Category: Exercises

Ray Hendershot Exercise: Lighthouse #1

I have been absolutely stuck for the past few weeks. Every time I sit down to paint, nothing comes to mind. Nothing inspires me, I have no intention. But, just as an act of discipline, I paint anyway. The results are nothing to write about. It’s all very ugly, muddy, cliche… just nothing that I’m…… Continue reading Ray Hendershot Exercise: Lighthouse #1

Master Study: Michal Jasiewicz, Part 2

Michal Jasiewicz Me I went into excruciating detail about my proposed process for recreating this painting by Michal Jasiewicz in the previous post. Today, I’ll explain how I took the lessons I learned from that exercise to try the painting a few more times, and experiment with different options. This was my first attempt. A few…… Continue reading Master Study: Michal Jasiewicz, Part 2

Master Study: Michal Jasiewicz – Part 1

A user on Reddit posted this image, asking how the artist (Michal Jasiewicz) achieved the effect on the distant cliffs. I am not sure how he accomplished it exactly, but I posted this as my best guess. I don’t know how they did it, but here’s what I would try. Forgive the over explanation, I…… Continue reading Master Study: Michal Jasiewicz – Part 1

Ray Hendershot Exercise, Clapboard Siding: #1

This weekend I decided I would take my own advice, and paint from the book. I decided to paint from one of the books that I have because trying to learn from my own failures has been pretty discouraging. I’m only about a quarter of the way through Ray Hendershot’s “Texture Techniques for Winning Watercolors”…… Continue reading Ray Hendershot Exercise, Clapboard Siding: #1

Ray Hendershot Exercise: Birch Trees

Tonight, I painted the next exercise in Ray Hendershot’s book. I don’t know why Birch trees feel like a very trite subject to me – but they do. I think every painting of birch trees is essentially the same thing – masked off trunks with something colorful or dark behind them. I think Ray Hendershot…… Continue reading Ray Hendershot Exercise: Birch Trees

Ray Hendershot Exercise: Fully Foliated Trees

The next exercise in Ray Hendershot’s “Texture Techniques for Winning Watercolors” is to paint fully foliated trees. This exercise demonstrates what appears to be a great strength of the pedagogy in this book. The distant trees exercise is useful for this exercise, but it isn’t necessary. Because Mr. Hendershot encourages us to paint loose representations…… Continue reading Ray Hendershot Exercise: Fully Foliated Trees

Ray Hendershot Exercise: Distant Trees

I purchased a book by Ray Hendershot entitled “Texture Techniques for Winning Watercolors.” I appreciate how Mr. Hendershot manages to achieve the impression of a photorealistic image, but includes just enough Impressionism to give the composition a level of emotion that I feel photorealistic paintings often lack. (Steven Kozar does an excellent job of proving…… Continue reading Ray Hendershot Exercise: Distant Trees

Barn in Walhonding: Studies

I think I’ve learned my lesson by now… before I paint, I need to study my subject. And, what’s the point of doing all these studies if I don’t take the time to reflect on them to better evaluate what I’ve learned by doing them? That’s the purpose of this post – I want to…… Continue reading Barn in Walhonding: Studies

Saturation Notation, Tree Technique, Atmosphere, and Perspective

There are two big things I’m consistently disappointed in when I look at my landscapes: trees and atmosphere. Today, I set out to practice these. I grabbed some scrap paper (A.K.A. the back of a failed painting). I painted a very simple horizon and sky. The goal here was two-fold: practice painting atmosphere, and give…… Continue reading Saturation Notation, Tree Technique, Atmosphere, and Perspective