We’re fortunate to have a good Lending Collection at the Honolulu Museum of Art School, where I’ve been teaching for many happy, productive years.
This gorgeous ceramic piece, a T’ang Dynasty ceramic horse replica, is a favorite go-to object when I want a stationary object to paint. It’s about 14″ high, and the color is breathtaking. . . and especially conducive to capturing in watercolor. The Lending Collection allows instructors to borrow objects which I then can take back to my studio. Thus, I spent several delightful sessions absorbed in the drawing and painting of this lovely piece.
My Purpose
Considering all the painting I do outdoors, where chaos reigns, painting a stationary object indoors is a relief. I can leave it in place, and control the lighting, returning to it at my convenience unchanged from where I left off. Thus I can practice going deep into the process without distraction. That the object possesses such beauty was also motivating. . . it was exciting to work out the warm, earthy washes of glazes that so closely resemble the watercolor medium.
Drawing and Placement
This was also an opportunity to tune-up my drawing skills. A full session was spent getting the object on the watercolor paper. I used a well sharpened willow charcoal of a firm hardness to do the drawing. It’s somewhat easier to remove than graphite pencil if there’s something that needs changing.
A recommendations I make to others working in watercolor is to separate the drawing session from the painting session on important work. The temptation to sacrifice thoughtful placement and shape making (design) to the more intuitive and exciting aspects of watercolor application is huge. I say this from a lot of personal experience. Most often, my regrets in a painting trace back to a desire to get to the immediacy of painting at the sacrifice of design. By separating the drawing from the painting sessions, my chances of succeeding have been greatly increased.
Something “well drawn” is ideal when partnered with more suggestive and casual watercolor application. I don’t mean “tight”, I mean sufficient to get the look of the object truthfully by the simplest means.
The Big Look
Some painters use the term “The Big Look” as a way of describing paintings that have a “truth” about them. Truth can be defined as “not what the brain knows about something, but what the eye really sees”.
An appearance, or impression, that seeks to recreate our eye’s actual response when something is seen in a single, first glance. That idea, as opposed to a carefully painted inventory of visual facts, is elusive. It’s a different way of thinking…suggesting more than explaining. I’m seldom satisfied that I’ve reached it. But getting more suggestion was the hope that spurred me on with this horse.