Changing Mediums - It Can Be Confusing!

In response to questions from several artists over the past weeks, I have been giving a lot of thought to the interesting challenges that arise when one changes mediums. Of course there is the constant dealing with "do I paint from light to dark, or dark to light". When one is accustomed to using oil or pastel and then switch to watercolor, it can be tricky to remember what comes first!      

However, I think most of us manage that very well. We save the white paper when using watercolor rather than using white paint, and at least until you are proficient, the "traditional " method is to paint from light to dark. When you achieve a level of mastery with watercolor, you can start with the darks, or the mid-tones, whatever works for you. I often add some mid-darks and darks early in the painting as that gives me a value to judge other values against.

I do think that there is one area that you could consider: how you handle the edges in your painting. We do this differently with each medium, although the principles are the same.

                    Detail of a large pastel painting "Snow Flurries on Mt. Katahdin"

In my pastel paintings, I really like cross-hatching (over-laying) colors and then scumbling a soft pastel lightly over the surface. In this detail of a large pastel painting, I think you can see the results of letting the various cross-hatched colors glitter through the soft scumbling on the surface. 

I can make the edges merge, or sharpen one when necessary. Some artists like to blend the pastels to a smooth finish; it's all a matter of personal preference.

When I painted in oils, I tended to use value to join or separate shapes, and as in all mediums, controlling the warmth or coolness of the pigments is also an important factor. i.e. a warm shape painted against a cool shape will create a little separation, even if they are the same value and of course, a more distinct change if deeper or different values.

                               Plein Air Painting at the Frederic Church Camps
                               16 x 20 Watercolor on Twinrocker hand made paper
                                             September 20, 2014

This painting shows my method of "knitting" adjacent shapes together so that they do not look like separate, unrelated planes.

I accomplish this by continuing some of the color from the sky to the mountain to the foreground large shape and the water, and also by "losing" the edge where the values are similar.

                             Detail of a Watermedia Painting of a winter scene on Mt. Katahdin

Creating a textured underpainting with gesso, and then over painting with transparent watercolors allowed me to capture the memory of the snow-encrusted mountain side in January.

Can you see how the variety of edges keep your eye moving through the painting and the cooler colors in the shadows add a luminosity to the warmer pigments in the sunlight?

This is by no means a complete statement on creating effective edges with the different mediums, or the difficulties encountered when changing from one to another. However, I think just being aware of what we are aiming to achieve gets us off on the right "foot". So - we have started the conversation!