A completed landscape - Richard Rennie
Richard starts his paintings with a Wet in Wet sky before
moving onto a Wet on Dry landscape
Firstly, many of the things I've ever been taught in watercolours were totally blown out the window. There must be some truth in his approach to watercolour if his beautiful watercolours are anything to go by! His sky's are out of this world. His colour selection is very unplanned, he told us NOT to ask him which colour he was using as he didn't know. His palette as huge and looked in disarray with colours mixed all over the show. He did happen to know one colour which is a favourite.... Australian Green Gold made by Art Spectrum. I would assume that it's a wonderful colour to use in painting South African landscapes. He uses a lot of Holbein pigments too. He likes the rich colour it produces and waters down well to get a transparent finish.
An abstract landscape Richard completed for us in under 20 minutes.
He believes we need to go and play in the sand with our new brushes.... just to ruffle them up a bit!!!!!
He claims bad brushes produce the best work! Huh? go figure!
He also never refreshes his water pot. I've never seen such dirty water..... just he way he likes it.!
Richard unconventionally works from the outside of the painting into the focal point as he believes that you can focus on the main focal area last and add to it if needs be.
Richard Rennie with a completed landscape. Don't know if you
can see but note his brush just sitting in his rather brown looking water bowl.
I thoroughly enjoyed my morning and wonder if I'll be making use of Richard Rennie's beautiful yet unconventional methods of watercolour. I suppose we all as artist strive to learn constantly in our quest for self-satisfaction and gratification.
On the sixth day, God created the artist, realizing no doubt that He had far from exhausted the uses of color. (Robert Brault)
17 comments:
Thanks for sharing this, Debbie. He's a very interesting artist I had never heard about before. Look forward to seeing what you do with your new found artistic knowledge. Hmmmmm!
It's amazing how we learn all of these 'rules' and yet all of the best artists break most of them! Maybe we should all just throw away the rule book and just paint, for the sake of painting!
Wonderful post, thanks Debbie for sharing this - I'm kicking myself now that I didn't go, thinking I had too much else on, but this sounds like a mustn't (shouldn't have) miss. I somehow imagined that R.R. would have many rules to produce such stunning paintings... so, are you going to mash your new squirrel brushes into the dirt?;)
Wonderful post, thanks Debbie for sharing this - I'm kicking myself now that I didn't go, thinking I had too much else on, but this sounds like a mustn't (shouldn't have) miss. I somehow imagined that R.R. would have many rules to produce such stunning paintings... so, are you going to mash your new squirrel brushes into the dirt?;)
Wonderful post, thanks Debbie for sharing this - I'm kicking myself now that I didn't go, thinking I had too much else on, but this sounds like a mustn't (shouldn't have) miss. I somehow imagined that R.R. would have many rules to produce such stunning paintings... so, are you going to mash your new squirrel brushes into the dirt?;)
Hi Debbie,
Il est toujours très intéressant de s'apercevoir que dans le domaine de l'art tout est permis, les règles peuvent être franchies et très souvent pour des résultats séduisants, à partir du moment où toute votre âme, tout votre être transparaissent sur le support... ce qui est important c'est l'émotion qu'on donne et qui est perçu chez le spectateur, double bonheur. Et merci Debbie pour le bonheur de nous faire connaître ce personnage, cet artiste... A vos pinceaux, laissez-les danser au rythme de votre coeur et de vos ressentis...
For my Non-French speaking blogger friends.... this is a direct translation from Martine Alison's reply to me.It is always very interesting to realize that in the field of art everything is allowed, rules can be crossed and very often for appealing results, as soon as all your soul, all your being show through on the support what is important it is the emotion which they give and that is perceptible at the spectator's, doubles happiness. And thank you Debbie for happiness to introduce us this figure, this artist... In your brushes, let them to the rhythm of your heart and to your feeling dance...
Martine, I always look forward to your replies and comments on my posts, you exude happiness and always offer such excitement. Thank you so much for these lovely words....and you are so right, we can divert from the rules to bring out the best in our work. sometimes
Oh Cathy, I'm sorry too that you never managed to see him in action. It was a spur of the moment decision of mine, and glad I just took the plunge in my busy schedule to go.
I'm off now to take my squirrel hair for a walk in the garden!.
Sandra, Thanks for popping in, yes I think we derive much from a rule book, but it's also fun when we discover that rules are there to be broken, specially when we achieve exciting results along the way.
Hi Carol, I've admired Richard's work for many years ad always wondered how he achieved such soft fluid stokes.... now I've seen him in action and hopefully practice a few landscapes once my busy life settles down a bit. Thanks for your time & leaving this comment!
you're lucky to have seen him paint debbie ...wonderful post
Meeting artists like this is a very good way to learn, isn't it?
Fantastic post Debbie! His paintings are inspiring, and I always love to see the process behind the finished work. Very cool, looks like a great time :)
Thank you so much Jane, Cathy and Crystal. I am a visual learner and just love watching artists paint. You derive so much more when you can physically see how a painting is brought together, one step at a time. You extract all the ideas of different artists and add them all in your own work to form your own unique style!!!!
Ah, RR still going strong! I saw his demo in Constantia in the ninetees! Thank you for the lovely reporting, Debbie!
Thank you for introducing Richard Rennie to us. It is always interesting to see how acclaimed artists approach watercolour. Your comment on the dirty water reminded me of Ron Ranson. I took a workshop some years ago and I was shocked to find he painted with dirty water but amazed at the results.
You finally come to the conclusion that there are many ways to approach watercolour but you have to find your own voice. Have a nice Sunday!
Hi,I'm a new girl on the block, Thank you so very much for sharing. I have been working in oils since I've started painting and know next to nothing about watercolors. a group of fellow artists and I are off on a five-day workshop with Mr Rennie, and although I'm going to be completely out of my comfort zone, I'm soo looking forward to leaning a bit about the techniques of this medium. I will gladly share with you too and will post my experiences (and my 'masterpieces') on my blog.
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