Draw and paint a cliff in watercolour.
A key element of the coastal landscape is the cliff. They contrast starkly with the sand on the beach and the blue of the sea. We also find them in the mountains and in quarries. I have painted many. How to go about it – to go straight for the paint or to draw them first? I’ve done both, it depends on my humour and it depends on the cliff in question.
To start – a drawing is needed in all cases. At the very least, the shape of the headland needs to be outlined, and the base of the cliff. We also need to draw the horizon and any other features. These can be done lightly. Then we can start to apply the paint.
I usually start with the sky, this brings me down to the top of the headland and to the horizon of the sea and sky. When we paint in watercolour we first lay down the very lightest colours in the scene. Accordingly, I search for the lightest shades in the cliff, and put down a light wash, perhaps raw sienna or raw umber, probably dropping some other shades (red, blue whatever) and let that dry. I might then use a dry brush approach to darken the areas in shadow. Finally I will ‘draw’ the crevices and rocks with a small brush using darker colours (burnt umber/ultramarine). I will have a reference photo, and I will try to keep my image true to this.
There is a nice technique that can be used for rocks. Paint on a thick layer of different (dark) colours and let it dry for a bit. Before it is fully dry, use a piece of a broken (credit) card and scrape off round rock shapes. This works well for rocks in the foreground. However – I don’t use this approach much, as it gives a slightly abstract rendition of the rocks or cliff face. I prefer to draw the rocks and work light to dark as described above.
I am a representational watercolour landscape artist. For me it is important to have the painting as close to reality as possible. I don’t worry about ending up with something that looks more like a photo than a painting. This doesn’t happen. Firstly – I use more than one reference photo, and secondly, I will tend to only have detail in parts but not all of the painting. Also, thanks to the ‘happy accidents’ phenomenon it’s always going to look like a painting.
Sometimes the cliff is not the key part of the scene, but sometimes it is. If the cliff is a recognisable landmark, or the key feature of the scene, then I draw the cliff in great detail.
How do I draw such a cliff. I approach it the same way as I draw anything. I draw what I see.
Some will use a projector, and trace the image on the paper! Many artists use a grid approach, ruling the paper into squares, and doing the same with the reference photo, and then they proceed one square at a time. This approach is widely used, and by many artists that I admire.
I don’t use a grid, I find it tedious, more importantly the grid is difficult to eliminate. Let me explain. The system works well for oils and acrylics (maybe gauche) because these are opaque mediums, the paint covers the pencil marks. Watercolour doesn’t. It is important to erase all superfluous or unwanted pencil marks before applying watercolour paint. If you paint a watercolour wash over a pencil line you will not be able to erase it afterwards. You don’t want the grid to show through your painting.
I draw what I see, but I do need some tools to get the shapes and perspective right. My paintings represent places I have been and liked. I take photographs and do some sketching at the scene, and the work starts shortly afterwards in the studio. I generally crop the chosen photo on my laptop or iPad, so that the composition is as I want it. Having decided on the paper size (A4, A3 etc) I measure the size of the reference photo relative to the sheet of paper. I can contrive it to be an easy ratio to work with, by adjusting the size of the image. My laptop screen is about A4 size, if the paper is A3 then the image needs to be twice as big on the paper, as on the screen. It can be worked out for any size of paper.
I then look for the key points of the image. The highest point on the headland, it might be 12cm from the side of the reference and 6cm from the top. That translates to 24 and 12 on the A3 paper. I mark that point on the paper (using a ruler). And so I continue. I mark the location of the bottom of the cliff, boulders, the sea horizon, any offshore rocks etc. Using my eye I ‘join the dots’ (very lightly) and go through a process of reviewing and erasing until the scene matches the reference. I take care to ensure that any man-made objects (boathouse/pier etc) are correct in their proportions and position.
Now the question arises – how much detail is needed in the drawing. If the focal point is a person walking a dog on the beach or if the cliff is in the distance, detail is not really required. If the cliff itself is the focal point then I do a detailed pencil drawing of the cliff. I draw the cliff in great detail in pencil first. I draw every crevice, boulder, overhang – I create a pencil drawing that would make the cliff recognisable to the viewer. I generally do this by eye, I already have the outline and key shapes. My iPad has a touch screen, this is a great asset as it allows me to zoom in to view the detail more closely, and zoom back out again, easily.
At this point, sometimes, I will draw over the pencil with ink, especially any areas that will are very dark. I may then erase all the pencil, or I might not. Then I lay down the light wash, then shadows and finally go in over the pencil lines with a fine brush to paint in the detail. The paper makes a difference, ‘rough’ paper, nice for painting on, is difficult to draw detail on.
So, there you have it. I believe that drawing is very important in any kind of art. I was amazed to see Van Gogh’s early work – he was a great draughtsman, and again in Barcelona, Picasso’s early work amazed me. These guys, renowned for loose and abstract work, were well able to draw. Great guys!