Watercolor Painting for Dummies (31 page)

The slow, subtle change of gradation can sneak up on you, just as age does.
Gradation
is a subtle, gradual change of light to dark, of warm to cool, of one color to another. It’s my favorite type of transition in watercolor. Instead of using one color to shade the side of a building, use a warm orange that slowly becomes a cool blue.

If the changes are smooth and subtle, the audience won’t even see a difference, but they’ll notice a more interesting scene. They may not even figure out what you did to make it more interesting!

Try making a graded swatch:

Figure 6-8:
Gradation exercise using blue to red.

Change colors` often in your paintings — at least every inch. Because of the slow, gentle change in graded washes, you can use as much gradation as you like. Gradation just makes things more intriguing. Use abrupt change like contrast (see the previous section) sparingly.

Check the areas of gradation in Figure 6-9. The house roof has a subtle gradation of warm color on top where the sun hits that gradates to a cool area near the house. The yellow walls of the second story are a gradation of earthy ochre at the top changing to a bright lemon yellow, then changing back again on the ground floor. The trees have numerous gradations of green. The grass is a gradation of yellow-green to a blue-green. The shadows have color gradations. These color changes are much more eye-catching than having only one color, value, or intensity.

Figure 6-9:
Many areas of this painting take advantage of gradation as a means of change.

Shadows are more entertaining to the viewer if they combine several colors, and they’re perfect candidates for gradation. A shadow using slow gradation of blue to red with purple in the middle is more to look at than just one straight color.

Often people like each other because they are somewhat alike — they get along, they’re harmonious. Creating
harmony
in a painting involves the same principle. You use colors or shapes that get along.

To find colors that make sweet harmony, you just look for colors that lie next to each other on the color wheel (check the color wheel on the Cheat Sheet at the front of the book). And, unlike some human relationships, neighbors on the color wheel all get along. Because the colors are so closely related, they create harmony. Another term for colors directly next to each other is
analogous
color.

You can create harmony by making slight changes and repeating any design element in a slightly altered form. For example, you can repeat round shapes but vary them slightly.

The still life in Figure 6-10 repeats ovals, circles, and round shapes with slight variations to create harmony throughout the painting. Upon a round tray sits an oval silver teapot, round fruits, a curvy creamer, a concave spoon, a sugar bowl with an oval top, a wine glass filled with orange juice, and a tea infuser all in oval shapes. Even the flowers in the background have oval centers and petals.

You know the adage “Variety is the spice of life.” Variety is the spice in art as well.
Monotony
or sameness can change a potentially good painting into a bedspread pattern and put the viewer to sleep. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with pattern. It’s just that to make a great painting, you need to add variety to keep the viewer’s attention.

Figure 6-11 shows two paintings of trees. Figure 6-11a shows a pattern of some very nice trees. Figure 6-11b takes those nice trees, adds variety, and produces a better painting. Each tree is a different width and a different height, is on a different plane (trees on a plane! Not a good title for a movie, I guess), and is a different distance from its neighbors.

Repeating without variety is an easy mistake to make. Figure 6-12 shows two thumbnail paintings with sky, clouds, mountains, foothills, trees, and foreground. The repeating zigzag in every aspect of Figure 6-12a is too much the same. Variety to the rescue! By zigging where I zagged before, I created a better result in Figure 6-12b, which makes use of repetition
and
variety.

While Figure 6-12 is exaggerated, it’s easier than you think to repeat horizon lines, as in the before picture. In the after picture, adding variety lets the horizon lines overlap and go in different directions. Overlapping layers creates depth, so don’t be afraid to paint layers over one another. Make a conscious effort to add variety to horizon lines for interest.

Practice variety in a thumbnail sketch (turn to Chapter 7 for more on these itty-bitty paintings). The following are some suggestions to explore variety:

Figure 6-11:
Before and after variety is added to a forest of aspen trees.

Figure 6-12:
Before and after adding variety to a landscape that makes use of repetition.