The Indoor Artist by Linda Birch

Author:Linda Birch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2014-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

View from the Window

15 × 23 cm (6 × 9 in)

This is a completed wash and line painting of the view from a window, using tracing and squaring up. I enlarged the painting by half as much again. I worked in brown ink to emphasize the linear quality I felt the composition required and added a tree and some ducks to balance the composition.

PAINTING SKIES

If no other view from your window appeals, paint the sky. Be sure to keep the horizon low so that the sky is the subject rather than the backdrop – though recording skies will be immensely useful for many other paintings as well. John Constable (1776–1837), the great English landscape painter, devoted a great deal of attention to studies of skies. These became vital parts of the masterpieces he subsequently painted, although the paintings he did of skies alone are magnificent.

Study the sky through changes of weather and time of day. Keep a painting diary where you record and experiment. Painting a variety of skies will help lodge them in your visual memory for use later on.

Skies are fleeting things and demand a fast approach. Keep a sketchbook of watercolour paper and paints near the window so that you can be ready when the moment comes. Paint quickly, throwing caution to the winds in order to get down what you see in front of you. Often this will give a truer record of what the eye sees than a painting that is more thought through.

Your choice of colours will be your own, but these are a few points in relation to skies that you may find useful.

Sunny skies

When the sun is out the light is warm, so make your clouds ivory rather than leaving white paper when working with watercolour. If the light is warm, the shadows are cool. Try putting Cobalt Blue or French Ultramarine with Burnt Sienna into your cloud shadows.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.