Exercise 18:
WASHES, SHADOW, AND TONE WITH PEN AND PAINT
IN THIS EXERCISE, WE WILL BUILD A STILL LIFE DRAWING OF FRUITS OR VEGETABLES BY LAYERING WHITE WASHES IN GOUACHE ON TOP OF EACH OTHER. THIS WILL CREATE SHADING, GIVING DEPTH AND FORM TO YOUR SUBJECT. SHADING, HIGHLIGHTS, AND LOWLIGHTS WILL ALSO BE ACHIEVED AS YOU ADD DETAIL USING BLACK AND WHITE PAINT PENS. ART CREATED WITH WHITE GOUACHE HAS A CALM AND QUIET BEAUTY.
MATERIALS
Newspaper or large craft paper
Palette
White gouache
Inexpensive brush for mixing
Black heavy cardstock
Round or mop paintbrush
Black permanent marker
White and black gel pens
Examples of gouache tonal work with and without detail line work
1. Cover your work space with newspaper or large craft paper.
2. Find a couple of vegetables or pieces of fruit to use as a reference. I have chosen an onion and bulbs of garlic.
3. Study the reference and notice your dark tones, medium tones, and highlight areas.
4. On a palette, mix the white gouache with varying amounts of water to get three levels of wash: dark (thickest), medium (in the middle), and light (thinnest). You will layer from the light transparent white to the medium wash to the opaque white. Use an inexpensive brush to mix the gouache.
5. Set up the paper you will paint on. Load a round or mop brush with the lightest level of white gouache.
TIP: Use a hair dryer to speed drying time.
6. Paint the foundation of your vegetable still life with a light hand. (See A.) Let the paint dry to achieve a glazing technique or see the tip (right) for wet-on-wet.
7. Paint a second wash with the medium tone of gouache on the existing vegetable shapes. Find the medium tones in your reference so the wash is placed selectively. Let the paint dry. (See B.)
TIP: To use a wet-on-wet technique, do not let the paint dry between layers and let the colors bleed into each other.
8. To finish your piece, paint a few dark areas and leave small parts of the underlayers of the vegetables as your highlights peeking through; this will give the vegetables form.
9. Let your artwork dry before doing any pen work.
10. With your marker and gel pens, create details. Use the white gel pen or more gouache paint for highlights, and use the black gel pen or marker for the darker areas. (See C.)