Ann Blockley - Watercolour Workshop: Projects and Interpretations

Ann Blockleys

WATERCOLOUR
WORKSHOP

PROJECTS AND INTERPRETATIONS

Ann Blockleys

PROJECTS AND INTERPRETATIONS

To imagination, integrity, and interpretation; to being true to yourself.

Blackberry Hedge (detail)

This book is about YOU. It is designed to help you create your own personal workshop and make unique interpretations. I am passionate about the idea that artists at every level should create work that reflects something of themselves, expressing an individual viewpoint. The following pages are about ways of seeing as well as ways of doing. I cannot see through your eyes but I can act as facilitator while giving you a practical helping hand to encourage you as you play with paint, develop your own voice and interpret your world.

AS PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, I CANNOT BUT MAKE PROGRESS; EACH DRAWING ONE MAKES, EACH STUDY ONE PAINTS, IS A STEP FORWARD.

VINCENT VAN GOGH

I have called this book Watercolour Workshop because it is packed with practical advice about water-based mediums. However, its main aim is to be a springboard to inspire your creative development. I have divided the book into flexible projects, including demonstrations with optional alternative techniques to be used as starting points for your own adventures. I have deliberately not shown every minor stage in order to encourage an adaptable approach. Traditional step by steps can give the idea that there is a set formula to painting, when of course there are an infinite number of possibilities. The purpose of the demonstrations and interpretations that follow is to stimulate inventive thinking.

The projects do not need to be followed in order; you can pick and mix between them, as the content is interchangeable between chapters. For example, the wildflower meadow on can be painted simply or made more complex by following ideas from the later abstract section. You might like to swap experimental methods for traditional ones according to your level of experience. If you are a fledgling painter you will probably stay close to my ideas, but take courage as you begin to fly and explore further. Banish the pressure to perform by planning to repeat the exercises, each time varying the colours, tones, composition, brushwork and marks or altering the focal point. There are also suggestions for taking things further and for adapting the subjects using your own reference material.

In the demonstrations I have sometimes included a sketch, photograph or still-life material to show what inspired the painting. This is the vital backbone to artwork. Ideas flow from a whole feast of personal experience and my advice is to prioritize the gathering of your own library of explorations. It is this personal selection that will ultimately give your paintings authenticity. Techniques are just a small part of being an artist, so please dont skip through the sections about exploring and looking in order to get to the tasty technical tips!

Each chapter has been organized into subjects to give cohesion to the book. However, the subject is secondary to the painterly choices that help to make a unique interpretation. Thinking in abstract terms helps us to loosen up and steer away from pedantic detail. I have called the final section of the book Towards Abstraction as it takes these thoughts a stage further.

The watercolour aspect of the workshop is simply that all the images were painted using water-based mediums and a basic knowledge of traditional methods is assumed. However, there is plenty of advice to help you use watercolour in different loose and expressive ways. When you practise the exercises, remember that watercolour varies according to many factors such as consistency, paint, colour mixing, temperature and humidity. Your own interpretations are likely to vary from those shown here. Remember that there is no right or wrong way to do it this workshop is about enjoying watercolour and using it in your own way.

Metamorphosis

Paintings metamorphose like a butterfly unfolding from its cocoon. I hope this book will help your creativity unfurl.

Winter Teasels by the Pond

In this version I have changed the colours to a more wintry palette of blues and purples. Even the colours of the tree trunks share this colour scheme.

Teasels by the Pond

I see this clump of teasels by a local pond on an almost daily basis and enjoy painting different versions of it. Some of the interpretations vary considerably, while others contain only subtle variations. In this interpretation I illustrated my mental description of sparkles and tangles. Thinking about the tapestry of undergrowth and light on the water as adjectives helped me to see them in a more decorative way.

One of the main lessons of this book is about interpreting your subject. One definition of interpretation is to bring out the meaning and as artists what we find meaningful helps to define our individual voice. Sometimes interpretation can mean the point when we depart from reality and use imagination rather than simply representing our subject. It may also mean exaggerating or emphasizing particular aspects of what we see in order to make a point. More subtly, it may be the relative emphasis we give each element of design to determine the overall mood.

Another way of looking at this is that when you explore a subject you are weaving a uniquely descriptive visual story around it. You may want to whisper, shout or sing your tale depending on your mood or personality and you need to decide what is and is not relevant to the plot. Your storytelling or how you interpret a subject is what makes it original. In painting we use mark-making instead of words with adjectives and nouns. However, thinking of a subject in terms of the adjectives that describe it can help to clarify your selection of appropriate methods and marks. This also seems to encourage movement to a looser, more impressionistic approach.