Linda Levy
Gestures
416 Westdale Drive
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
831.426.4906
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GESTURAL WATERCOLORS
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Male Torso 60 second gestural watercolor
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A
typical
session
using a
live model
starts out
with a
twenty or
thirty
minute
warm-up: the
model
changing
position
every 60
seconds.
I
usually
use a
large pad
of paper
and a
somewhat
soft
charcoal
stick,
laying in
the larger
body mass
and
movement
with the
side of
the stick.
The
last few
seconds of
the pose
is used to
capture
some
definition
with line.
These
resulting
gestural
images
often
capture
the
essence of
the pose
with only
a few
lines.
I do not watercolor in a traditional manner: I work with my paper in an upright position; I mix three large “pots” of color in my palette. The first and largest brush is used to lay down a broad sweep of light color which is the basis for the body. The next color, typically a warm one, is used to add further definition. This is almost always a wet-on-wet technique. |
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I
will then
add the
shadow
side of
the body
using a
manganese
blue wash,
which
forms some
wet-on-wet
areas as
well as
edges
where it
hits dry
paper.
All
the while,
the
upright position
of the
paper
allows the
watercolors
to blend
and run
and move
down the
paper,
usually
following
the wetted
areas of
the page.
I
will
lastly use
a smaller
round
brush to
add a few
dark
“lines”.
All
this is
done
within 60
seconds so
that a
very
fluid,
gestural
image
results.
I will usually place up to 6 images on one full sheet of d’arches 140 lb cold pressed paper, many times painting also on the back side of the paper. Out of the many images that are created, only a few will be selected for final mounting and framing.