Watercolor Postcard-Water and Reflections on Periscope

Here's my desk after today's live demonstration on periscope.tv/michelecoopart  Replay available for 24 hours. And you can still leave hearts if you like! :)

This is a bit of a sample of some things we covered in class today. How to adjust the composition, using a value study, following the value plan instead of a photo. Oh, and some tips on setting up a simple travel kit to use on the train, plane, road trip, etc.

Great group of viewers today, with good questions! I trust this will encourage you all to give watercolor sketching a try. :)

Update: If you missed the 24 hour window of opportunity to view replay on Periscope, please go to  see the replay now at Katch.me/michelecoopart.

Class demo Thursday

Waiting for the "last 5 strokes".

Here is the class demonstration from today's lesson. As I told my students, it's about 98% finished. The first time I confront a new subject I will work out an initial composition, then see where it takes me.  The reference photos are for inspiration but not to copy verbatim.  Usually, I will have made a value plan. Without a value plan, I am leaning on my experience. For a panoramic format like this I will use the steelyard type of composition. 

Balancing the composition: If you imagine visual interest as having weight, the trees have less "weight" than the buildings, so it takes a greater length of them as a counterbalance. I will need a small dark shape somewhere in the lower left quadrant to balance the large collection of buildings on the center/right. Its just like a lighter child who must sit further from the fulcrum of a see-saw to balance a heavier child. The fulcrum is seldom in the middle because most of the time artists are deliberately balancing a heavier mass with a lighter one. That is an artistic balance of unequal parts or asymmetrical balance.

Check back in a day or two for "the last five strokes". Feel free to write and tell me what you would have done.

Multiple compositions from the same Scene

As I was waiting at a stoplight the other day, I snapped a photo of the scene to my left. It was the sky that first caught my attention.

The longer I looked, the more compositional possibilities I saw.
So far, I've cropped out 9. Here are a few.

How many can you find?