Publications

Introduction

Writing a step-by-step guide implies art can be produced by formula or recipe. It suggests artists always produce their work by some predictable process that can be recorded and duplicated. The artists in this book recorded techniques used to create some of their works. They may never use this same succession of steps or even the same process in another painting. In truly creative processes, the first step dictates the succeeding steps. Each piece of art will progress in an individual way; none will duplicate the process of another.

The steps, materials, tools, and processes illustrated in this book provide a starting point for your own explorations. Innovative approaches to watercolor encourage total spontaneity and freedom from rules, steps, or predictable processes. We hope the step-by-step demonstrations and the innovative showcase images serve as a springboard and inspiration for all of you.

Sample Chapter Page 1

Mary Ann Beckwith is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Michigan Technological University, where she formerly taught drawing, design, and watercolor painting. She has also taught numerous workshops, served as juror in a variety of shows, and served as the president of the Midwest Watercolor Society.

“The intense, saturated colors I use are not part of my environment or of places I have been. They are from a part of my soul. I feel a very strong need to fill my world with great, outrageous fields of color.” -Mary Ann Beckwith

“The images which I create reflect the evolution of my vision.” Design is a conscious element within Beckwith’s work. Washes of white paint build rhythmic patterns on the surface and enhance her design. She uses layers, sometimes as many as ten to fifteen, of colored washes, as well as applications of colored pencil and pastel. She varies her watermedia techniques with each new painting-from the application of traditional transparent washes to the use of webbing and spraying ink.

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Origins: Revelation

• Arches 140# hot press watercolor paper
• Creepy Cobwebs-threaded dacron cobwebs used for Halloween decoration
• Lighfast inks (including white)
• White gouache paint
• Natural and geometric cutouts for painting resists
• Transparent watercolors
• Watercolor pencils
• Gatorboard
• Spray bottles for the inks
• Windex
• Pushpins

1Beckwith begins by attaching two sheets of watercolor paper to a piece of gatorboard with push pins. Creepy Cobwebs are stretched tautly over the surface and attached with push pins. The surface and webbing are sprayed with water and any excess water is poured off. Working quickly, Beckwith sprays lightfast inks onto the paper and cobwebs. The colors flow along the webs to create a rich variety of colors. During the painting process, she gently rewets and presses any cobwebs that lift from the watercolor surface.

2Beckwith sprays additional layers of ink on the wet painting. She carefully mops large pools of ink off the painting, while smaller pools are left on the surface and encouraged to run by tilting the gatorboard. The paint courses along the strands of webbing intensifying the color where the webbing touches the surface and causing further color mixing.

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3The painting dries just until the sheen has left most of the surface. Lifting the webbing gently, Beckwith is careful not to disturb the lines that are still wet. She applies colored ink with a brush to tone any white portions of the paper. Beckwith moves the painting to a clean surface before it dries completely, so that it does not adhere to the gatorboard.

4Beckwith lays out resists in a variety of shapes. She sprays diluted white ink, varying the density of coverage, removes the resist, and allows the painting to dry. Selected edges are softened by lifting the white ink with Windex, an excellent solvent for the white ink. Small shapes are lifted out of the white as well. Using white gouache, watercolor pencils, and diluted white gouache, Beckwith develops movement and color transitions.

5After re-evaluating the painting, Beckwith decides to unify the painting by lifting the white to create larger shapes of color. With watercolor pencils, Beckwith builds transitions that separate each geometric shape from its surroundings. (See page 66 for finished painting.)