People who dine at this building in the Lincoln Park Zoo have a nice view of the lion habitat. The lions have an equally nice view of the people. I wonder who enjoys watching whom more?
This building caught my eye a few weeks ago, and I’ve been waiting for the perfect day to go back and paint it. Today was that day.
I arrived before the cafe opened, and sketched out the contours. I layed down the first set of washes, and then wouldn’t you know… someone came out and opened all the umbrellas. I decided to leave them closed in this painting and just rely on memory for the color and shadow.
One thing I learned from this painting is that I need to get faster. It took me an hour and a half to get the painting to its current state. And, while I’m relatively happy with the end result, it still looks to me like a rather quick sketch.
I’m still having trouble getting really dark darks. I’m not sure if this is a limitation of the medium or if I’m just doing something wrong. Given some of the better watercolor paintings I’ve seen, I am inclined to believe the problem is me.
Another thing I learned today is that people will leave you alone at the zoo. Everywhere else that I’ve drawn in public, people had no qualms about walking right up to me and looking over my shoulder to see what I was doing. Today, people walked by as if I weren’t there. That almost more unsettling than the other way ’round.
This is the first traditional watercolor I’ve done in a while. I’m not sure which I prefer doing: traditional, or ink and wash. I suppose I’ll have to continue working on both until one emerges as a preference. The ink and wash sketches are certainly faster to finish; but that may just be a matter of practice.
Note: The scanner washed the colors out slightly. Bad, scanner.
This is a lovely painting — and it doesn’t look sketchy to me at all.
I agree, it’s a lovely painting. It takes me a really long time to complete a painting, too, and I also have trouble getting the really dark values in. I think it’s very well done! nancy
I disagree – there is a sketchy quality to the painting, however, that is a visually appealing quality. Very often artists try to hide the process of picture-making to the point that their approach is dihonest to the medium. That is the great thing about watercolor is that there are many opportunities to show the process by being honest to the medium.
It is very difficult to get dark values with watercolor. I think the problem is solved mostly by getting a feel for the medium by working with it for an extensive period of time.
This is yet again another jaw-dropping piece!
I enjoy the colors, the great work in shading and lighting. It’s simply amazing Jeff!
Kosvanec’s “Transparent Watercolor Wheel” is a terrific book on the subject of washes, darks, etc. On page 69 he has a photo of a painting that used 1st carmine-phalo blue, followed by a carmine-sap green “to create another transparent dark”. His discussion on use of transparents, staining, and opaques is very thoughtful. That being said, I love what you’ve done, and I’m glad you kept the umbrellas closed. They, most of all, tell the story of your time there. Good work.
Sketchy or not, this is a wonderful painting. I love the light and shadow, the umbrellas folded, it looks like early morning and feels like it too.