The En Plein Air Zone with Eric Michaelsl

Back to Newsletter Home

View Past Issues:

How To

December 2011 Mike Neilson – Bold, Sensitive and Versitile

November 2011 Demonstration: “Brass With Blue Flow”

October 2011 Drawing Inside Out

September 2011 Composing and Decomposing

July 2011 A Different Perspective - Rusty Jones

June 2011 Fundamental Lesson Pt. 2

May 2011 Fundamental Lesson Pt. 1

April 2011 Too Loose Lautrec?

March 2011 Interconectedness

February 2011 Aerial Perspective Pt. 2

January 2011 Aerial Perspective

December 2010 Beyond the Boundries

September 2010 Painting the Plan

July & August 2010
"Trees" Part One - Part Two

June 2010 "Structures in Oil"

May 2010 "Structures"

April 2010 "One of a Kind"

March 2010 "Nocturnes"

February 2010 "Let it Snow"

January 2010 Sweet Mystery: Part Two

December 2009 Sweet Mystery: Part One

November 2009 Organizing Chaos

October 2009 Saving the Best for Last

September 2009 Letting the Paint Work for You

August 2009 Watercolor: Teaching the Unteachable

June 2009 "Sketchbooks"

April 2009 "East Meets West"

Feb 2009 “Establishing a Focal Point”

Jan 2009 “Craftsmanship”

Dec 2008 “Another Approach”

Nov 2008 “The Incidence of Angle”

Oct 2008 “Back to the Basics”

Sept 2008 “As Clear as Mud”

Aug 2008 “Compartmentalizing Your Washes”

June 2008 “Lemons to Lemonade”

May 2008 “Las Flores de la Mancha”

March 2008 “Narrative Painting”

Oct. & Nov 2010
Marketing for Artists
Part 1 Part 2

Art History

March 2010 "Nocturnes"

July 2008 “En Plein Air Painting – Then and Now”

Feb. 2008 “Harvey Dunn and Dean Cornwell – Some insights into their working methods”

Jan 2008 “The Golden Age of Illustration”

Watercolor – The Magical Mystery Tour

Happy New Year to everyone. It’s a new year, a clean slate with all those blank papers and canvases waiting to be filled with brand new ideas and creations. Think of the unlimited potential. It’s very exciting.

I thought I’d kick off the New Year with a tribute to the medium of watercolor, and include some examples from a few of my favorite practitioners.

Of all the mediums, watercolor is the most idiomatically unique. After all, the vehicle used to move the pigment is water. And, what is more “Zen”- like and quixotic than water? Its very nature conjures up images of rivulets, streams and rivers, meandering across uneven terrain, skirting obstacles, and seeking the path of least resistance.

Try grabbing a handful of water some time, and see what you come up with. It has a remarkable thirst for freedom, and resistance to containment. The beauty, and identity, of a stream lies in its continuous motion. A photograph of a stream is no more “stream” than a photo of a man running can be called “running”. We harness streams and rivers into utilitarian reservoirs, to be controlled and utilized for our needs. However, like penned “wild” horses, the containment strangles the water’s very nature, and its aesthetic beauty.

So what’s the point? Well, I feel that when an artist selects watercolor as his (or her) medium, they make it incumbent upon themselves to not only understand the very nature of their vehicle (water), but become “one” with it. Striving for less chokes the very spontaneity from a medium that craves to be a partner in the creative process.

Frankly, there’s nothing more boring than “stay within the lines” watercolors. They are the very antithesis of the nature of the medium. It’s like a wish to have all streams be straight, like canals. The beauty of watercolor lies in its capriciousness. It has a voice that needs to be heard in each painting.

A good watercolorist learns to give up his ego to the medium. He draws and plans, but, in the execution of the painting, he is prepared to allow the water to take him in directions that he could never have dreamed of. Only then does the watercolorist know that he is not the “Doer”, but merely and conduit for “That” which sources creation itself.

If you are thinking that relinquishing a measure of control to the unexpected can lead to disaster – you are right. Conversely, nothing of value has ever been accomplished without risk. The great watercolorist, Robert E. Wood once said that, “a watercolorist should paint at the very edge of his control.”

Watercolor will teach you all that you need to know about yourself. It is the idiomatic qualities of water that make the medium of watercolor the perfect vehicle for personal understanding. If you are a spontaneous individual, the medium will lead you to wonderful, unexpected results. If you are one of those folks that feel like they need total control, the medium will resist you at every turn, the magic won’t happen and the results will be disappointing.

You know from past articles and demonstrations, that I’m one of those watercolorists who prefers to jump in with both feet, and let the washes lead me around the painting. There is nothing so exciting, or daunting, than facing a big, beautiful, white sheet of watercolor paper. You know that once you jump in with that first stroke, the game’s afoot, and the tempo is urging you forward as you charge loads of water and paint into those first washes.

So what is this “tempo”?

The watercolorist must instinctively know how wet his paper is, at any stage, and just how much water and pigment is on his brush, and what the resulting stroke will look like. An area of the paper that is wet will continue to gradually dry until there is no moisture left. At any point during that drying time, the watercolorist can jump in with infinite combinations of water and pigment in his brush, and the results will vary equally. For example, when a brush is loaded with water and pigment, and is applied to saturated paper, the stoke will blossom and bloom and run. Conversely, a brushstroke of mostly pigment and little water, applied to a barely damp paper, will sit pretty tight with harder edges.

As you can see, the possibilities are endless. The watercolorist must instinctively know just how wet his paper is, what effect he wants and what it will take to achieve it. The response must be immediate, instinctive and not cerebral. The watercolorist who takes time to consider each result destroys the “tempo”.

At times, it’s a bit like walking a tight rope without a net. But, when the watercolorist has developed that sixth sense about the medium, he (or she) becomes a pure conduit for creative expression.

There is an ever-present danger that things could go out of control, and sometimes they do. However, when the artist subliminates his ego, and works in partnership with the medium, the results can be magical.

The journey is worth the risks.

I’m including a list of a few artists whose paintings embody the spirit and essence of the watercolor medium. I’ve included one example of each of their works. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but researching and studying their paintings can prove to be truly rewarding.