Painting from photographs
Winston Oh shares his tips and techniques for keeping watercolour paintings fresh and lively when working from photographs
Winston Oh shares his tips and techniques for keeping watercolour paintings fresh and lively when working from photographs
During the lockdown many of us plein-air painters have had to resort to painting from our photographs. Painting a watercolour landscape from a photograph is not as straightforward as it seems. Many challenges exist. Does your photograph contain requisite information such as good light, decent shadows, an attractive composition, and an interesting sky? It is rare to find a picture-perfect photograph.
Background
When I took the photograph of the boatyard in Pinmill, at low tide (right) I was attracted by the shapes and colours of the barges. The shipyard buildings behind the barges provided an appropriate counter-change, and beyond them the band of trees of mid-tones contributing to a degree of visual recession. It was a truly attractive composition.
That was the good news. The bad news was the dull light resulted in very dark and strong tones in the barges and buildings, owing to the limitations of the camera lens and no distinct shadows. The sky was featureless. But I took it as a challenge to paint this composition in sunshine.
I was taught by the late James Fletcher -Watson that the sky sets the tone for the rest of the landscape. If I wished to create a bright landscape, then I should paint some blue in the sky. I considered it best to avoid a complex sky in terms of colours and tones, as it would compete with and distract from the main subject. I planned a horizontal cloud on the right side and some wispy ones scattered randomly on the left. If you are not confident with improvisation, lightly outline the shapes in pencil before starting. I usually have a rough idea of the composition of the clouds across the sky. Plan for some rhythm and movement.
For my painting demonstration on pages 54-55, I decided to paint the buildings and the barges before finishing the background trees as it would enable me to judge the correct tone of the trees against the tone of the buildings and barges. The trees in the background provide a backdrop to the barges in the foreground, so should visually and tonally be positioned in the middle distance and beyond. I planned to paint the whole section in a single wash, focusing on variations in tree shapes and tones. The greatest detail and tones were reserved for the barges. The shapes were drawn accurately, but the structures on the decks treated more loosely. Besides the dark tone of the hulls, there are notable textural effects created by brushing on a stronger mix over the wet first wash. The red trims on the barges play a striking role, for they light up the whole composition. Try obscuring them with a finger and you will appreciate what is missing. Likewise, if you obscure the figures, the picture will have lost a significant element. Figures introduce life, movement, colour and scale (I have to confess that these figures could be 10 per cent smaller).
To attain the bright, fresh atmosphere, only one wash of paint is recommended, occasionally two. When different pigments are mixed into a wet wash, it still counts as one wash.
Foreground
It is important at this stage to decide: (a) how much foreground to include; (b) how much information or detail and (c) how strong a tone overall. There was already a lot of detail, texture, tone in the middle ground and the sky, so a plain light foreground would be best. Fortunately it was ready made in this instance. Imagine what it would look like if the foreground was full of reeds, mud, old ropes, puddles and reflections galore. Thank goodness there was an incoming tide.
I hope that my demonstration serves as a guide to painting from your own photographs, without slavishly copying but using the information provided to compose your own interpretation. I have also tried to illustrate the technique of painting wet-into-wet, in order to limit the layers of paint used. The overall effect is a fresh, bright and translucent image, which the camera cannot replicate!