Ship shapes are wonderful shapes to work from or to. We have in many classes painted boats and ships and it is a matter of perspectives, a ship shape that is flat will not – literally – float, it will sink painting wise. You need to be prepared if you want to concentrate on marine art to learn how to draw boats. They are symmetrical shapes that make sense, that is the easiest way to regard this subject without initially taking a drawing course on How to Draw Marine Art.
For this painting: make a detailed drawing of the shipwreck, use a ruler or any other mechanical aid you see fit. Consider the scale of the overall shape as opposed to the scale of the boat in the background. Add the horizon line as a useful guideline. Watercolour techniques to use: pen and wash painting, which would lend itself perfectly to all the wood sections, curves, lines and shapes on the shipwreck. I used soluble pen as I like the result of adding water to the ink and creating pools of ink that merge and move into each other. Always start with the focal point so start with the shipwreck. The amount of detail you add is your own choice. Another technique to consider is working in glazes where you let the first layer of paint dry and keep going to subsequent layers (working wet on dry) until you reach the level of tone that you require. I used pen and then glazing. For a more traditional watercolour approach: use lighter washes of your colours – transparent watercolours have a quality that no other medium can achieve – the best medium for any artist to study and learn.

Complete your shipwreck before you move on to any other element of this painting. Now as you can see I made the sky very moody but as you can also see from David’s photograph it was lighter than my interpretation. Again, a personal choice for you to make.

After completing the shipwreck I worked on the mud, a fascinating subject to paint. You have to make this look like sludge – the very word watercolour makes you realise that this medium is perfect for muddy, sludgy ideas. I used a large round headed brush, I mixed a chromatic black (burnt umber and ultramarine blue with a burnt umber bias so the mix was 60/40%). I had three grades of wash of this mix ready, I worked dark to light using large swift brushstrokes to represent the darker areas of mud, I then used the medium wash and completed the same process, keeping my brushstrokes union in shape and direction so the viewer of this painting understands this is sludgy and all these individual shapes make one easily understandable overall body of mud. I left some areas of the paper white – another key ingredient of a watercolour painting, but right at the end of this process I painted over the lightest tone of my mud colour on some of those white areas.

The Grass areas – use three different green mixes, I used a Leaf Green and added varying amounts of my chromatic mix so they look like natural colours and not “tube green”. I took a fan brush, which is ideal for grass, and used short sharp vertical/diagonal strokes to give some movement to the grass. One technique I did not use is to underpaint with yellow, which would also be a technique to consider for this painting. Bear in mind that there is a particular skill in using a fan brush: only wet the edge of the brush with a small amount of water, then dip into your wash, again only near the edge. Do not make the whole of the brush wet – you will not get the required effect.

The Background Building and Boat, paint this in lighter tones of your palette to suggest recession in the distance.

The Sky – a good way to practice a graded wash. Skyscapes should suggest some form of movement. The direction you make your brush strokes or the way you let the paint move will help you to achieve this illusion. I used my chromatic mix, wet the paper first, and worked from the top of the paper. I used a strong mix for two brushstrokes (using and 1.5 inch chisel brush) and then used weaker washes of the same mix. As I worked I tilted the paper towards me so the paint moved (to a degree) downwards.

The post SHIP SHAPES IN ART – Shipwreck at Hoo Marina appeared first on Christina French.

Thursday 23rd July, Watercolour Painting, 10.00 am – 3.00 pm Cost: £30 which includes refreshments and lunch.

Wednesday 29th July, Watercolour Painting, 10.00 am – 3.00 pm Cost: £30 which includes refreshments and lunch.

Thursday 6th August, Fashion Art – 10.00 am – 3.00 pm Cost: £30 which includes refreshments and lunch.

You can book these through Ardleigh House or alernatively email me and I will add your name to the class list. These are very enjoyable courses, where we complete three set projects in the classroom. If weather permits,
we usually incorporate some time outside sketching too.

I am also going to arrange a couple of Sketching Days of my own and will keep you informed of the proposed dates. These are always at local venues with easy access.
Christina

The post Summer Courses at Ardleigh House, Hornchurch, Essex appeared first on Christina French.

