Student Work

by Peggy

by Nannette

by JoAnn

Lighthouse

I like the composition of the photo, but it looks like a gray day and I want to make the colors look more interesting.

I used somewhat diluted Ultramarine Blue for the sky.  I painted around everything except the tree on the left side.  Then I painted in the roof on the gable, the black parts of the lighthouse with a mixture of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna.  I used a lighter version of those two colors for the windows and a much lighter version for a few shadows on the lighthouse that are hard to see.  The grass is a mixture of sap green and yellow ochre.

I painted the big tree (maybe a few trees) first with sap green, and then with a darker version of sap green and ultramarine blue.  I made the brush strokes at an angle, and not too solid, so that it looks like a lot of branches.  I used the same colors for the little shrubs, and just the dark mixture for the smaller tree.  I used a brownish gray (Ultramarine blue and burnt sienna again) diluted for the stone foundation.  I kept it simpler and more colorful than the photo. 

Student Work - Rock Abstract

by Peggy

by JoAnn

by Nannette

also by Nannette

by Margaret

Rocks Abstract

This is another painting that came up when I asked for "Easy Abstracts to Copy".  I'm not going to copy it exactly, but it will be close, I think.

I'm not going to tone the whole paper with yellow like the original, I think it will look okay on a white background, and will be less complicated.  Start by drawing some large rocks.  They should be somewhat different shapes and sizes.

I wet each rock and added either two colors, or two values of the same color, and let them blend together.    I stuck to two blues, and two "browns".  Ultramarine blue, thalo blue, yellow ochre and burnt sienna.

I added some smaller rocks and painted them the same way.

So about now I'm wishing that I had made my big rocks a bit bigger so that I wouldn't need so many small rocks and pebbles to fill in the spaces.

I outlined ALL the rocks - yes, a bit tedious.  I almost decided to stop here, because I knew the next step would have the possibility of disaster.

In the original painting, it looked like the artist just spontaneously painted some vertical shapes to represent the fact that the rocks were under water.  I tend to end up with shaky curvy lines when I wing it, so I used a ruler and made them angled a bit in different directions, and different sizes.  I painted most of them with thinned down Ultramarine Blue, but I also did one in Thalo Blue and a couple in Yellow Ochre.  The artist also had some thin vertical lines.  I didn't think the painting needed it, but I may go in later and use some ultra-thin gel pens in blue or brown to make some thin lines.  Or maybe not.  If I do, it will be tomorrow and I wanted to get this posted tonight.  Happy painting!

I decided to add the thin lines, but my colored micron  pens were all dried out, so I used watercolor pencil which didn't have the effect I was looking for. 

Student Work - Swans

by JoAnn

by Peggy

by Nannette

Colorful Swan Abstract

Yes, this is someone's painting, something I don't usually like to use as a reference.  It came from a Pinterest topic called "Easy Abstracts To Copy", so I am guessing it's okay to use it.  I liked the shapes and the colors.  You might notice that the swans don't actually have any bodies, just necks. 

The drawing is probably the hardest part.  Getting the swans to overlap and fill the page.  Depending on the size and shape of your paper, you may have to adjust your drawing to fit right.  Take it slow.

I wet the swan except for the beak part, and then painted it a little more than half way, and let the color spread and fade.  I did this for all the necks, using pretty close to the colors of the original.  You can change the colors if you wish. 

Here is what it looked like with all the necks painted. 

After all the necks dry, paint in the beaks and then the background.  I used Ultramarine blue with a little b. sienna to darken it for the background.  Have fun!

Student Work - Breaking Wave

By Nannette

By Peggy

By JoAnn

Breaking Wave

Surprise!  We are still at the beach!  This is a photo of a breaking wave.  I found it on Pixabay.com, where I find a lot of free use photos.

To start with, just draw the horizon line - use a ruler; and an irregular line where the wet sand/foam will go.

Paint in the sky.  You can put tape under it and run your fingernail or a spoon over the tape to make sure it sticks well.  The danger is that the paint could leak through and you won't have that nice straight line, or it could tear the paper.   If you trust your paper, it works really well though.  If you think it will tear, just paint it carefully.
 I used Thalo Blue (Pthalo for some brands; Intense blue for others).  Ultramarine will work too. 

I drew in the white breaker with a blue watercolor pencil, because if I paint over it, it will disappear somewhat.  If you don't have one, use a regular pencil, but very lightly so it won't show.

Use a darker version of the Thalo blue for the water.  You could also use Ultramarine, or even a green might work, but Thalo looks more like the photo color.  Make make it look ragged on the edges to look like spray.

Mix the blue with some burnt sienna to make a brownish green for the "holes" in the foam.  Be sure to make the holes different sizes and shapes.

Use very light blues to make shadows in the white breaker, with some darker spots near the bottom.  You can "tickle" the watercolor pencil lines if they are too obvious, and then blot it with a paper towel.

This could be the finish, or you can add some white acrylic paint for splatter (see below)

This is how it looks with some white paint splatter.  (If you use white acrylic like I did, be sure to clean your brush thoroughly before it dries so you don't ruin your brush)