Painting Nature's Details in Watercolor

by Cathy a Johnson

Overview

As your mind conjures up images of wide open spaces, sprawling landscapes or grand vistas when you think about painting from nature, step closer. This book will lend you an entirely new perspective.

Offering an intimate lens on nature's easy to overlook tenderness, this essential guide gives the tools you need to capture the natural world's subtle detail in your own painting. Accomplished artist and naturalist Cathy Johnson shares her practical advice on portraying light and shadow, texture, water patterns, plants and flowers and other viewpoints of nature's subtle beauty.

This book is a must-have for every artist of nature.

Readers interested in related titles from Cathy A. Johnson will also want to see: A Naturalist's Cabin (ISBN: 1635610656), On Becoming Lost (ISBN: 1635615607), The Nocturnal Naturalist (ISBN: 163561564X ).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635615654
Publisher:	Echo Point Books & Media
Publication date:	02/23/2018
Edition description:	Reprint ed.
Pages:	162
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

Cathy Johnson has worked as a naturalist, writer, and freelance artist for the past 40 years, and was staff naturalist and contributing editor for Country Living magazine for 11 years. She has been a contributing editor to Artist's Magazine and Watercolor Artist, and authored a regular column in Personal Journaling, where she wrote on the importance of creativity in our lives. Her writing and artwork have been included in a number of nature anthologies and art books. She has written and illustrated many books, and contributed to a number of others, working with a variety of national publishing houses. In 1993, she founded her own small publishing company, Graphics/Fine Arts Press, which primarily offers books of interest to the reenacting community or others interested in history and material culture. She has been a longtime member of the Author's Guild. She was chosen Conservation Communicator of the Year by the Burroughs Audubon Society in l987, and won the Thorpe Menn Award for Creative Writing (AAUW) for The Naturalist's Cabin: Constructing the Dream (Viking Penguin) in 1992. Cathy teaches a number of self-directed mini-classes on her website, http: //cathyjohnson.info. She also offers a number of free tutorial videos on YouTube; visit https: //www.youtube.com/user/KateJosTube.

Table of Contents

Introduction 8

GETTING STARTED 10

At Home and Abroad 12 ・ The Sketchbook as a Tool15 ・ Field Sketches 16 ・

Detail Studies 17 ・ Composition 17 ・ Value Studies 20 ・

Working on the Spot: Beyond the Sketch 20

Demonstration: From Sketchbook to Painting 21

PAINTING THE LIGHT 24

Organizing Values ... for Depth, Drama, and Composition 26 ・

Changing Light 26 ・ Chiaroscuro 28 ・ Nature's "Stained Glass" 29 ・

The Light Fantastic 29 ・ Reflected Light 30 ・ A Shadowy World 32

Demonstrations: Light-Struck Water 34 ・ Winter's Light 36 ・ Glowing Morning Light 38

RENDERING TEXTURE 40

Bark Studies 43 ・ Trees and Foliage 43 ・ Rocks, Sand, and Gravel 45 ・ Weathered Wood 49

Demonstrations: Bark and Foliage 50 ・

Forest Floor 51 ・ Snow and Ice 52 ・ Contrasting Textures 54

WATER PATTERNS 56

Organizing Patterns 58 ・ Freezing Motion 58 ・ Turbulent Water 58 ・ Still Water 58 ・

On the Surface 63 • Color 63

Demonstrations: Water in Motion 64 ・ Organizing Patterns 66

OVERALL PATTERNS 68

Leaves 70

Demonstrations: A Pattern of Repetitive Shapes 73 ・Pattern of Silhouette Shapes 75 ・

Forest Floor Close-Up 76

PAINTING PLANTS AND FLOWERS 78

Seeing 80 ・ Trees 81・ Using Your Sketchbook 83 ・ Availability 86 ・

The Portrait Approach 86 ・ The Botanical Approach 86 ・ Color Contrasts 88 ・

The Monumental Image 88 ・ Other Subjects 90 ・ Sequential Images 90

Demonstrations: Liquid Mask over a Preliminary Wash 92 ・ The Botanical Approach 93 • The Portrait Approach 94 . Subtle Contrasts 96

INTRODUCING LIFE 98

Field Sketching 102 ・ Wildlife Art 103 ・ Fish 103 ・ Model Pets 104 ・

"Bugs" and Other Fantastic Creatures 105 ・ Animal Signs 106 ・ Worshipping From Afar 106

Demonstrations: Highlighting an Unseen Presence 108 ・ Bending the Rules of Composition 110 ・ Birds at a Feeder 111 ・ Learning from Mistakes 113

LINES AND SHAPES 116

Seeing 116 • Contrasts 119 • Positive and Negative Shapes 119 • Sinuous Forms 122 • Curves and Angles 126 ・ Directional Thrusts and Repetitions 128 ・ Straight Lines 129

Demonstration: Diagonal Thrust and Negative Shapes 130

MAN-MADE SUBJECTS 132

On the Spot 134 ・ Zeroing In 134 ・ Fence Posts 136 ・ Down on the Farm 136 ・ Stone Fences 140 ・ Ancient Cemeteries 141

Demonstrations: Contrasting Patterns of Man-made Shapes 142 •

Contrasting Textures of Man-made Objects 143 • Contrasting Values 144

FOUND STILL LIFES 146

Nature at Home 148 ・ The Backyard Environment 150

Demonstrations: Painting Nature's Humble Beauties 152 ・ Painting Afternoon Sunlight 153 ・ Using Color Boldly 154

Afterword 156

Index 158