Urban Sketching Redux

This is a sketch of another famous eatery: Philippe's - Home of the French Dipped Sandwich. It has been there for many years and hasn't changed one bit. The food is fantastic and the parking is free.

I have sketched and painted this scene many times and in many different ways: pen and ink; watercolor with pencil; pen with watercolor; I have mounted a version to a hard board panel, done it in mixed media and painted it as a demonstration for the workshops I teach. I really enjoy the image because it has a lot of texture, it is gritty and full of stuff, it has good darks and lights and it has a lot of colorful signage.

This version was completed last week and is my new favorite. This is slightly ironic because I had done it as a demo last year for the Learning and Product Expo here in Pasadena and was unable to complete it during the class time, so I filed it away. It was an acceptable painting at the time and had done a good job of illustrating my teaching lesson but finding it again and looking at it with fresh eyes, I found it lacking. I decided to try to fix it. What did I have to lose right?

I had done it as a pen and ink sketch on Arches hot press watercolor paper. I liked the original line work and the initial wash of color was not so strong as to prevent me from adding more, so I tackled it with fresh eyes and renewed enthusiasm. (I find that easier to do with a painting that has seasoned for a while; I am not so worried that I am going to ruin it so I am very relaxed and feel free to take more chances.)

I started by redrawing it with my Sanford Uniball Micro pen. (Please note that the pen acts very differently drawing over painted areas.) Looking back at my original reference photo I noticed that I had mis-drawn the awning, so I just drew it again, correctly this time, ignoring the painted awning underneath. I also drew in a third vehicle and left it unpainted as well, giving the painting a very casual sketchy feeling. I added some narrative copy along the bottom edge and made a few color notes right on the painting.

As the original was lacking in color and contrast, I enhanced the darks, but I did it with color: the shadows are a mixture of blue, red and burnt umber. I exaggerated the color shifts: look at the phone pole - it is dark at the top and very light at the bottom. I also boosted the colors and white paint in the signage. Finally, I painted a stormy sky and put some loose reflections in the foreground to suggest a rainy afternoon.

What started as an average painting is now something I like very much. I encourage you to dig through some of your earlier mediocre pieces and see if you can improve them.

Little Abstract Landscapes

Here is an interesting exercise you can try: paint a series of non-objective abstract studies on a single sheet of paper, all at the same time. I discovered this by accident. I was commissioned to do a watercolor landscape of no place in particular and I didn't know quite where to start. So I took a full sheet of 140# Fabriano cold press paper and divided it up into squares. I used 1/2 white tape to make clean a clean edge between images.

Then, without planning anything or having a pre-conceived idea of what I wanted, I started laying down color. I painted large areas of solid color, small shapes, wet paint on dry paper, colors mixing on wet paper, gradated washes, everything. I painted all of the squares, one after the other, all at once, without stopping to evaluate or ponder. I was bold with color, and bold with mixing unusual and illogical colors. I was free to paint like a child who doesn't know all the rules he isn't supposed to break.

As the washes started to dry, I started to sculpt each little image, adding an accent color, scraping out some whites, throwing in a complimentary color, and splattering, still with no idea what I was making, just having fun and playing around.

Gradually, each painting started to look like something: a dramatic storm on a distant plain, a sunset, a beautiful valley in late afternoon, a brilliant sun peaking out from behind a cloud. It was then that I started to add shapes and colors to help describe and clarify the vision: furrowed rows of a farm field, a grove of trees on a hillside, a distant lake. I finished by adding some strokes and spots of white paint on a few of the scenes for some added interest.

White Paint

There are two kinds of water-color artists: those who use white paint and those who are going to use white paint. Just kidding. Actually, there are quite a few watercolor artists who absolutely refuse to use it, and I support them. I even, on occasion, refrain from the good old Titainium. There is an unusual beauty to the clean, pure expression of a transparent watercolor. It's what attracts most people to the medium, both painters and patrons.

On rare occasions however, the judicious use of white paint can be the perfect accent to a watercolor painting. It can clarify branches in the midst of a thick dark mass of trees, create window mullions on a deep blue pane of glass, suggest subtle complexity in the background of a city scene and provide the interesting graphic accent of signage on a street corner.

The key is restraint. Be delicate with your brush. I use a rigger or a swordliner (a long, skinny brush with a good tip). I wait until I have completed the painting and done all I can without white paint, and then I add the little spots and accents. I like to continue a dark painted stroke (let's say, in a tree) with white paint, so the line goes from dark suddenly to white. It is unexpected, illogical and very exciting.

This is a scene of people waiting in line to eat at the Pantry in Los Angeles. It is a classic diner that is always open, and has been since 1924. You don't leave hungry. For this painting, I used Arches 140# hot press watercolor paper. I did a loose in sketch in pen and ink before applying bright colors of thick, juicy paint. I wanted this to have lots of color in the buildings, people and the cafe awnings so I really laid it on. I painted reflections in the foreground to create interest but in reality, it wasn't raining. I also left plenty of white space though out the piece: the door frames, window mullions, random little areas along the street, and the architectural detailing in the skyscrapers.

After all that, I came back in with white paint for a few little touches: the pantry sign, the street sign, a few window details and a little splattering here and there. Not much, but enough to give everything some sparkle and energy.