Demonstrating Loose Painting

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I just spent three days with a plein air workshop in Washington Park in Denver and this is the painting I did today. We had a productive three days and it was rewarding to see all the paintings and hear about what people learned. I asked for questions today and then worked out what we talked about in this painting. I began my preliminary drawing with the sunflower in the upper left while explaining that all the beauty in a garden can be overwhelming so why not choose one flower and start there. After placing the sunflower in an interesting location I then completed my drawing with whatever I thought would show it off. The drawing was pretty simple and I explained that if it was to detailed then my painting would not have the loose quality that I was after.

Starting with transparent yellow then adding lemon and cadmium yellow I painted the petals. While they were still damp I added burnt sienna for the center allowing some of it to soften into the gold coloring. White paper is an important part of watercolor painting and I began leaving unpainted white paper where the eye could track through and around the composition. A second sunflower was added and then stems and leaves. I explained it was important that the leaves be painted from different angles with different shades of warm and cool greens.

The jumble of leaves in the lower right was painted with a technique I call cutting back. It is hard to explain and better if you see it demonstrated. First I painted the area with a middle value green and when that was dry I began adding darker strokes of green while softening the outside edges. As I continued doing this it resulted in the thick jumble of leaves. In the lower left corner I spattered a cooler green then connected a few of the dots while carefully leaving bits of white. Finally I added a few strokes of gold to indicate other sunflowers mixed in with the leaves.

The other artists helped me decide when to stop painting and when I stepped back to take a look I agreed with them. A personal thanks to the artists who painted with me this weekend and I look forward to seeing you all again. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton