Laying down tracks

Many people ask how I'm able to achieve such control in my paintings without the use of masks of any kind. My process begins with what I call "laying down tracks."

Once a painting is lightly sketched out with pencil (and I only sketch out the "landmark" shapes in order to get my bearings), the next level of detail is a first, light layer of paint that defines all the major regions of the painting and establishes the first lights and darks. This first layer is what I refer to as "laying down tracks" because the result serves as a guide for the multiple layers to come.

Glass-free watercolors

One of the banes of watercolor art is that it must go behind glass when framed. Glass and plexiglass have inherent problems: breakage, warping, glare and condensation. For these reasons, many galleries and customers shy away from watercolors. (Always use plexi - it's lighter, and if it falls, it doesn't break and shread your artwork or your body!)

Condensation
In direct sunlight, a fog builds up on the inside of the glass, not only creating an ugly, blocked view of your art, but also exposing your art to moisture which can be damaging over time.

Glare and Reflection
Both glass and plexi produce glare and reflection making it difficult to enjoy the full beauty of watercolor. Never use glare-free glass or plexi - it's sort of frosted and makes the work look blurry. Please share if you've found a glare-free product that works!

Glass-free Solution
A technique you can use to get away from glass is to borrow from the Acrylic artist's toolkit and use two products to coat your final work: a spray fixative followed by a UV acrylic clear coating. For a fixative, I've used Ampersand's Clayboard Fixative (although another watercolor artist told me Krylon products are fine too). Once the artwork is fixed, either roll on or brush on two separate coats of Golden's Polymer Varnish with UVLS. Let the first coat dry thoroughly, then take a rag and burnish the surface. Apply a second coat, let dry, and burnish again with a rag.

Both products are non-yellowing and made for the fine art market. For "archival" concerns (if you are destined to become the next Georgia O'Keefe), both are removeable and even provide removal instructions on their web sites.

I use Golden's Gloss Varnish because it lends an incredible saturation to your colors - making them look wet again. It also creates such a nice barrier that you can spill coffee on your work and wipe it off with a damp rag! Another artist I know uses the Matte finish. My tests show the Matte finish doesn't create the strong anti-coffee barrier, but it does yield the most natural-looking results - your painting looks the same. In fact, I'm thinking about using the fixative + matte UV coating on my paintings that go behind glass in order to give them that much more longevity and light fastness.

Framing Glass-free Watercolors
Without the glass, people can easily mistake your watercolor for some other medium (people think mine are oils). Therefore, I like to frame my coated pieces just as I would a normal, uncoated piece: using a wide fabric matte, filet, and gorgeous frame. For a more modern look, I have also had my paintings mounted to gatorfoam for rigidity (which is acid free and much stronger than foam core) and then framed in a "floating frame."

"Sweetening"

My paintings all feature numerous layers. How many layers? I never count - just as many as it takes to build up the final richness I'm looking for.

The final layer, however, is always what I call the "sweetening" layer. This is the finishing touch that breathes life into the painting. In this layer, I apply a thin transparent wash of a warm color like MaimeriBlue Violetto Permanente Rossastro, Holbein Scarlet Lake, Holbein New Gambouge, or a Daniel Smith Quinacridone. The effect creates a warm glow of life and softness that also creates added dimension.

Preferred Paints

I work exclusively with tube paints in order to get the intense richness and saturation needed for my style of painting. I notice such a disparity between brands for the same color such as "Cobalt Blue" that I usually order the same color from a few brands and see which brand I like best for a particular color.

Daniel Smith
My current favorite brand for the Quinacridones is Daniel Smith. Specifically Quin Pink and Quin Sienna for an amazing orange. People say there is a lot of honey in Daniel Smith, but for the colors I use of this brand, I have not had any flow problems.

MaimeriBlu
Without question, MaimeriBlue "Violetto Permanente Bluastro" and "Violetto Permanente Rossastro" are two favorites, and are my key - believe it or not - to great plant greenery. When these two encounter Hookers or Sap Green, a cool texure emerges. Additionally, the reds of these two add life and dimension to plant life. Definately a mainstay of my toolkit.

Holbein
Most of the rest of my colors currently come from the Holbein collection. There are some colors, however, that I still prefer in other brands. The Winsor and Newton Cobalt Blue, for instance, is so rich and bright compared to Holbein's.

Creating Buzzing Edges

Many of my more recent paintings are excellent examples of what I call my "buzzing edges" tecnique. This technique creates an exceptional amount of visual depth in a painting by causing your eye to vibrate at the edges of a subject, and thereby making the subject appear to have a stereoscopic effect, separating it from its background.

To accomplish this, I create tension along the edges of a subject by applying first a light blend of a bold, usually primary, color such as Lemon Yellow, Colbalt Blue, or Scarlet Lake that bleeds over either side of the edge. Once that dries, i follow up with a line of usually the same color on the edge. Depending on the painting, I may follow up with a different bold color on the other side of the edge. The result is a dramatic "buzzing edge" that lifts the subject away from the background.