Saturday, October 25, 2014

Steakhouse Step-by-Step

Here's a step-by-step watercolor sequence. I'm standing on the corner of 24th and Main in Bryan, Texas, looking east across the railroad tracks to the Longhorn Steakhouse. 

The watercolor sketchbook is held up to standing height by a pochade easel on a fully extended tripod.

I'm attracted to the tight grouping of telephone poles and the gray light. The lay-in is drawn with a blue water-soluble colored pencil, which will partially dissolve. Note the eye level or vanishing point is below the level of the tracks.

I wet the entire sky, covering it with some overall warm color, then the light gray cloud shadows, and as it starts to dry up, the distant blue sky. Then I cover the big planes of the shadow, leaving a few white accents.

 The poles and small details go in with Payne's gray and a round brush.

The whole painting takes an hour and a half. I shot some video, too, so I'll edit that and upload it next week.

Now...off to paint in Austin!
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Materials:
Homemade sketchbook pochade easel using adjustable torque hinges

72- Minute Instructional Video: "Watercolor in the Wild"
More info about the HD download at Sellfy (Paypal) or Gumroad (credit cards)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I tried plein-air painting for the first time yesterday. I don't think I've ever enjoyed myself so much while painting! Thanks so much for the inspiration.

Ezra Suko said...

I've enjoyed watching your Texas trip. When you're in Austin check out the capital building. There's a park there and some nice views on Congress Ave.

Larry Kitchen said...

Hey, If you are driving north, come by Kilgore College on your way. Laurie and I will put you up for the night, and show you the town! We met at Spectrum 2 years ago when you won the Grand Master. Your World building seminar was really great. Thanks for posting.

Larry Kitchen.com

Rich said...

3How the photograph pales in comparison.
Thanks for the step approach. Quite a steep learning-curve here.

The red lights don't show on the pale photo. On the other side, you left the red/white railway crossing gates open?!

Jim Hartlage said...

Maybe I'm late to the party on this one, but it seems as though the Moleskine Watercolor book you typically use has nearly doubled in price over the past few years. People are also commenting on how the paper is "different". Any thoughts on the matter that you would like to share?