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Ann Pember Interview

Ann was asked some questions from one viewer of her video. Here are her responses.

PAPER

I paint on Waterford cold press paper because it does not buckle and needs no stretching. All weights work well - 140 -300LB. The surface allows beautiful paint mixtures and also some lifting of color. This painting is on 140LB paper and is a half sheet - 15 x 22".

DRAWING

I either make a light, careful drawing on the paper with a medium pencil, using a grid system to enlarge my original sketch; or on tracing paper and then transfer it to the paper with home made carbon paper for a light line (use a graphite pencil to cover a sheet of tracing paper and smudge all over). This is covered in my book. I don't like projecting - there is usually distortion and it is too easy to just put everything in! I do lots of editing if working from a photo.

PAINTING FORMS

Become a painter of shapes, not individual things. I suggest learning to convey form by using value and color to make simple shapes you have drawn, such as a sphere, cube, or triangle. You can paint any shape once you are able to make geometric forms convincing. Drawing, of course, is essential to a realistic subject such as this. The ability to draw well will have a huge impact on the success of your paintings. Painting the folds of a draped piece of fabric is also good training. What you learn from doing that will help you paint other forms, including petals. Trial and error is a great teacher! The most important thing is to paint and draw often. My book shows how to form some petals and other organic shapes. There are many ways to create the same result. This is just my way. It could also have been achieved using glazes, one glaze over another. I prefer the direct approach because it seems to be the easiest way to make clean luminous color. I make darker values by adding more paint before a passage dries.

This video is already quite long and could not include all the elements of basic painting. It should have mentioned the paper though, since it does make a difference in handling paint. I hope this has clarified some of the process. Keep painting regularly and you will see steady growth in your work.

More Watercolor Instruction by Ann Pember.

Painting Tips.pdf

Seasonal Notes From Ann Pember.pdf

Vibrant Orchid reference images

Orchid-Reference-Photo

Orchid-Value-Study

Orchid-Final-Painting

Painting with the Flow reference images

Stream-Reference-1

Stream-Reference-2

APM_Stream-Painting-'Morning_Vista'.

See Ann's archive of seasonal notes.

Workshops

See Ann Pember's website for workshop schedules.