Watercolor painting by
Anthony Burgos
Anthony Burgos's watercolor learning experience:
This drawing was a quick watercolor study on using my imagination to practice color composition. It started out as a loose sketch inspired by an acrylic still life I had done for my painting class, which I then lightly applied watercolor paint to. As this was an exercise in color use, I tried to stick to light pen work and apply paint directly to paper for some objects such as the orange. Other colors such as the blues for the cloth and the yellows for the background while not exactly realistic, I applied to convey the feelings behind each type of lighting.
This piece is done in a very loose, flowing, more organic style than I am used to. My usual method of painting involves me heavily layering watercolor paint with small amounts of water, in an almost acrylic kind of style. This drawing on the other hand was done extremely loosely, using a small amount of paint and more water. Starting with loose suggestions of objects, I used moderately watered paint to color the subjects such as the bottle, apples, and orange. I first put color to define their shapes then lightened and darkened areas accordingly. For the wall, branch, and table cloth I used plain water to set up where I wanted the water to go in each area. While I think it came out a bit too dark for the branch, the wall and table cloth fold came out just as I had wanted. The application of water before a light amount of paint gave each of those two subjects the seamless, flowing qualities that suited them.
This painting, while a small and quick work, was fun to do and is satisfying to look back on. It is a refreshing departure from my usual habits; I usually draw and paint very tight and cautiously and here I was very loose and relaxed. I believe since I was paying more attention towards what I believed felt right rather than what looked right that I was able to accurately portray what I saw in my mind's eye and had much more fun doing so.
