Watercolor Painting: A Comprehensive Approach to Mastering the Medium by Tom Hoffmann Read Free Book Online

layer is a collection of pale, warm, neutral strokes. The whites that are reserved between those strokes make a similar abstract pattern. I was able to identify where the strokes would occur, how many there would be, and what kinds of marks would be appropriate by asking very general questions about proportion, distribution, and pattern. Beforepainting this stage, I asked myself: What percentage of the page is white? What is the fundamental orientation of the whites? Horizontal? Vertical? Diagonal? Do the whites occur in predictable locations?
    The answers to these questions provided basic guidelines that were not overly specific. I knew, roughly speaking, that the whites would make up a little less than half the page, that they would mainly be horizontal and vertical lines, and that they would correspond to the upward- and right-facing edges of shapes. As long as these general requirements were met, I could stay abstract and progress gradually from general to specific information.
    By themselves, the pale, first-layer washes do very little to create an effective illusion of light or space or substance. They are very general, like the rough outline of a piece of writing—mostly nouns, a couple of verbs, and no adjectives. Because these shapes will be partly covered by increasingly descriptive layers, they can often be applied quickly and casually.
    Identify the lights and add the first layer.
At this stage of the study, it is not necessary to be concerned with content. To keep from getting specific prematurely, trust that the middle values and dark layers will provide all the meaning.
    Add the middle values.
More care is needed at this point to locate the strokes, but it is still not necessary to describe specific forms. We need to know where the middle values go, but we don’t need to know precisely what they are.
    The second layer, as seen at left, is also a pattern of strokes guided by the same sort of general question I asked previously. These cool neutrals cover about 20 percent of the page, and occur below the whites and along the left side of the light strokes. Can you see the pattern that determines where the warm strokes were touched into the larger cools? On a sunny day, the downward-facing surfaces of light-colored objects catch reflected sunlight and appear noticeably warmer than the surfaces that face up or out.
    By the time I had completed the image at right, much of the complexity of the scene that had made it initially intimidating had been distilled down to three loosely applied layers. Yet, there is a sense of light and space, which is essential. At this point in the process I could have called the painting finished, or I could have kept adding ever more specific information. The door was open.
    Apply the darks.
The relatively few darks should be more carefully located than the first two layers. They describe openings and deep recesses, which need to be in specific places.
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    TOM HOFFMANN, CATEDRAL METROPOLITANA DE OAXACA, 2011
WATERCOLOR ON ARCHES HOT PRESS PAPER
11 × 7½ INCHES (28 × 19 CM)

TORGEIR SCHJØLBERG, FJØSVEGG, 2005
WATERCOLOR ON PAPER
15¾ × 21¾ INCHES (40 × 55 CM)
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    Simplicity of treatment in this Norwegian landscape is essential to the overall feeling of stillness. Looking at one major shape at a time, it becomes clear that there are no more than three layers in any area. The roof, for example, started out as a very pale rectangle (light). The shadow above the bottom edge was a second layer (middle), and the edge itself was the third (dark). Count the layers that make up the small house in the background: roof, siding, windows.

    How manylayers will it take to tell the story? Theoretically, there is no limit to the number of layers of watercolor paint you can put one on top of another and still observe a cumulative effect. Since each thin layer is transparent, the preceding layers will be at least partly visible, even if the paper has long since been completely obscured.