-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Rex Beanland on Still Studying Alvaro Castagnet and Joseph Zbukvic
- shelley on Still Studying Alvaro Castagnet and Joseph Zbukvic
- Rex Beanland on Doorway
- Rex Beanland on Eamon’s Camp
- Shelley on Eamon’s Camp
Search The Posts By Entering Key Words
Archives
- May 2012 (5)
- April 2012 (14)
- March 2012 (14)
- February 2012 (20)
- January 2012 (14)
- December 2011 (22)
- November 2011 (27)
- October 2011 (16)
- September 2011 (17)
- August 2011 (12)
- July 2011 (7)
- June 2011 (14)
- May 2011 (15)
- April 2011 (17)
- March 2011 (13)
- February 2011 (14)
- January 2011 (16)
- December 2010 (13)
- November 2010 (8)
- October 2010 (8)
- September 2010 (5)
- August 2010 (3)
- July 2010 (5)
- June 2010 (5)
- May 2010 (3)
- April 2010 (6)
- March 2010 (5)
- February 2010 (5)
- January 2010 (5)
- December 2009 (4)
Categories
- Everything Else (5)
- general (322)
- teaching (10)
Meta
Author Archives: Rex Beanland
Doorway
This is a painting that I use in my watercolour classes. I hadn’t painted it for a while so I was interested to see if I could add any new elements to it to keep it fresh. I did 85 % of the painting in class last night. I finished it off this morning.
A couple of things that came to mind during this process.
1) The first 85 % of the painting is about getting the big shapes, putting them into a pleasing composition and giving them the right value. If this works then you know that your painting will work.
2) The last 15 % of the painting which includes adding details, unifying colours, adjusting values and adding accents and highlights can take as long as the first 85 %. This part brings the painting to life.
Anyway, that’s how it happened with this painting.
When I look at it now I think it has a great sense of light and is very realistic while not being overly busy. I can also see 2 things I would change next time. The first is to not have all the highlights in the green bushes at the bottom. It looks like it’s being lit from below. Secondly I think it still has too much pure white paper even though I reduced it to just to the right of the door.
Eamon’s Camp #2
Eamon’s Camp #2
watercolour
9 X 12
Car Arches Detail
I posted a painting a few days ago. It’s a copy of a Joseph Zbukvic painting. This particular image is a cropped section of the original painting showing just the centre of interest. It’s just one of those happy accidents that the pattern of lights and darks in this image is so effective and attractive. This section alone makes a lovely and successful composition.
Still Studying Alvaro Castagnet and Joseph Zbukvic
This is a continuation of yesterdays post. The top study from the Castagnet DVD and the bottom from Zbukvic’s.
Doing them has been a real jumpstart to a better understanding of value in watercolour. I also like the fact that they both include people and cars in almost all their paintings. As a drawing teacher that’s something I definitely appreciate because they add so much to a painting and they aren’t really that hard to draw after a little bit of practice.
Posted in general
2 Comments
Watercolour University – Studying Alvaro Castagnet
For the last 2 weeks I’ve been studying and analyzing the DVD’s of Alvaro Castagnet and Joseph Zbukvic. These are 2 copies of Castagnet’s demos.
It was great to try these paintings. The are all about fine control of values and it’s definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. Fortunately it’s always a great learning experience when I finally get out there.
Posted in general
Leave a comment
Watercolour Landscape Demo
This is the painting I did in my latest teaching video. The original charming landscape is by Barbara Goodspeed. Watch the video right here.
The painting was done using just 3 colours, yellow ochre, ultramarine blue and cad red light.
Posted in teaching
Leave a comment
New Video Clip
This is the charming landscape that I painted in my latest video clip. It was done using only 3 colours: ultramarine blue, yellow ochre and cad red light. The original painting is by Barbara Goodspeed. To watch the video visit the video clip page.
Shortly after uploading the clip I received this email.
“Hello Rex, have been waiting for your next lesson. Enjoy your lessons very much. Regards from Australia.”
Posted in general
Leave a comment
Forest Fantasy 2
This is definitely a one off. Again it was an old pencil value sketch that I did a few years ago. I was just in the mood to try something different so I thought I would try to turn that value sketch into a colour study.
I like the opaque marks of cad red light and cad orange.
Forest Fantasy 2
watercolour
9 X 12
7th Ave
My reference for this photo was a small plein air sketch I did about 3 years ago on 7th Ave. I’ve always liked the sketch but I was never sure how to paint it. I revisited the sketch last week and I started to think that I would like to try to paint it now.
This is the first colour study. I think there are some strengths like the power lines, the figures and the composition. There are a couple of things that I would like to change for the final version. Specifically, I would like to decrease the value of the distant buildings. I think they are a little too strong. Also, I would like to change the proportion of the various buildings. I want the first building to extend nearly to the middle of the paper.
Interestingly, over the last few months I have found that I’ve lost interest in doing pure landscapes. A painting has to have people or man made structures in it to catch my attention. I still love other peoples’ landscapes but I’m just not into doing them at the moment. I also enjoy painting buildings and vehicles more than I do mountains.
Posted in general
Leave a comment