Tuesday 24 January 2012

'What Mood Am I In?'












I have a watecolour demonstration coming up later this week, for an art society. The subject is 'Rocky Seascape'. I have a reference photo to work from, of this local landmark known as 'London Bridge' (even though it's in Devon!). Although I'll be using a photo, I will not be copying it. I'll only use it as a starting point. I want to put a little of my own personality into it, otherwise there's no point to the exercise.
For both these small colour sketches (6"x6") I first applied what I like to call a 'mood wash'. The one on the left received a pre-wash of raw sienna, with a touch of Alizarin crimson. Once dry, I painted the scene with a limited palette of Raw sienna, Alizarin crimson & Cobalt blue. As you can see, the effect of the 'mood wash' was to give the painting a warm glow.
The one on the right received a pre-wash of Cobalt blue, and was then completed with a palette of Cobalt blue, Alizarin crimson & Permanent yellow light. This led to a much cooler interpretation of the scene.
Still not sure which one I will choose but, having done the colour sketches, I am more sure of the outcome(s).

2 comments:

brincrish said...

This is a really great example of using colours to create moods! I like them both as they are so different! Thanks for sharing!

David Webb said...

Thanks Brinda. It's a good exercise to try. It's amazing what a difference the initial wash makes to the final result.