Welcome to the FLOAT-YOUR-PIGMENT Blog #211
Hello from Dillman's! I am working on my NEW 4-day Acrylics workshop at Dillman's and we are on our 2nd day. So far so good and I think everyone is super excited about all the new products we are and will be experimenting with. This coming Thursday I also have a BeckerArt Paint Party scheduled at Dillman's and then on Friday, we do a festival of artists in Hibbing, Minnesota. Saturday the 8th I will be attending the TWSA dinner in Kenosha, WI. for the 43rd Annual Celebrate Watercolor Dinner. I have a painting in this years, TWSA Show. This week's newsletter will talk about the simple way to add shadows with the right colors into your watercolors. NO DAVID but Yes To Class at the Civic Center in Libertyville with Sue MacFarlan, Thursday, June 6th 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm NO DAVID but Yes To open studio at the BeckerArt Gallery in McHenry, Gary Wigman will be in charge Saturday, June 1st 9:00 am to 11:30 am
Easy Shadows
Here is a simple solution to putting the right color shadows into your paintings. I try to make my lesson simple so you don't have to over analyze and over think what colors to use when painting shadows.
First thing you need to paint is the area that you will be applying the shadow to. Let's say that the color of the area or object you painted is light green. When you put a shadow on that object or area it simply should be a darker Green. Don't worry about reflected color or even if it is warm or cool just simply put down a darker color of the original color on the object or area.
If after you put down the shadow color and you decide it needs a reflective color or a warm or cool color you can do that after you first put down the darker color of the original color.
Keep it simple... if the object is blue put down a darker blue. Now I hear you asking me how much darker do you need to make the shadow. That is not as simple to answer because it all depends on how strong the light shines on the object that is throwing the shadow or in the shadow. Keep it simple at first and just make the darker color slightly darker then the original color and if it seems to light just darken it.
Now I hear you asking me what happens if the original color is white, what color should I use to darken a white. This is a great question because white happens to be the only color where you can make the shadow color anything you would like, but it should match some of the other colors in the painting so the shadows don't stick out like a sore thumb. If you check out the painting below of the market and you see the white sheet hanging over the people, notice I used orange for the shadow of the underside. With white, you can make your shadow any color.
Have fun and keep it simple!
David
WORKSHOPS and DEMOS in 2019
Dillman's Festival of Artists DEMO, Hibbing Minnesota June 7th
For info Click Here
Morris Watercolor Guild CLASS, Liberty ARTS Festival, Morris, IL. July 20th
For information Click Here
Vermont Art Event WORKSHOP Classes, VT, July 29th - August 2nd, Information to come
Ottawa, Ontario WORKSHOP info to come
Art and Soul Watercolor Group WORKSHOP, Baldwinsville, NY, August 12th - 14th, Information to come
Cheap Joes WORKSHOP, Boone NC, Sept. 9th - 13th For Information Click Here
Dillman's Watercolor WORKSHOP, Lac du Flambeau, WI, Sept. 23d - 26th For Information Click Here
Product of the Week
The product I am posting this week is the all NEW Stonehenge Aqua Black Watercolor Paper
Another great product by Legion papers that I am teaching on this week at Dillman's.
This is a black watercolor paper that is 100% cotton and sized inside and on the surface. If someone tells you that they have worked on black watercolor paper other than this Stonehenge Black you can tell them that they are mistaken because this is the first 100% cotton watercolor paper that is sized inside and out on the market. It just came out last month and I have been testing for almost a year now. It is a new way to do a watercolor on black and it is a whole lot of fun.
See one of my paintings on Black below. Buy this or any product here on Amazon
Question of the Week
Questioned Asked: How do I get you to come to my area to teach a workshop?
Questioned Answered:
Thank you so much for this question! This is a great way of telling anybody out there that belongs to an art club that wants me to come and teach a workshop, simply give your club my information I will send your club my info and I will see if I can get something going and planned so I can teach in your neck of the woods.
Give them my email address below and I will talk with them as soon as they email me.
If you have a question that you want answered, write me at david@davidrbecker.com
Artist of the Week
When it comes to living watercolor artists whose works I love, Mary Whyte is one of my favorites and then comes this artist Stephen Zhang.
I have seen his works in so many shows and he wins so many awards in every show I see.
His paintings have so much life in them, just beautiful work!
BeckerArt Brushes
