- Hi, I'm Kath Macaulay and we're doing something very, very different in our next show.

I'm gonna be using dilute paint right out of the lid of the box in the manner of John Singer Sargent.

That's not the only way he painted by any means, but it's an unusual way to draw.

You don't use a drawing implement.

You use the stuff in the lid of your box.

So you really need to have a dirty box lid in order to do this.

If you don't have one, get one so that you have stuff to pick up in the tip of your brush and draw with it.

You'll be amazed.

It's fun, people really enjoy it.

Hope you do too.

Come along and join me.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided by Sedona Hypnosis LLC, healing your past, creating your future.

Muriel Walsh Estate Sales, representing people is our business.

And by viewers like you.

- And now we have something totally different.

I haven't tried this until very, very recently and I tried it with a class and they were in love with it, so I've gotta add it.

It doesn't take any additional space, no extra equipment, so why not?

So it came from John Singer Sargent.

I love his watercolors.

They are often full of mistakes and you never notice the mistakes.

It's one of the most charming things about them.

Well, I have one here that's well worth seeing.

This is when he came to the United States, he was taken down to Florida.

He saw alligators for the first time and try to find the drawing lines, 'cause there aren't any.

This is done with dilute paint.

This lead alligator, got this one first, got this one pretty well perfected, and all the rest of 'em are out of focus.

But this was drawn with dilute paint.

The stuff in the lid of your box, not with a pencil, which was his common drawing implement.

He either drew with the pencil or with dilute paint.

But this one is a dilute paint.

It's actual painting.

Down here is an alligator out of focus, it doesn't matter.

Back here, alligator out of focus.

Alligator out of focus, jaw isn't even at the right place.

Neither's the eye.

It doesn't matter because once you see one that's good, you think they're all good and this one is outstanding.

Then the rest of the picture is built just to go around the background.

So a few eucalyptus type trees over here, they have light bark, other places have sycamores, they're somewhat similar in bark, nothing else.

So then he puts some verticals back here to just fill that space in, just to fill this space.

But right here is the whole thing and this is really quite an amazing job.

He often used pencil with dilute paint and start the barest framework with the pencil and then went to the dilute paint.

I've got another one to show you that's similar and then and I kept looking at 'em and saying, "How's that done?

How did he do that?

How did that work?"

This is a statue.

You can say he partly lost the head.

Pull this over.

Kind of wiped out one of my books last night because I wanted to get these out and I thought I already had 'em.

These lines, those are all dilute paint.

The original statue, the edge stopped right there but he liked it better out farther.

What you're seeing here is the background he painted in first.

But then he just came around it and built that as if it were part of the statue.

Isn't it amazing how your eye can be fooled?

Because it doesn't bother you that much that that's yellow and the statue's tan and that's stark white and the statue's tan.

But some of the lines are continued at the same time that we're done here.

Now this part, that little this, this bit here, that's also dilute paint.

So is this, so is that upper line.

I'm not sure about that one.

But it's amazing how much can be done with just dilute paint.

So of course I had to try it, you know, and just see, you know, how hard is it?

Does it work?

The lead photo is right here.

I mean I haven't been doing this this long.

If you're going farther in the distance, you know there's less contrast 'cause we've done that.

So just do it with less contrast.

Repeat the first form, less contrast, it drifts back.

This isn't gonna be really, really strong unless you add more darks and more darks can be added to where there's a real difference.

Here's my version of the statue.

This is from the Franciscan Life Process Center in Michigan.

And the statue was tucked back into a tree and I thought, "Well why not give that a go and see if it works?"

So the interior is all done with dilute paint.

A little bit of the exterior, there was a line here done with a pen around there to get it back on the page where I wanted it.

And then everything after that was dilute.

Solid line here with the pen here, here, down there.

So that I've got that much structure.

But this is just absolutely ad lib and can be changed as long as you wanna change it.

It was also under all the darks.

Oh, and there's more here.

Structure of the building, just a bit.

All that is is the stuff in the lid of your box.

So let's see what we've got in the lid of the box to work with and if I can work with it.

Let's say I'm gonna want a vertical, not a horizontal.

Bring in the water.

This is my work stuff.

So let's see if it works.

You know, and this is so new to me, I don't know if it's gonna work.

Let's plan.

Okay, I'm gonna want, I think a gray.

I've gotta work out some structure somehow.

So bit of gray.

If it colors the paper, it counts.

Now I can see that it's very, very faint 'cause I'm being very, very careful in case I make a mess.

This one's a little bit darker.

It's supposed to be the edge of a building.

Now a machine makes perfect lines, a human does not.

So if this line is a little wiggly and it's supposed to be part of a building, cut me some slack.

And then over here.

Okay, now that's just part.

Is that the back or is that the front?

What about let's, let's get it up here farther so I don't have to deal with the top.

Did you hear that?

That was kind of an excuse.

And I'm gonna come down.

Mm, maybe about right there.

This is gonna be a tad darker.

Where do I get that tad darker?

Same stuff.

Tad darker.

It's there.

Now I can strengthen anything by adding more.

I can add straight paint at any time but I've got a bit of a structure there.

Now I bet you can barely, barely see it, but that's because I'm being very careful so I don't make a big mess.

Let's continue.

What if I want a bush here?

Bring that over to be sure that you can see it.

This is a dirty gray green, dirty gray green.

There's a bush.

See it's there.

And this, this sort of amazed me that you know, you could get away with this.

Hostas are hard to do.

It's a local, it's a plant that likes cool climates.

We don't grow 'em in Tucson.

Anything that fleshy would croak but I think they're beautiful.

There are many things we don't grow in Tucson.

For instance, my favorite flower, the Dahlia, will not tolerate the lack of humidity.

We don't have any.

Well we do have it in July and August when we get a monsoon.

When I left Tucson it was cool.

Not, not emotionally, it was cool in temperature because we were in the middle of a monsoon.

We had a tremendously rainy July, August.

Think it was particularly August.

Just getting some big fat leaves, trying to get it sort of like the hosta is.

Now the hosta has often has a light center.

You can see this one and if there's one coming at you, it'll be shaped more like this.

It'll be fatter.

Have a little tip, it's coming at you.

Okay, so now add a little bit more.

That's part of a building.

How about another bush back in here?

Maybe slightly different in color.

So I'm picking up, adding yellow to this mixture.

Why not?

So far I've been cowardly and just doing outlines.

So why not get a little more abrupt here.

If that's got an edge like a plant, it's not gonna be that smooth.

There we go.

That's more like a plant.

And maybe it continues on over here.

It helps make the one in front of it.

There you go.

Can I reaffirm that front leaf?

This is all watercolor.

So if I come back on a brushstroke that's already there, I'm likely to pick it up or move it.

Another bush over here.

Just sort of building 'cause I'm not sure what's going on here.

Okay, another bush.

Let's make that one have maybe some flowers, maybe, but it's gonna be again, basically green.

Oh, you can do that way too.

Forgot that, that's a solid wash. That's not just a line.

This is so new, I don't, I'm not used to doing it.

It's that part is really funny.

Okay, how about down in here?

It's gonna be darker.

How do I get darker?

Same way you always get darker.

Pick up some darker paint.

So that's darker.

Is that gonna work?

I don't know.

Little flowers in the front.

So there'll be little bits of dark behind and any part of this can be darkened intentionally later.

Now if I want some flowers in the front, I want them in keeping, pick up some flower cover, color, may I say, flower color, and there comes some flowers.

Ooh and I wanna bring it back like this just because I want that line.

That's sort of a, that oblique lets you enter the picture.

Little, little tiny bit of design there.

Now why wouldn't there be, mm.

Something that's my point of interest just beyond this.

What about my possible, I'm gonna put a green plant here.

I'm just gonna put some red line there so I know where it is.

And then I'm gonna put a bench in.

And would the bench go like, like this?

I think it could, yeah.

And then would it have a bottom?

Maybe.

I like that.

That'll do it.

The angle probably gonna change a tad.

Okay, there's a bench.

But what I didn't think about was what if there's a person on the bench?

Okay, that's a curve ball.

Can I still get a person on the bench?

I bet I'd need a bigger bench.

I bet, unless it's sitting out here.

Would it be sitting out there?

You know, I may have to blow this later.

I mean get rid of it.

Ah, I like that.

There's a person on the bench and needs a body.

Needs legs.

Needs legs going down.

This is kind of has an advantage.

You can correct everything as you go.

Got a foot.

Now gotta have, would that, why not?

This is gonna be sort of fun but silly.

Why wouldn't this person have on a hat?

Now I got a person with a hat on a bench and I still haven't committed much of anything.

Really haven't committed a lot.

Want to get maybe some, one more tree, bush, something like that.

Gonna pick up some green.

Eh, I don't like that color.

Some green.

Keep going.

Want to go perhaps a bit.

Mm, trying to think darker.

Will this show off the person on the bench?

So I'm gonna change this.

See how easy it is to hide something?

Because I'm going very, very, very light and I'm even gonna change the shape of this too.

There we go.

I want it thinner than that.

Remember I'm being really wussy.

But yeah, you can be wussy.

No, it's gonna go over.

There we go.

Decisions are being made slowly.

Maybe not too effectively, but slowly.

Okay, there's the rest of that bush.

Is it lighter at the top?

Dark at the bottom?

Bushes are.

And that could be a dark.

Okay, going to make the structure of the building stronger.

Was perhaps a tad wussy at the beginning.

So come over here.

Cut around that plant.

Whether it works or not remains to be seen.

But how will you ever know if you don't try?

Remember Star Wars and Yoda said, "Don't try, do"?

Well that's still really important.

The background is going to be less con, this has hardly got any contrast anyway, but it's going to be even lighter and wussier and could be plants.

Let's see how this does.

Too dark.

Didn't think I'd ever say that.

This is gonna be lighter.

There you go.

That's gonna do it.

Yeah.

Just foliage in the background.

Trying to keep this to where you can see that it works but there's no big commitment here.

There's the background.

Cut it around there a bit.

So far there really isn't much commitment here at all.

Okay, is there any shadow down here?

Is there any kind of shadow?

Why not?

Okay, there you go.

