WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS: More Ways to Use the Square

Here are examples of 6 more ways to use the square in your drawing and painting:



1)  SMALL, SQUARE, SEPIA-TONED PORTRAITS --

The above two portraits were painted on watercolor paper, and were each 12" x 12".

These next two portraits of Native Americans were painted on 8" x 8" Aquabord --

The following two portraits were painted on paper, with watercolor, and enhanced with watercolor pencils and charcoal . . . 

2)  MOSAIC PATTERN -- In these "Legs" paintings, the lower half of each painting is a field of colored squares, which looks like a tile mosaic pattern . . .

I've also super-imposed the grid pattern over the kids . . . 

The above two paintings are hanging in a Colorado hospital, in the pediatric ward; and the next three paintings are in a Fort Worth hospital . . . 

3)  LARGE BLOSSOMS on SMALL CRADLED AQUABORD SQUARES --

These square Aquabord panels are "cradled" (mounted on a wooden box).  They are about 2" deep, and the sides can be either painted or stained, so the paintings don't have to be matted and framed.

These little square paintings look great individually, or hung as a group, as above.

I sometimes continue the square theme in the background . . . 

4)  "PRISM" PAINTINGS -- The Grid is super-imposed on the subject.  It's painted realistically, but each square is a little different than the one next to it.  I like the contrast of the geometric shapes with the organic shapes. . . 

5) A SQUARE IN A SQUARE IN A SQUARE -- Inspired by Joseph Albers' Homage to the Square series of paintings.  Instead of square fields of color, I've implied the squares and filled them with veggies and fruit --

   

6) A SQUARE WITHIN A PATTERNED SQUARE FRAME -- 

 . . . and the pattern is also made up of squares.

WATERCOLOR WORKSHOP: Painting a Checkerboard Abstraction

Using a checkerboard grid as the basic design, we'll create an abstract, but organized field of painted squares. . .

We will use the cracks of a stone wall as a jumping-off point for this design . . . 

For this project, you will need the following:  watercolor paper and brushes, masking fluid, a quill pen or toothpicks and Q-tips (for the masking fluid) . . . 

and four watercolor pigments (Quinacridone Burnt Orange, French Ultramarine Blue, Quinacridone Gold, and Permanent Alizarin Crimson). . . 

Begin by drawing a grid on your watercolor paper, with a pencil and a ruler, resulting in 7 squares across and 10 squares down. . . 

Now, either sit in front of a stone wall, or refer to the photograph above, and draw the cracks in the wall, with your pencil.  No shading -- just draw the contour of the cracks you see.  Ignore the grid -- just draw the cracks until you've covered your paper. . . 

Now, prepare your masking fluid.  In a small plastic container, pour in a little of the masking fluid.  Add water to the masking fluid and mix it up with a toothpick.  By watering it down, it makes the masking go on easier with a quill pen.  I like to use a quill pen, because you can peel off the masking from the metal nib after it dries.  

Draw the masking fluid on the cracks -- in EVERY OTHER SQUARE. . . 

Allow the masking fluid to totally dry before proceeding.

Now, prep your paints on your palette -- the French Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Orange, and Quin Gold.  

Wet the entire painting with clear water, and drop in these four colors, in a random way, and let them mingle on their own. . . 

While this is still damp, spatter these same colors onto your painting (just dip your brush in the pigment and then tap your brush over the wet paint -- your brush should not touch the painting) . . . 

Now, let your painting dry, on a flat surface.

You will be doing some more masking, so be sure that your painting is completely dry.

Mix up some more masking fluid and water in your small plastic container.  

This time, apply the masking fluid to those squares that you skipped last time.  But, in those squares, instead of masking the cracks, you will MASK THE AREAS AROUND THE CRACKS . . . in EVERY OTHER SQUARE. . . 

When you have larger areas to cover with the masking, outline the shape with the quill pen, dipped in masking, and fill it in with a Q-tip dipped in masking.

So, each square is the opposite of the square next to it . . .  

Let this dry completely.  Meanwhile, mix up a few puddles of darks:  French Ultramarine + Burnt Orange; Burnt Orange + Alizarin Crimson; and, Alizarin Crimson + French Ultramarine . . . 

Now, WITHOUT wetting your paper first, start painting these darks on a diagonal, one at a time -- working your way down the paper.  When you switch colors, rinse out your brush quickly, pick up the next color, and start painting where you left off . . . 

While this is still wet, spatter some individual colors onto it -- Fr. Ultramarine, Aliz. Crimson, and Bt. Orange.  Now, let this dry completely.

Now, it's time to remove all the masking from your painting.  To do this, you can use a rubber cement pick-up eraser -- just rub it off gently.  If you don't have one of these erasers, you can use your thumb or a kneaded eraser.  

When you've picked up/ rubbed off all of the masking, rub your hand over the surface of the painting to make sure that you've gotten it all off.

You are almost, but not quite, finished.  

Mix up a pale wash of Quinacridone Gold -- lots of water with a little pigment.  Now, paint this wash over the outer squares only -- all the way around.  This is called "glazing" -- where you paint a pale wash over layers of dry paint.

OK -- NOW you're done!  Just sign, mat, and frame it -- it would look awesome with a big, wide white mat around it, in a simple black frame.

HOW-TO PROJECT: Using the GRID as a Drawing Tool

The grid can be a useful tool for transferring and enlarging one of your drawings or sketches . . .

For this tutorial, I'm starting with one of my small contour drawings of a face.  The original drawing is 5" x 5", and I want to enlarge it to 10" x 10". . . 

I draw a grid directly onto the paper, in pencil -- horizontal and vertical lines, 1" apart -- resulting in 5 squares across and 5 squares down. . . 

If you don't want to draw directly onto your drawing, you can put tracing paper over your drawing and draw the grid on that.

Now, I divide some of the squares even further, with some diagonal lines (where the features are). . . 

I add a few more horizontal and vertical lines, in the eye and mouth areas . . . 

Now, it's time to draw the grid on the 10" x 10" square.  I start by drawing the horizontal and vertical lines.  Since I want 5 squares across and 5 squares down, I draw the lines 2" apart. . . 

I further divide some of the squares with diagonal lines (making sure that I'm dividing the exact same squares as the small drawing, in exactly the same way.)

Now, I finish the grid with a few more horizontal and vertical lines, so this grid exactly matches the small grid . . . 

It's now time to start drawing the face.  I start in the middle, drawing the contour lines in pencil . . . 

Then, I just move from square to square, drawing the lines within each section.  If it's helpful, you can cover up the sections that you're not drawing, so you don't get distracted.

When I've finished my drawing, I draw over the pencil lines with a black felt pen (don't draw the grid lines in ink!)

I finish by erasing the pencil grid lines . . . 

You can also use the grid when drawing from a photograph.  Just draw your grid on a piece of tracing paper, or make a copy of the photo and draw your grid on that.  Sometimes it's helpful to draw the grid lines in red, so you don't get confused.