Something I really enjoy about my art class right now is that we get a list of artists to explore each week - for inspiration, to see something new, to learn techniques they use, or hear their story. I keep a list of the ones that especially stand out to me, both ones I really just find interesting, or ones that I may want to try something similar to. An artist that caught my attention recently was Qian Shi - a watercolor artist who makes a lot of urban sketches. There were several things I loved about his artwork.
The subjects - he paints buildings and street scenes that have so much personality
The loose style - he uses the pen and watercolor loosely in a way that makes everything feel natural and relaxed
The lighting and colors - he often uses warm and vibrant colors that draw you into the scene
The details - from people, to bikes and shop signs, to AC units and pipes and wires, all the details he includes bring the scene to life
He draws and paints on site - I love observing what I see and putting it onto paper in my sketchbook
These are a few of my favorites that he's done.
I did a study of his style, and a quick experiment.
His looser approach is much different than my usual style with watercolors, where everything is precisely measured, and lines and brushstrokes are controlled to look realistic. To change things up a bit, I decided to try and take on his style for a painting.
A few weeks ago, we went to have breakfast by the Bosphorus with some friends, and this little cafe that we passed caught my attention. To be honest, it barely counts as a cafe even. This older man had a table and grill set up, with two tables and chairs set on the dock right by his boat. Besides that, he had an umbrella for shade and a sign announcing his two products - fish sandwiches and tea.
I loved this scene, and I wanted to capture it in this style. There were a few things I was going for: the relaxed feel of a day by the water with nothing to do, that contrasting feeling of a cool warmth that you get on sunny winter days, and a looser style than normal.
I hadn't taken a picture of this little "cafe," so I combined some reference photos. I sketched it out first to get my idea, and then started with pencil. And to be honest, I probably spent way too much time getting the pencil lines right when I was going for something looser. But when I went over in pen, I tried to stay loose. Once I had the basic pen lines in, I added some shading.
Then I started adding in the watercolors, going with warmer colors and avoiding blacks for the shadows. I used cooler colors like purples and blues for these areas.
And here's my finished piece!
