Learning Fundamentals

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I teach an Introduction To Watercolor Class at the Art Students League of Denver and this is one of the demonstrations that I did for the class. It is one of my favorite classes because the students learn techniques and fundamentals that will save them countless hours of confusion and frustration. I get the students painting right away because I sincerely believe that they can learn faster and have more fun painting things rather than doing countless exercises. With each demonstration I have specific things I want to emphasize and here I talked about the effective use of unpainted white paper, mixing colors, shadows and cast shadows, creating "effects," and spattering.

Starting with the banana I left unpainted white paper then added yellow ochre as it curved away from the light. The outside of the peal is a combination of lemon yellow and yellow ochre with cobalt violet added for the shadow and cast shadow. Burnt sienna was used for the dark edges and the cast shadow on the white surface is yellow ochre, cerulean blue and burnt sienna. I started the pear with lemon yellow and added transparent yellow, cobalt violet, and rose dore while the first color was drying. Where this darker color comes up against the unpainted white of the banana an "effect" is created because the lightest value is next to a darker richer color. A second "effect" is created where the white of the lemon slice overlaps the shadow part of the banana peal.

Alizarin Crimson was used for the radishes and you can see how some of this color softened into their cast shadows. I created their highlights by tapping my fingure into the paint while it was still damp. The third "effect" was created where the dark radish leaned against the tip of the white banana. The stems and leaves of the radishes were painted with olive green and French ultramarine blue. Finally I did some spattering on the pear and the background. When I was done painting I pointed out to the class that the radish leaves were cropped by the left and bottom borders and the cast shadow from the tip of the banana peal touched the right border and this created interesting negative shapes. Each of my demonstrations is given to one of the students through a drawing after I take a quick photo. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton