Lessons in Watercolour

Part 9-Light and Atmosphere

Aura, atmosphere, ambience, mystique, feeling, sensation; these are words that describe a piece of art that has a viewer intrigued, moved and affected. The viewer becomes more involved with the painting because the piece of art will continue to emit its ethereal hold, creating questions, fascination and imagination. This type of advanced watercolour looks simple but is actually much more difficult to execute than a straight “copy the photo and fill in the lines” painting.

Atmospheric paintings involve manipulating the paint, adding more and more saturated washes, all the while leaving out the magic negative spaces that cause the intrigue. Edges are softened where necessary. Lost and found areas are exaggerated. “No detail” areas are also employed so the entire painting becomes a moulded, complex interplay of tone, light and colour. J.M.W. Turner was the master of atmospheric English watercolours and so were Bonnington, Seago and Brabazon. The Australians Reg Sturgess, Penleigh Boyd and Blamire Young were all advanced watercolourists who used the medium to its maximum potential, producing beautiful washes, soft colours and strong tonal contrasts.

A painting has atmosphere will always excite the viewer and will continue to do so for all of its existence. It will have a pulling power and sense of intrigue. Paintings such as these rely on a sense of time and light. We have all noticed the differences in the light in the mornings, evenings, inside a room and at night. Paintings done to capture this sense of time involve the type of light of the moment. Observation is the key to this and awareness of the surroundings. I am often stopped in my tracks by what is happening with the light, be it a sunset, a reflection upon water, a shadow across the landscape, a chink of light in a gap, the warm glow from a single lamp, the backlit silhouette of one's subject, moonlight and sunrise. I am also emotionally moved by the day's atmospherics be it rain, low cloud, mist, fog, heat, dust or wind. Another valuable input for the artist is the colour of the subject matter and as a tonalist I see things in muted colours, not primary colours like a colourist. I still tend to believe in the saying “… tone does all the work and colour gets all the glory…” so the colour of the subject can be an influence but does not have to be the same as what is presented to you.

In creating your atmospheric work of art, begin to see more than just the picture. Art is not a copy of a photo. It is the use of an image as input from which you are stimulated to create a similar, yet personal interpretational painting. The essence of capturing the mood of a subject is to forget about the subject and paint everything around it, the light, atmospheric conditions, colour, time of day and empathy; the importance of this statement cannot be overemphasised. Put yourself in the scene and feel it.

The following demonstration is from an image of working Indian elephants. My interpretation is that the atmospheric conditions are hot, dry and dusty with the light coming from behind. My Five Steps to Watercolour (see previous articles) are used to create my

finished painting.