WATERCOLOR PAINTING IN PRACTICE

water, as if they reject or spit out the watercol- Fig. 403— To draw a boat is re-
latively simple, so long as per-
or liquids."
spective is taken into consider-
Gaspar Romero uses the typical palette, with ation and present in all the
is

indentations in the middle and mixing trays nes flowing toward the hori-
zon.
on each side; made of metal and finished with
white enamel. His studio tripod is the classical
workshop tripod, but when he paints outside,
he uses a tripod with three folding legs. "It is
perfectly possible to paint in watercolors with
the support almost vertical, changing the idea
that some amateurs have, that it is necessary to
work with the support in an almost horizontal
position." Romero paints with only one small
container of water (about one half liter), be-
cause, as he says: "It is good to paint with
the water a little bit dirty because this relative
dirtiness helps to create atmosphere and to
harmonize the colors."

First stage: drawing (Fig. 404)

Gaspar Romero draws with an ordinary no. 2
pencil and a Pelikan G-20 plastic eraser, dark
gray in color and quite soft. He draws very
carefully, considering every stroke, even using
the ruler for those shapes that demand it. He
draws only a few lines, with no shadows. "I
work slowly, paying a lot of attention to my
drawing, partially because I want to avoid
404
Fig 402— Gaspar
Romero,
Landscape, Santa Maria de
Besora, artist's collection. A
landscape of a small town in
the Pyrenees, painted on a
cold autumn morning, with the
mist invading the background.
Distance is emphasized with
the paintbrush, painting the
belfry and the church facade
and
to contrast with the violet
cobalt blue background mist.
Also to be noted is the inter-
pretation of forms and colors
in synthesis, particularly the
white road and its environs.

Fig. 404-Gaspar Romero

draws slowly and pays partic-
ular attention to construction of
the theme, "partly to avoid
using the eraser ", he explains,
"but also to paint afterward
with more certainty."

165
WATERCOLOR PAINTING IN PRACTICE
painting a seascape
using the eraser which can alter the fibres of
the paper, but also so that I can paint with a
surer hand afterwards."
Second stage: the background "from the fop
down" (Fig. 405)
"Yes, I'm going to paint this watercolor from
the top down," says Gaspar Romero, "because-
the sky and the pier in the background, be-
hind the boats, make a unit that must be
finished and everything at the same time."
first,
And that's just how he does it. Starting with
the sky, using a no. 14 brush with a rounded
tip, he paints large washes of weak color, first a
green mixed with sienna, then a cobalt blue.
He paints everything very rapidly, directing
the wash to one side and then the other.
Suddenly he turns the support upside down
and paints with the painting upside down, still
controlling the wash, and slowly building up
the color in the upper part of the painting,
where the sky will be later on. While he waits
for this application to dry, he paints the sides
of some of the boats with a very light wash, "in
order to be able to play with a reserve of whites
later on." He reinforces the blanks with a
darker color of ultramarine and sienna in the
166
in watercolors
shed in the background and in the building on
the right-hand side. Painting while still damp,
he reinforces the blue and dark sienna of the
base, and then uses the beveled handle of the
paintbrush to rub forcefully, drawing white
strokes which correspond to the masts and
railings of the pier. Using sienna, he delineates
the upper part of the roof of the pier with a
horizontal stroke, and then moves to the right-
hand side, to begin the form of the reddish
boat in the shipyard.
Third stage: the boats (Fig. 406)
There isn't much to explain: Gaspar Romero
finishes the forms and colors of the boats,
drawing and painting barrels, boarders, cab-
ins, small details. Afterwards he darkens the
base of the pier, and before it is totally dry, he
scratches with the nail of his index finger,
opening the vertical lines at the base. Using a
flat no. 8 brush of synthetic hair, he "opens
up" the white of the parallel masts of the boats
on the left-hand side, in the following manner:
first he dampens the masts with water, apply-
ing the edge of the brush, going over it a few
times, from top to bottom. Then he cleans the
brush, and returns, softening and diluting the
Fig. 405- At this second stage.
Gaspar Romero paints wet-
in-wet and tries out the effect
of marking white lines with the
brush handle ends. Some of
these lines, the gray of the sky.
the grays of the background,
and some dark areas are al-
ready defined and will remain
like this in the finished water-
color.
405
 WATERCOLOR PAINTING IN PRACTICE

Fig. 406— Gaspar Romero has

now created a major contrast
obscuring the background
where the boats are; he has
"opened out" some vertical lines
in the background (with the

end of the brush), and the

whites corresponding to the
boat masts, damping and ab-
sorbing color with a synthetic
hairbrush.

406

Fig. 407-The landing stage on

the left side and also the hull
appearing in the background
to the right have been worked
out, painted with some lack of
definition so that they are situat-
ed further out. Note the care
with which the artist has pre-

sented the luminous outlines

of the boats and see how these
colors, which were worked out
in the preliminary drawing, are
still defined in the painting.

407

167

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