Pat Dews - The Painters Workshop--Creative Composition & Design

THE PAINTERS WORKSHOP
creative composition & design

THE PAINTERS WORKSHOP
creative composition & design

CLIFF STUDY
Pat Dews Watercolor, ink and acrylic on heavyweight Rives BFK printmaking paper 30"22" (76cm56cm) Collection of Anna and Bill Dunlop

[the painters workshop]

creative

composition
& design

PAT DEWS

CINCINNATI, OHIO
www.artistsnetwork.com

The Painters Workshop: Creative Composition & Design. Copyright 2003 by Pat Dews. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by North Light Books, an imprint of F&W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. (800) 289-0963. First edition.

Other fine North Light Books are available from your local bookstore, art supply store or direct from the publisher.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dews, Pat.
The painters workshop : creative composition & design / Pat Dews.1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-58180-303-6 (hc : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-504-7 (EPUB)
eISBN: 978-1-44031-736-1

1. Composition (Art) 2. Design. 3. PaintingTechnique. I. Title.

Editor: Stefanie Laufersweiler
Cover designer: Brian Roeth
Interior designer: Wendy Dunning
Layout artist: Christine Long
Production coordinator: Mark Griffin

Cover art by Pat Dews, Mark E. Mehaffey, Betty Carr and Jacqueline Chesley.
The constitute an extension of this copyright page.

Metric Conversion Chart

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pat Dews, an award-winning artist, works experimentally using watermedia on paper and canvas. She is an elected member of both the American Watercolor Society (AWS) and the National Watercolor Society (NWS) and a signature member of the National Collage Society. She is also a full member of the New Jersey Water Color Society, the National Association of Women Artists, and The Artist Guild of the Boca Raton Museum of Art in Florida. Some of her successes include the 2002 AWS Ida Wells Stroud Memorial Award, the NWS Liquitex Merchandise Award and the New Jersey Water Color Societys Nicholas Realle Memorial Award.

Pat conducts national and international workshops and has judged numerous watercolor exhibitions. She is represented by Jane Laws Long Beach Island Art Studios and Gallery in New Jersey. Pat is the author of Creative Discoveries in Watermedia (North Light Books, 1998).

With her husband, Joe, Pat lives and works in Florida during the winter and on the East End of Long Island in the summer. Visit Pats website at www.watercolorplace.com/dews.

We are all worms,
but I do believe I am a glowworm.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

DEDICATION

Dedicated to

Lillian and Joe

Kaili, Caitlin, K.C. and Courtney

They make my heart glad.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I thank God for blessing me with a talent.

Id also like to thank:

My husband, Joe, who in every way enables me to use this talent to its fullest. I could not have written this book without his complete support. While I was working, he helped not only me, but my elderly parents as well. He will be glad to end his stint as a wife!

My parents, Ed and Ethel Kane, for teaching me to be tenacious. My sister, Diane, and brother-in-law John Howland for their extra support in the care of my parents.

Rachel Wolf, for believing in this book. My editor, Stefanie Laufersweiler, a smart lady, for always being there for me with her experience and guidance in the writing of this book. Designers Brian Roeth and Wendy Dunning and everyone else at North Light who helped bring this book so beautifully to the printed page.

The contributing artistsBetty Carr, Mark Mehaffey, Jacqueline Chesley, Eydi Lampasona, Dorothy Masom and Lynn Weisbachfor so kindly sharing their wonderful work and their design input.

My students, for taking a risk and sharing their great experimental starts and finishes and for making me a better painter. Thanks especially to those students from the following groups who so kindly contributed their work to this book: Art in the Mountains, Bend, Oregon; Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida; Artists Workshop, Inc., New Smyrna Beach, Florida; Beaufort Art Association, Beaufort, South Carolina; The Bloomington Art Center, Bloomington, Minnesota; and the Hudson River Valley Art Workshops, Greenville, New York.

Mike Darcy at The Camera Shop, for convincing me to buy a Pentax and for prompt developing. Mike Richter at Mike Richter Photography, for showing me how to bracket and for shooting transparencies on the weekend. Positive Images Photo Labs Inc., for shooting and developing needed transparencies on short notice. Carolyn Fogle at Cheap Joes Art Stuff, for providing paper for testing in the eleventh hour. Barbara Golden at Golden Paints, for so generously supplying materials for my students to play and learn.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Start by taking a look at the design elements and principles that are essential for well composed paintings. Then, begin honing your skills with three projects designed to get you moving: making a painting from a texture sheet, creating an abstract design understructure, and allowing a piece of a larger image to inspire an entire painting.

See how six accomplished professional artists put together successful compositions in their own unique styles. Each painter shows his or her approach to design through demonstrations in a variety of mediums and examples that offer specific pointers.

Many artists have no trouble getting started with a painting but dont know how to finish it. This section provides a list of questions to consider as you finish your paintings. You will see how two particular abstract starts are brought to successful completion, and youll learn from design suggestions offered in critiques of student work.