Extracts from my upcoming book Konstantin Sterkhov "Masters of Watercolor. All about Plein Air"
See the master`s demo at Lilleshall Hall, Shropshire, UK in May 2020, Tickets are still available at WWW.SAA.CO.UK/MASTERS
Joe F. Dowden has exhibited at prestigious shows as Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, Laing Art Exhibition, Chichester Open, British Modern Masters, Royal Society of Marine Artists.
Joe is an author of books and magazine articles published worldwide. He presents TV, DVD, seminars, demonstrations. He has been a panel Member of the SAA.
"...At six years of age I did my first plein air painting in
watercolor. An artist friend of my father took me painting. My family lived
near the railway. Locomotives made clouds of steam with incandescent cinders
shooting skywards like fireworks. This display of fire and water inspired my
work."
Joe F. Dowden (UK)
"Many techniques get me this fire, or light. Spattering masking fluid with a toothbrush gives sparkling light. Applying it with a hog hair brush gets sun glinting on foliage. Using big contrasts from white paper to intense dark gives power. Understand tradition but don’t let it limit innovation. Try everything. I paint extremes. I use bright color, but value, or light and dark, is number one, not color. I sometimes tell students; “Value has nothing to do with color, but everything to do with how colorful it looks”".
Joe F. Dowden (UK)
"It is easier to paint open country, wide river or winter scenes. Complex woodland scenes require careful handling. Special techniques include spattering paint into spattered water and letting it merge. Painting into dragged water gives tree texture – I call it water feathering. Multiple layers of paint spatter create lights where paper is left dry. Sable brush spatters form dynamic star shapes similar to leaf shadow patterns."
Joe F. Dowden (UK)
"I work along the small stream called the River Tillingbourne. It runs for 30km through the wooded Surrey Hills. Once I got very hungry when I was painting. I asked a fisherman to lend me his rod. I had never caught a fish before. He told me to drift the line under a nearby bridge. He said there would be a big fish there, (a trout). That fish tasted great. I don’t know why he didn’t catch it himself."
Joe F. Dowden (UK)
"The River Tillingbourne taught me to paint. It features throughout my Russian book, “Water in Watercolour”. The best lesson I learned was to mix plenty of paint, apply it wet and let it flow. Paint reflections vertically, soft focus, and be content with whatever happens. Changing it makes it worse it. Paint it. Leave it. Apply wet pigment in large quantities, let it flow and leave it alone. I invent nothing, only discover. This was my best discovery. "
Joe F. Dowden (UK)
Read the whole text in my upcoming book Konstantin Sterkhov "Masters of Watercolor. All about Plein Air"
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