Then if there's shadow there, there would be some shadow here.

Gotta go darker.

By the way, this is something that Sargent did magnificently.

He added extreme darks when he got through with a light sketch like this, extreme darks to make you look exactly where he wanted you to look.

Now is there any more to this?

Does this, ooh, why not?

I just got to thinking about this.

Okay, there's an arch back here.

You see that that was led in by that little piece.

So why wouldn't there be an arch?

Why wouldn't there be?

Or maybe it's not.

If it doesn't work, I'm gonna have to.

Do you know that you can erase this?

You really can.

And I'm gonna put a stop to it right there.

Then perhaps make it darker inside the arch.

I have a friend who also does demonstrations in watercolor and we laugh about what you do when it bombs.

(Kath chuckles) I don't think I've had a total bomb demo, but I've seen one.

And it was a very good artist and he just, he really bombed.

And it was to an audience, 250 people.

He's got a workshop the next day, he's doing the lead demo.

And it was really bad.

I don't know if anybody else not- I wanted that to be darker, right there, so that you can see that edge of the building.

There.

So far we don't have much color in here.

Anyway, he had enough time left over at the end to do what is called a canned demo.

Something he's done many times before so he knows it's gonna work.

And it was filling a field with a dark color.

Where do I want the lightest light to be?

How about about, nope, that's not the lightest light.

Anyway, and then pulling the image out.

And it was a dynamite piece that totally made up for anything that had gone wrong.

I don't think I mentioned the Sargent squiggle.

He filled vast places with, you notice that squiggle?

With a squiggle and you thought there's something there, and there really isn't.

Now if I come back in and try to get some flowers in here, just a few.

And some darker darks, this is close to you.

So darker darks underneath.

Will this work?

Will it work well enough?

Well enough is good.

Remember that when you go out, you may not get what you're looking at.

You may get something very, very different from what you think you're looking at.

But does it matter?

It's all the fun of being there.

It's all the fun of doing and then doing another one.

Now this is gonna be pretty abrupt, I betcha.

Very abrupt.

But why not?

Always ask, "How can I see?

Why do I see something?"

And then beyond that, I wanna get a lighter shadow in there.

Cleaning up a tad.

Getting a little bit of blue back in here.

Could it be a bit more purple if it's close to you?

I don't know, why not?

Is this too dark?

That's pretty dark.

Rinse out the brush, pick it back up.

It's gonna be dilute this time because there's water in the brush and you pick something back up with the brush and it's going to be dilute.

Now if I hit these, they're gonna run 'cause they're wet.

So I'm gonna try to start just beyond at a touch like this.

Not terribly committal.

What about coming back to the hostas and making them a tad more distinct?

They're, they're kind of in the yellow green range.

And by the way, I think I've only done hostas right once, I mean so it really looked like the plant.

That's pretty dark.

I want it darker.

I want it darker.

I have the option.

I think I mentioned before that this is a customized set where I have some extra colors where that little plastic thing was in this set.

I've got some colors that are different.

This is one.

That's not dark enough either.

Here you go.

It's all there.

Now is, are they light?

Where are they dark?

Probably dark in here.

Ooh, okay.

Ah, I bet they're dark on the edges and not in the middle.

This one should be fatter down here 'cause it's coming at you.

I'm changing it right as I pick these off.

That one's right there.

It's short.

There's one that droops.

Why not leave that and then come in for a darker dark under it?

The darks help set off the lights.

That's a weak plant over there.

Put some in it.

I've got less paint in the brush.

Will that work as a scene?

If that's what I wanted to get, yeah, that would work.

Is there anything else in it?

I think my person's funny.

I really do think the person's funny.

A little more guts on this plant.

Now, if I wanted to be really gutsy, if I did it like Sargent, I'd come in and darken all of that.

What would happen?

You just don't know until you try it.

What would happen?

Well, I like it where it is now.

What would happen?

First, there's a big structure of building there.

I'm not, I don't have enough guts to really come in really dark, so I'm sneaking up on it.

It certainly leads you back there.

Ooh, this will be fun.

One more tiny little bit here.

The bench.

Now that's just sort of fun.

And the hat, just.

Now, there isn't, there's not a pen line in this.

It's totally differently worked, but have fun with it.

Try it.

You might just love it.

And there's no extra equipment.

So you can take this anywhere and just use this stuff in the lid of your box, especially if you're feeling do it at a given day.

Give it a go.

See what happens.

What is gonna come next?

Well, it's one of my favorite things of all.

It's wet and wet, watercolor.

This is something that scares people, but it shouldn't.

And you should learn how to slosh this stuff around and really enjoy the effects.

I'm looking forward to having you.

And happy sketching.

Want to learn more about the wonderful world of pocket sketching?

Then visit my website at pocketsketching.com.

We have so much there for you to explore including free tips and training videos, the pocket sketching supplies, photo galleries, and how to access additional training.

All this and more is available at pocketsketching.com.

Learn enough to play for a lifetime.

- [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided by Sedona Hypnosis LLC, healing your past, creating your future.

Muriel Walsh Estate Sales, representing people is our business.

And by viewers like you.

(upbeat music)