Every so often I will demo and have someone watch me paint. It is usually not a fellow artist but someone who is genuinely curious about the process. The response I get while I work is that it is beautiful (which is lovely to hear) but also "You make it look so easy." After 24+ years of working in this medium it is a little easier than it used to be but there is a process that occurs that not many artists reveal that makes it look like its an easy accomplishment to create a painting that works. It's called Pre-Planning.
I take notes -- lots of notes. Little pieces of paper with notations on color combinations, how light or dark to make a painting, where the light is coming from.
I like to do a quick tryout of actual paint on paper on some of the trickier parts of the composition to see how the colors might flow and mingle. Watercolor is a fresh, flowing medium and I will tell you the it is RARE to get the same thing twice. But it gives me an idea of how it might look if I apply a certain technique.
I will then do a quick study of the actual piece. I try not to let it look like a finished detailed work of art. You will see the study above is not close to the detail the final product will contain. But it helps me loosen up, get less anxious and feel more comfortable with the colors and layout that I have decided on.
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| "Afternoon Rush Hour - Uskadar, Turkey" Original Watercolor by Krys Pettit |
Doing all these steps ahead time is sometimes a little frustrating because all I want to do is paint. But a bit of careful planning makes it possible for me to create a a wonderful painting like the one above with complex detail. When its done I feel I have done my job as close to perfection as I can. All with a bit of pre-planning.
You can see more of my finished work (without all those scribbled pre-planning notes!) on my website:
Krys Pettit - Artist
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