The following week we completed a drawing/painting of Elvis Presley but I wanted the class to have a completely different approach. I used one of my
paintings I had completed of Elvis Presley and used a paint program to just pick up on the contour lines which the class worked from. This looks
confusing at first, a bit like a jigsaw and made the class think very differently about a particular approach to drawing. Once they “got into” the
idea they liked it! Job done on my behalf, well nearly, the big question – did they achieve a likeness? Well one learner commented it was the best
portrait she had ever completed in any of the classes, so a different approach can sometimes not only make you think slightly differently but you
will be often surprised and pleased with your labours.

The post A Comparative Exercise appeared first on Christina French.

How to .. make a line drawing of the major shapes. You can use heavy pencil pressure for this as you want to see the lines through the background colour.

Background colours: A strong orange mix, a bright lemon yellow. The yellow is of the area of sun, the orange for all of the rest of the sky.

Brushes: hake and chisel.

Foreground: a chromatic black – burnt umber and ultramarine blue 50/50 proportions. Brushes: large round and small round headed.

Paint in the background first, horizontal brushstrokes. Do Not go back and forth over the colour with your brush. All your brushstrokes should be going in one direction only, if you go back over the paint, you are wasting your
materials as you will lift paint off of the paper.

For the sun shape use a small brush to lift out colour.

When the background is over 90% dry you can start adding the foreground, using a round headed brush. Work from the top of the paper.

The post Watercolour Backgrounds appeared first on Christina French.

The post English Garden appeared first on Christina French.

How to: Make a line drawing of the major shape, the panda and the bamboo shoot.

Prepare your palette for the background: weak washes of greens, reds, blues, purples.

Paint in the background first. Wet the background area of the paper with a hake brush, apply the paint with a round headed brush, let the weak washes mingle.

Paint the panda: mix a chromatic black and start from the top of the animal. Use a fan brush for large areas of fur, works a treat.

Paint in shadow on panda using weak wash of chromatic black.

Paint in the bamboo shoot using the colours from the background.

Paint bamboos and leaves in the background. You can work on this in many layers, that is a personal decision.

This exercise will take at least two hours to complete

The post Panda appeared first on Christina French.

Some of the most beautiful shapes to draw are ballet dancers. When drawing two dancers the impression of one overall shape is important for design. Most dancing partners do become one shape so it usually works, as long as they are holding hands or parts of their bodies overlap. The Approach: When drawing figures the best measurement to use is the length of head, this is so useful when measuring length of body, arms and legs and also widths. Make an overall line drawing of the two figures. There are certain challenges within this drawing: the downcast face, the entwined hands, the tonal structure for the muscle shapes.

The post Black and White photograph appeared first on Christina French.

Different types: hard brushes and soft brushes. Hard brush, if in doubt buy an acrylic one, dry brush techniques work well with these. Soft brushes: use for wet on wet, side of brush, soft brushstrokes with no hard line, fantastic for skies.

To experiment: use any paint up that may be hanging around in a palette. Try using brush dry, then completely damp, use side of brush, edge, whole of brush, see the shapes you can make. For pattern use different directional lines, e.g. horizontal over vertical. For curved line, now this is fun, make big bold patterns swirling the brush as you go. Op art effects are very easy with that brushstroke. The painting below I completed with a Hard Fan Brush and a Soft Fan Brush – no other brushes needed.

The post Using a Fan Brush to Complete a Painting appeared first on Christina French.

The post Drawing Ballet Dancers appeared first on Christina French.

Soluble pens make a perfect partner for watercolours when painting rain. They run and create interesting tones and shapes of ink. When the pavement is damp in your painting, take your soluble pen and mark in the paving slabs etc. Let the ink run! This should be great fun to do! Do not forget those all important street lamps, this photograph was taken from a worm’s eye view so the street lamp nearest to us looks tall. This gives great perspective to your painting. Add as many people walking along as you can, the more the merrier, they create a sense of movement and busyness which we expect to see in street scenes.

The post Rainy London Street with Rainbow appeared first on Christina French.