Watercolor Paintings


  PEOPLE

 

LANDSCAPES & WATERSCAPES

DIFFERENT

CHURCHES            

 
My watercolor paintings are classic watercolors. I was trained in this technique
by a master watercolorist named Brian Travers-Smith in the 1970's in Victoria'
British Columbia. I was searching for a medium and Brian's work was in a lot
of art galleries there. His work was remarkable due to vibrancy of the color.
At the time was in my early 20's and had no idea as to how he was able to gain
a high contrast in watercolor. Most of what I had seen before this time was just
a tad pail in its density. The larger number of watercolorists were working in a
transparent watercolor as Brian Travers-Smith used as well but most of there
color was let dry on the stroke to allow the second stroke to overlap and give
a deeper color on the cross of the two.
  As I learned from Brian, I use a cotton rag paper which has been stretched and
stapled down to a piece of sheet rock. When the paper has been soaked in
water, dabbed dry and mounted on the sheet rock with staple then allowed to
dry it will not usually buckle to any extent. Then applying the watercolor into
puddles of water I can pour in various darker hues into the puddle then dried
with either air dry or hair drier. There are many ways to achieve the necessary
 effects when applying the color such as salt, scraping with a knife blade and
sponges. Over time I have practiced most of them but every once in a while
some enterprising artist comes up with a new one.
  The medium is about the most unforgiving of all the pictorial mediums and
it takes patience to master it. After approximately thirty-six years I thing I have
it.