercolor [Applause]