Art Tips From Artist Magazine Online Newsletter

THREE PROVEN TIPS FOR PAINTING RAIN

"Rain and wind are two of nature's gifts that can play 
a big role in setting up the mood or atmosphere of a 
landscape painting," says artist David Band. 

"They provide energy and are excellent for capturing 
a range of feelings, from the sometimes violent and 
ominous mood of a powerful storm to the mysterious, 
tranquil atmosphere left by the passing of a gentle 
rain shower."

The following tips will set you on your way to a deeper 
understanding of these aspects of nature's personality--
and how you can capture some of that personality on 
your painting surface.

* If you're using a wet-into-wet watercolor technique, 
you can control the angle of the rainfall by tilting 
your drawing board in whatever direction you want the 
rain to move.

* When painting watercolor on a dry surface, you can 
introduce rain at any stage of your painting's 
development by using a flat brush or a sponge with a 
little water to lift pigment from the clouds. Simply 
start with your brush or sponge on the clouds and 
remove color with a downward motion. Continue this 
until the shape of the rainfall looks right, then 
strengthen it with as many washes or layers of color 
as necessary.

* The angle of the rainfall is affected by the wind. 
So anything that can be moved by the wind should be 
moving in the same direction as the blowing rain.


For more tips on painting wind and rain, and a step-by-
step demonstration, see "Harnessing the Elements" 
(Landscape Basics) on page 48 of the December 2000 issue 
of Artists Magazine.

DISCOVER THE 6 KEYS TO CHINESE PAINTING

Known for its simplicity and fluidity of line, 
traditional Chinese watercolors capture the essence of 
natural objects with a profound, unmatched beauty. Its 
unmistakable style is beautiful, but can be intimidating.

But Lian Quan Zhen, author of CHINESE PAINTING 
TECHNIQUES FOR EXQUISITE WATERCOLORS, 
assures us our Western watercolor methods can work 
with the methods of the East, for stunning results. 

What exactly is a Chinese painting? "It's mainly line 
art painted with a Chinese brush, ink and colors on 
rice paper or silk," he says. 

"Traditionally, Chinese artists define objects with 
lines rather than surfaces. They mainly use ink to 
paint. The idea of simplicity from both Taoism and 
Buddhism deeply influences artists who consider other 
pigments as secondary media that serve the purpose of 
perfecting the ink."

If you should want to try this fascinating technique, 
here are the 6 Keys to Chinese Painting that you should 
incorporate into your work:

1. Vitality resonates from a painting. This means 
that your painting should carry lively forces that 
touch viewers.

2. Use brushstrokes that are confident, strong and 
elastic, also called bone manner brushstrokes. They 
should resemble bones--not necessarily uniform, but 
strong in texture.

3. Capture the forms of nature's objects. In other 
words, you should sketch nature with the intent to 
capture its form and spirits.

4. Apply colors according to each object's category. 
When painting a group of trees, there is no need 
to differentiate each tree's color. Paint all of 
them using one color, such as green or yellow.

5. Properly place the objects. A great painting has 
a well-organized composition.

6. Transfer masters' techniques. Learn from the 
masters by copying and analyzing their artwork. As 
a result, you'll learn a variety of techniques and 
theories that you can develop into your own.

If you would like to learn more about CHINESE PAINTING 
TECHNIQUES FOR EXQUISITE WATERCOLORS, visit 
http://www.artistsnetwork.com/nlbooks/display.asp?id=1747

NEGATIVE PAINTING--A FRESH APPROACH FOR WATERCOLORS

Negative painting, the process of painting around an 
object to make it stand out in your composition, is a 
unique process for opening doors to better and easier 
expression in your paintings. 

You may think it requires some sort of optical gymnastics, 
but you probably do it all the time and don't even realize 
it, says Gordon MacKenzie, author of The Watercolorist's 
Essential Notebook. Every time you paint something dark 
behind something lighter, you're negative painting. 

Here Gordon gives you some helpful tips to remember 
when negative painting:

* Apply negative painting in stages, allowing the paint 
to dry in between stages. With each successive layer, 
you'll add new shapes and values to your work.

* The color you use to paint around a shape will be the 
underlying color of the next shape you define in the 
background.

* You can lightly pencil in shapes so you don't get lost 
in the process.

* Go at your own speed. There's no need to rush except 
when you might want to pull off (fade out) an edge 
before it dries.

* Use negative painting at any stage of a work. You can 
begin your painting by saving (painting around) 
important white areas, or use negative painting later 
on top of a previously painted passage.

* How far you extend the paint beyond the shape you're 
saving is up to you. It could go a small distance or 
fill the remainder of the paper.

* Negative painting will give your work a fresh, 
spontaneous look that is hard to achieve with masking.

For more information about The Watercolorist's Essential 
Notebook, visit 
http://www.artistsnetwork.com/nlbooks/display.asp?id=1668







This page was last updated on January 11, 2001