Category Archives: Watercolor

Copying Masters (5) – John William Hill

J. W. Hill (1812-1879) was a British born American watercolorist and lithographer. I came across his work in a still life anthology and was taken with soft, serene and tangible feeling he created with watercolor, quite different from the wet-in-wet method I was taught in. Upon close-up examination, it is full of tiny strokes, like an engraving. Some of the strokes in the background created interesting patterns and was applied in a very painterly way. Maybe that’s how you do impasto with watercolor! 😁

In my copy, I didn’t go for the strokes. I was at a moment that my colors often ran wild. I think Hill’s Study of Fruit is a good example of unity and harmony with colors, and that’s what I went for.

I almost missed this: obviously yesterday was J. W. Hill’s birthday. So happy birthday Mr. Hill! 🎂

J. W. Hill, Study of Fruit
J.W. Hill, Study of Fruit, 1877. Watercolor on paper, 6.13 x 10.63 in.

My copy:

JWHill study
After J.W.HIll “Study of Fruit,” Watercolor, 2018

Pairs (I) – Watercolor vs Acrylic

I posted this landscape in acrylic before, and I recently uncovered a watercolor version of it. So, sorry for repeating myself, but it’s interesting to look at them together:

landscape, trees, acrylic
Path, acrylic on canvas board, 12 x 16, 2015
landscape, trees, watercolor
Path, watercolor, 2015

I like the less defined forms and more spontaneous color ranges a wet-on-wet watercolor creates, but I also like the dark values the acrylic painting can bring out. The reference I used for the two is the same, and whatever difference you see from the these paintings are not by design. It seems the mediums just lead me there. How bizarre!

Once Upon A Time in Hawaii (II)

Hawaii, surfing, watercolor
Hawaii, waves and surfers, watercolor, 2015

I remember during the trip to O’ahu, we spent most of our time hanging around the usual tourist places in Honolulu. On the last day, thanks to a late flight, we drove around the island for some adventure. We came across some really good viewing spots on the North Shore of O’ahu for watching both surfing and sunset. There were some pretty handsome roosters too.

Once Upon A Time in Hawaii (1)

It’s vacation time and I dug out some paintings from previous Hawaiian trips.

Hawaii beach, watercolor
Hawaii, beach, watercolor, 2015

I couldn’t remember if this was sunset or sunrise, or maybe it’s just a feeling or memory. One thing I hope this blog would achieve is better documentation of my efforts.

Throwback (probably) 2015 Continued – Watercolor

I did some cleaning today and found a few old paintings. None of them was dated and my memory is just a blur. The only thing I could say is they were done around or before 2015. Lesson learned: date your artwork.

This one is after a photo I found online. Here’s the link, but I don’t know how to find the photographer’s information. (Google image search leads me to furniture stores and all sort of club chairs.) So, whoever took the beautiful photo, thank you. You can see back then I wasn’t able to go beyond the reference.

Chair, watercolor
Chair by the window, watercolor, 2015

Now some flowers for the holidays:

Tulips, watercolor
Tulips, watercolor, 2015
Irises, watercolor
Irises, watercolor, 2015