Since the sketch I did during Danielle’s graduation was meant to be a gift, I was nervous about applying watercolor washes to the original sketch.
Original Sketch of Danielle’s Graduation, fountain pen, brown ink
I scanned the original and printed it on Arches watercolor paper using my Epson 2200 printer. I then painted the print rather than the original. I’ll let Danielle decide which one she wants.
Danielle’s Graduation, Watercolor washes over digital print
I’m not crazy about the way the stained glass windows compete with the flags for attention. They are too close to being the same width as the grouping of flags. I think it would be a stronger painting if the windows were eliminated completely, allowing the back wall to be in the purple family, complement of the yellow flags. The touch of blue in the graduation gowns would play a more important role. The color scheme would be analagous with one complementary color (Purple/yellow complements with accents of red and blue.
The original drawing was done with a fountain pen filled with brown Noodler’s Ink.
Hi Chris, I love both works and your generosity in completing them for Danielle. Paintings like this get tricky because you are recording a memory and details can be important. I would offer these to Danielle if they are accurate and then do a finished, revised painting for yourself (to sell?). Creating a third work of art you could redraw and modify color and lighting in anyway you want. I personally love the window but would go with a light filled look and move the flags to lead me to the window but that’s just me! This event was in a beautiful location with lots of majesty and excitement and would (and did!) make a strong, beautiful painting.
This little painting turned out to be more of a challenge than I had anticipated. When I first painted it, I kept the windows light and bright, capturing the feel of the stained glass. Though the windows were successful, they diminished the rest of the painting and the competition with the flags began. The graduate students were lost in the scuffle. This being a gift about a graduation rather than about the church, I sacrificed the glow of the stained glass and attempted to merge the window with the back wall, allowing the flags to win the battle. The window, however, does not want to submit quietly and continues to mumble away, disgruntled by the sacrifice.
I think I might, since I’ve gone digital with this anyway, try another small painting eliminating the window all together. A bit of cloning on the computer will do that quite nicely. It’s always hard for me to go back to something like this. I get so distracted by all the new inspiration that passes before my eyes each day. When times were better for art sales, I had more days to play.
I find that my paintings are always stronger when selling is not in my mind. That is a topic of discussion all on its own.
Thanks for the feedback. I hope to make time for another attempt this weekend.
nice solution to be able to keep the original sketch as a drawing. i like that. i like the sketch/drawing, it works quite well (imo).
doing a second drawing would allow for adjusting the stain glass and flag width – and that could work… but i like the idea of being able to follow the process out the way it was originally drawn and not loosing the drawing itself. . . because the drawing is strong and works so well to begin with…
in the sketch/drawing i think the width of the flags and window area isnt a problem because of the larger value shift between the white walls and the more intricate lining of the windows and flags – which creates one large area of mid-value against the lightest value – the walls.
in the painted version, the walls going darker changed that relationship so that the window and wall areas are roughly mid-value and the flags became a light mid-value. all of that shifting altered the way i think we view the composition. . .
in the drawing our eye can rest in the white spaces of the walls. the wall shapes are interesting enough to keep our eye in the work but easy enough to explore with a relaxed eye attention. so we can rest a bit. we can go back and forth between the more intricate areas and the simpler areas in several places – out to rest and then back in, alternating detail exploration and large interesting shape exploration…
in the painted version, it’s all become eye detail oriented (almost) – with the floor being the only place to rest our busy-ed eye.
that’s the way it seems to me. i think there are a lot of ways you might play with these things to get the painted to work and become as exciting as the drawing.
for me, when i begin to try to be careful, to make something work – i’m sunk, or at least most of the time i am… it almost never works out well for me. when i’m playing, i stop being concerned with the end and just deal with the work where it is and with what it needs. …which may lead to a very different place from what i saw when i was actually present at the place i’m trying to depict. or… it may lead to an altered version of the place. having the luxury of your process (cool on technology, eh), i might play with a couple (or more) versions and on one (or more) really let loose and make the painting work as painting rather than as The place. if the painting brings up the place/time in the viewer’s mind, that may be enough of a reference to acknowledge the special moment you were going after, yes… ???
Great comments, Rick. Thanks.
The ability to transfer a sketch to watercolor paper without the lines running is fantastic, especially because the sketchbook paper does not accept watercolor paints as well as watercolor paper.
I agree that the eye needs more space to rest.
If I try any other variations (which I think I might) I will post them. I will look forward to further comments.
both the before and after color are great 🙂 looks nice!
Thanks, Gregor.