Contrast of Value

In watercolor painting, one must attend to contrast of value. One method involves making thumbnail sketches using only dark, light, and medium values. A classmate suggested I abandon the original image and paint from the simple thumbnail. Here are a couple of studies made that way.

Landscape study based on a photo of a fishing hut in Norway

The broken flashlight is a metaphor for "squatting" in an unoccupied house. Paintbrush, etc. stand for "home."

This exercise began as a photo from an old calendar -- it could use a great deal more value contrast...

Fall Term Collages

Still archiving exercises from Fall term watercolor class:

More Saturation

This past term's watercolor class included experimenting with saturation. The three paintings depicting toys prompted my teacher to suggest more robust palette choices and less controlled mark-making. The leaf and berry painting (below) represents one attempt to abandon timidity.