Watercolour workshop with Hazel Soan
Hazel Soan's studio in Fulham
Regular readers of my blog will have noticed a distinct lack of new work from me this year. The weekend of the 19th and 20th November was a turning point thanks to a kind friend and watercolour artist, Hazel Soan.
Hazel ran a workshop over two days at her studio/gallery in Fulham, London with particular emphasis on creating a balanced palette of watercolours following the release of her latest book: Watercolour Rainbow.
Following demonstrations by Hazel we painted six pictures over two days mainly using a limited palette of one yellow, one red and one blue, see below. The colours were chosen by Hazel for their properties rather than their hue which is something I am also passionate about.
Following demonstrations by Hazel we painted six pictures over two days mainly using a limited palette of one yellow, one red and one blue, see below. The colours were chosen by Hazel for their properties rather than their hue which is something I am also passionate about.
Day One - Cool blue Saturday.
This was our first painting. My hands shook as I drew and tried to remember everything Hazel had done and said during the demonstration.
Colours used were:-
Aureolin a cool, transparent, staining yellow and Indian Yellow a warm, transparent, lifting yellow combined wet-into-wet with Prussian a cool transparent, staining blue. Both warm and cool yellows were chosen to highlight the different greens that can be made using one warm and one cool yellow combined with a cool blue. The red used was Permanent Rose a cool, transparent, staining red.
This was our first painting. My hands shook as I drew and tried to remember everything Hazel had done and said during the demonstration.
Colours used were:-
Aureolin a cool, transparent, staining yellow and Indian Yellow a warm, transparent, lifting yellow combined wet-into-wet with Prussian a cool transparent, staining blue. Both warm and cool yellows were chosen to highlight the different greens that can be made using one warm and one cool yellow combined with a cool blue. The red used was Permanent Rose a cool, transparent, staining red.
San Lorenzo Portovenere
Yellow Ochre a warm opaque, earth yellow was used in the sky and on the sunlit areas of the buildings. Some Burnt Sienna, a warm semi transparent, lifting earth brown (with a red bias) was added to warm up small areas. The shadow side of the buildings were built up with mixes of Raw Umber a cool, transparent, lifting, earth yellow (with a brown bias) and Burnt Umber a warm semi-transparent, staining, earth brown (with slightly more of a blue bias than Burnt Sienna).
Hazel explained that these earth colours were all made from one pigment, for example Raw Umber is heated to produce Burnt Umber etc. This makes them ideal to use as tonal increments - so although lots of colours were used to produce this painting many of them are different versions of one pigment.
The blue in this painting was Prussian a cool transparent, staining blue. Prussian blue combines beautifully with any of the above colours to produce delicious, dark greens.
Since the workshop I, a rebel in small ways, have muted the yellow in the sky with violet to dull it slightly and create more contrast with the buildings.
Hazel explained that these earth colours were all made from one pigment, for example Raw Umber is heated to produce Burnt Umber etc. This makes them ideal to use as tonal increments - so although lots of colours were used to produce this painting many of them are different versions of one pigment.
The blue in this painting was Prussian a cool transparent, staining blue. Prussian blue combines beautifully with any of the above colours to produce delicious, dark greens.
Since the workshop I, a rebel in small ways, have muted the yellow in the sky with violet to dull it slightly and create more contrast with the buildings.
The last painting on day one was new for me but one of Hazel's favourite subjects. We were asked to combine more than one of Hazel's reference photographs to produce this composition. I'm pleased to say I wasn't the only exhausted student by this stage in the day. I struggled with this painting and I admit I did have to complete it at home.
Colours used:- Cerulean a cool, opaque, lifting, granulating (in the Winsor and Newton range) blue helped enhance the feeling of misty light. Yellow Ochre a warm opaque, staining, earth yellow was used in the path and in the sky. Indigo a cool opaque, staining dark blue was used with Cadmium Red a warm, opaque, granulating, lifting red in my painting but I think other students used Sepia a cool opaque dark brown to produce the dark tones.
Colours used:- Cerulean a cool, opaque, lifting, granulating (in the Winsor and Newton range) blue helped enhance the feeling of misty light. Yellow Ochre a warm opaque, staining, earth yellow was used in the path and in the sky. Indigo a cool opaque, staining dark blue was used with Cadmium Red a warm, opaque, granulating, lifting red in my painting but I think other students used Sepia a cool opaque dark brown to produce the dark tones.
Day two - Warm blue Sunday.
Indian Yellow a warm, transparent, lifting yellow combined with Cadmium Red a warm, opaque, granulating, lifting red made a warm orange. Blue is the complementary opposite of orange and serves to enhance the brightness of both colours. The blue in this case was Cobalt a warm semi-opaque, lifting, sometimes granulating mid-tone blue. The dark tones were mixtures of the colours above plus Winsor Violet.
Hazel was introducing her signature set of watercolour pans made by Schmincke. We found some of the colours in their range had different names (as is the way of the many watercolour paint manufacturers). Schmincke's version of Winsor Violet is called Mauve.
