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    Painting Moving Water: Surface Energy
    Painting Moving Water: Surface Energy
    Painting Moving Water: Surface Energy
    Ebook202 pages1 hour

    Painting Moving Water: Surface Energy

    By Ev Hales

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    About this ebook

    Energy, sound and rhythm all combine when water is moving fast. This painting instruction ebook takes you on a ride down the rapids as you explore moving water and the potential of this subject when in an artist’s hands. Find patterns that help create the illusion of movement. Specific brush techniques illustrate freedom with your brushwork and when this is combined with a suitable painting surface you will capture the energy of moving water on a flat surface.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateApr 25, 2015
    ISBN9780987114181
    Painting Moving Water: Surface Energy

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      Book preview

      Painting Moving Water - Ev Hales

      Conclusion.

      Introduction

      This volume Painting Moving Water focuses on the kinds of movement that accompany a body of water and explores different ways to interpret this moving liquid mass as a painting subject.

      All the adjectives associated with moving water have energy and often onomatopoeic sound connections - pounding waves, burbling brook, pelting rain, thundering waterfall, rushing river, gurgling stream or gushing fountain. These descriptive words provide not only a visual image but also suggest a rhythmic element because the words themselves encourage emphasis on certain syllables. If the aim is to translate this rhythmic aspect into a painting, then the tools - brushes, paint, color, paper, canvas - will play a part in the energy, pressure and accent required to create images of any moving water subject. Straight lines or neatly contained edges will not be found where water is on the move. Indeed when water is moving really fast it begins to break up into droplets and its bulk becomes fragmented into spray. This spray will diffuse the view of objects close to it as it blocks the air particles in much the same way a heavy mist hides objects in the landscape.

      Energy is needed to shift the water particles from one place to the next and how much energy is used dictates the pace that the water is moving. Translate this into how you will paint such movement by transferring energy from your arm/hand movement to your brush stroke.

      Noise is an aspect that is subliminally experienced. I love walking along the beach because of the rhythmic heartbeat of the wave intervals. When painting on location you slip into a painting rhythm almost because of the background sounds. The intensity of the sound will equate to tonal contrast in your imagery.

      Rhythm describes the intervals of the movement, like wave frequency or flow of a river over rocks. The rhythm is created by the repetitive pattern of the movement. The beat is never regular. Rather there will be a sameness that has an associated variation. No wave is ever the same, nor is any splash exactly repeated as water meets a rock, but the rock will impact on the water as it flows, at the same place each time. So a sense of the changeable is needed as well as a pattern to the movement. Without the variation the movement is frozen in time and loses its energy.

      The value of working on location

      Capturing a sense of this noisy, ever changing element in paint is best understood by working, at least occasionally, on location. Here you can soak up the challenge and truly comprehend the swiftness of change along with the sense of continuity that occurs when watching water on the move. Plate 2 shows a painting where the subject is right in front of my nose. Nothing is static and the challenges associated with such an interpretation on paper are huge. It is important to understand the process if you are to be convincing with your image. Observation is the key to understanding.

      Watch, analyze and interpret.

      Once you understand what is happening with the flow it is easier to work out how to use your painting tools to achieve the effect you want. I will look at different situations in this book and explain how I have interpreted the movement.

      The primary goal is the transient impression rather than the suspended motion, as captured in a still photograph.

      What is water?

      Water is essential to life. In its pure form it is a colorless, odorless, transparent liquid that makes up 70% of the earth and 75% of the human body. In the right circumstances it has the power to sculpt the hardest rocks, move mountains and cut pathways through any landscape. En masse it can be a raging river, crashing ocean, lapping pond, roaring waterfall, dripping tap or gently flowing stream.

      Among the chosen subjects embraced in this ebook are the ocean, wave movement, waterfalls, rivers, streams, running taps and fountains. They all involve different aspects of moving water.

      - A wave builds and rolls.

      - Water flows over the land.

      - Water falls from a height.

      - Water is sucked down a small opening creating a vortex.

      These motions, with the exception of the vortex, are explored in chapters with specific examples. Fountains and blow holes treat water differently by projecting a water spurt vertically into the air, working against the natural forces of gravity.

      There are different challenges when painting still water and moving water

      Therefore this ebook makes a perfect companion to Volume 4 Painting Still Water. When moving water is set against a body of relatively still water there is a fascinating foil for the movement. The challenge is how to use the contrast of energy and implied noise against the stillness and silence. The key to painting still water is the horizontal water surface. The surface changes whenever there is any kind of movement in, on or under the water. Even relatively slow moving water relies on a distortion of the surface to indicate the kind of movement that is occurring. Therefore this ebook complements and extends the issues discussed in Volume 4 Painting Still Water. This Volume 8 Painting Moving Water is all about the more dynamic side of this fascinating subject. A clear understanding of both still and moving water gives the artist a wide range of subject possibilities.

      The shoreline contains the water

      Because the water has no shape of its own, the structures that confine the water become an important aspect in your composition. The shore will determine the shape of the water in your painting. Texture is the focus when you explore the characteristics of the different edges found against a mass of water. Some textures deal with solid forms. Others, like rocks covered by spray, require the transient element. Playing solid against fluid is an interesting dynamic that can be explored by an artist.

      Technical issues

      1. Surface to paint on. The surface that you use to create images of moving water on can play a pivotal role in your achieving your goal. The choice is relevant for all mediums, but it is crucial for watercolorists, especially if you are working as a purist. As a purist in watercolor painting you do not paint white. You leave fresh untouched paper as your white area. Planning your approach informs your method. If you choose a rough surface to paint on this allows your brush to skim the surface and create spray informally. Because the white spray is a critical part of fast moving water, being able to use the surface texture to create varied edges against the clean paper when you apply the color for the rest of the water is a real bonus. It is the opposite in oils, pastels or acrylics because you establish the white of the waves or foaming water at the end of the process, after the rest of the water is painted.

      2. Brush Technique. This is relevant for all media except pastel where a stroke replaces the brush mark. All media demand the ability to capture the intangible and constantly changing quality of water movement. How you hold your brush and apply your brush marks communicates the movement and is the key to success when painting this subject.

      This ebook is full of information about the subject of moving water as well

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