How to paint shadow areas in Watercolor

I have only just realized that subscribers to my blog receive notification and the text of each blog via email as well. How clever this program and my webmaster Doris is! But we have also only just realised that this text is sent on a white background. So when the text is yellow (as it was in my previous posts) it is hard to read against the white background. The yellow text looks excellent against the black background of my blog page!

All the colours are now altered in the previous text that was sent via email. So that they are good to read - in your mailbox and on my website.

If you would like to read the previous articles again please visit these links:

Article 1: What Transparent pigments does Susan Harrison-Tustain use?

Article 2 - How to compensate for too much red in skin tone

Here comes the next article to the  series of notes on Susan's Watercolor palette.

Article 3 - How to paint shadow areas in Watercolor

Using my Priming Method I lay in at least one underwash of yellow.

My shadow mix is often warm in color temperature. So I will sometimes use

• Alizarin Crimson
• Aureolin
• and a touch of Thalo Blue.

I let this mix favor the Alizarin Crimson. But if I want a warmer mix - I will sometimes add a touch of Scarlet Red.

I use Schmincke watercolors exclusively for the reasons mentioned in my previous posts.
When working in shadowed areas that I want to glow with warmth - I find I am often adding more red and more yellow in subsequent washes. Blue is ideal to use to help describe shadows. But blue dulls my beautiful glow down so much more than I imagine it will. So use it cautiously - in fine washes initially.

The trick is to have your yellow underwash glowing in a multiple fine washes of yellow. The darker your shadow - the more saturated you will need your yellow hue. Remember to keep your washes fine. If you use thick layers of paint - the paint will lift when you lay in your subsequent washes (shadow washes).

This will give you a fabulous glow from underneath which looks incredible. Check out the gallery in my website and you will see what I mean. Click on the image below.

Some of these paintings are available as Giclee Fine Art Prints. Visit the Fine Art Prints Page to see close ups of these images.

Watch this space for Article 4? - Shadow color mixes --- Shall I use Blue and Yellow or should I use sap green?

Tags: color temperature, priming method, shadow, shadow mixes, warm mix, warm shadows, yellow underwash

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 15th, 2011 at 1:06 pm and is filed under Art Lessons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.