Trouble with Windows on Empire State Building watercolor

ABOVE: This is how the windows came out in the initial study I did for the Empire State Building painting I am working on. These buildings are medium depth between some close up street signals and the far away Empire State Building. In my photo there are a lot of reflections and details including black [...]

And Now For Something Completely Different…

This is one of a series of about 50 mixed media paintings I did back in 1997 of scenes of Northampton, Mass. I am working on a book about them which will have plates of all the paintings and some text I am writing about my memories of living in Northampton back then and what [...]

Thoughts on the Study for the Empire State Building Painting

While working on the Empire State Building watercolor study, I took notes of the colors I had chosen and the steps I had taken in working on the painting. Once it was done I saw a few things I liked, a few things I didn’t, and a few things along the way that I [...]

A Few Thoughts on a Recent Painting

I spent the last few days doing some simple color mixing exercises to try and gain a better understanding of how the pigments I am using interact together. Nothing as elaborate as the color wheels at handprint.com (at least not yet anyway.)
I was looking at the painting I just did of Main Street Northampton and [...]

Empire State Building watercolor study

This study is done and it was invaluable for me to take the time to paint through this scene in this way. I uncovered a few ‘mistakes’ I made along the way with putting down a wash too early or one I didn’t need. This photo looks brighter than the original, and when looking at [...]

watercolor study Empire State Building WIP-1

This is a study (8 x 10) I am doing  for an eventual larger  (12×18) watercolor I want to do. I am writing down everything I do – the order and what colors I used. This has been a good exercise as it is helping me see what works and what could be improved – [...]

Main Street Northampton, Watercolor WIP-4

This one is almost done. I added more detail on the storefronts on the left, and here and there throughout the painting. This painting was an attempt to try people and I think they came out ok – better initially and I think I worked them a little too much as it progresses, but not [...]

Main Street, Northampton, Watercolor WIP-3

I’m on vacation so I was trying to emulate the photorealists I read about in the book Realists at Work who all work on their paintings for 8 hours a day. I put in about 2+ hours in 2 sessions and that exhausted me. I don’t know how they can do 8 hours without going [...]

Main Street Northampton, Watercolor, WIP-2

For some reason I wanted to start putting in the black areas so I mixed up some burnt umber and ultramarine and started putting it in. Then I felt like it was too dark in some areas and I had really jumped the gun, so I started lifting it off in some spots. Fortunately that [...]

Main Street Northampton, Watercolor WIP-1

With this one I am having an fun time conceptualizing how I am going to paint things before I paint them. That is in part due to the thumbnail sketch I did and also to a greater awareness of glazing principles. For all the brick buildings I put a wash down of burnt umber and [...]