I made a rookie mistake on this one; having made the shawl on the right rather dark in tone and "muddy" by over mixing (probably in a panic!). I decided to change the direction of light on the reference picture from right to left. I remembered to change the highlight on her head, however, when it came to the shadow on the ground I painted it on the wrong side as per the reference photo! Thankfully I noticed in time and was able to lift it out sufficiently and then paint it correctly on the right hand side. This illustrates the beauty and beast of opaque colours. Quick to make "mud" they also lift easily. This, of course, should never be relied upon though.
Indian Yellow a warm, transparent, lifting yellow combined with Cadmium Red a warm, opaque, granulating, lifting red made a warm orange. Blue is the complementary opposite of orange and serves to enhance the brightness of both colours. The blue in this case was Cobalt a warm semi-opaque, lifting, sometimes granulating mid-tone blue. The dark tones were mixtures of the colours above plus Winsor Violet.
Hazel was introducing her signature set of watercolour pans made by Schmincke. We found some of the colours in their range had different names (as is the way of the many watercolour paint manufacturers). Schmincke's version of Winsor Violet is called Mauve.
I made a rookie mistake on this one; having made the shawl on the right rather dark in tone and "muddy" by over mixing (probably in a panic!). I decided to change the direction of light on the reference picture from right to left. I remembered to change the highlight on her head, however, when it came to the shadow on the ground I painted it on the wrong side as per the reference photo! Thankfully I noticed in time and was able to lift it out sufficiently and then paint it correctly on the right hand side. This illustrates the beauty and beast of opaque colours. Quick to make "mud" they also lift easily. This, of course, should never be relied upon though.
The ele - another favourite subject of Hazel's. We watched in combined awe as she deftly wielded her sable brush across a sheet of Saunders Waterford, rough paper and produced her version - of which this is my poor imitation.
Colours used:-
Hazel began with Aureolin a cool, transparent, staining yellow - painting almost everything except the highlights. Whilst this wash was still wet she added French Ultramarine a warm transparent (according to Winsor and Newton but semi-transparent, at best, in my test!) granulating and lifting blue and held it up for us to see - an elephant! Amazing! She then went on to paint the dark tones and shadows all wet-into-wet.
Colours used:-
Hazel began with Aureolin a cool, transparent, staining yellow - painting almost everything except the highlights. Whilst this wash was still wet she added French Ultramarine a warm transparent (according to Winsor and Newton but semi-transparent, at best, in my test!) granulating and lifting blue and held it up for us to see - an elephant! Amazing! She then went on to paint the dark tones and shadows all wet-into-wet.
The final painting on day two:- if I was tired by this stage of the day I didn't notice as I was buzzing with enthusiasm.
Colours used:- Yellow Ochre a warm, opaque, earth yellow and French Ultramarine a warm transparent (?) granulating and lifting blue were used in the sky and water. A warm yellow, such as Yellow Ochre or Raw Sienna is perfect to warm up a sky with a warm blue as they will not turn immediately to green unless you stirr them up with your brush when applying - which you should never do to any colour anyway. The red in this painting is Cadmium Red a warm, opaque, granulating, lifting red, in this case used in a very light tone which mixes beautifully with French Ultramarine to produce soft warm violet/greys. By combining them in this way it prevents the red from coming forward too much in the painting as warm, opaque colours tend to do.
People say you shouldn't meet your heros as you will be disappointed. Not so with Hazel Soan she was as magnificent in life as I could ever hope her to be. I feel honoured to have been given the opportunity to meet her and paint in her company.
Many thanks to Hazel Soan and my friend, who made it possible.
All reference pictures are copyright Hazel Soan.
My painted versions above are published with the kind permission of Hazel Soan.
The Gallery/Soan Studio
Crookham Road
SW6 4EG
London
United Kingdom
hazelsoan.com
allsoanup.com
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Colours used:- Yellow Ochre a warm, opaque, earth yellow and French Ultramarine a warm transparent (?) granulating and lifting blue were used in the sky and water. A warm yellow, such as Yellow Ochre or Raw Sienna is perfect to warm up a sky with a warm blue as they will not turn immediately to green unless you stirr them up with your brush when applying - which you should never do to any colour anyway. The red in this painting is Cadmium Red a warm, opaque, granulating, lifting red, in this case used in a very light tone which mixes beautifully with French Ultramarine to produce soft warm violet/greys. By combining them in this way it prevents the red from coming forward too much in the painting as warm, opaque colours tend to do.
People say you shouldn't meet your heros as you will be disappointed. Not so with Hazel Soan she was as magnificent in life as I could ever hope her to be. I feel honoured to have been given the opportunity to meet her and paint in her company.
Many thanks to Hazel Soan and my friend, who made it possible.
All reference pictures are copyright Hazel Soan.
My painted versions above are published with the kind permission of Hazel Soan.
The Gallery/Soan Studio
Crookham Road
SW6 4EG
London
United Kingdom
hazelsoan.com
allsoanup.com
P.S. Sunday 20th November - I became a Grand-mother.
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