Panorama in Light and Shade (Workshop Q)

Instructor: Virginia Hein (Los Angeles, USA)
Location: Colom / Maremàgnum

How do you capture the scope of a wide, sweeping vista? This workshop will focus on composing a panoramic urban landscape with sensitivity to shape and the effects of light. Because a panoramic view often has more than one focal point, we’ll practice seeing and creating patterns and pathways of light and shade in the landscape for the eye to travel back and forth.

We’ll begin by really observing our location to see the light, the large shapes and the small details, and the patterns created by light and shade. We’ll experiment with several ways to quickly focus, discover different possibilities, and then select and compose views.

After practicing several techniques to focus on shape, contrast and pattern, we will use most of the workshop time to develop a larger composition. During the working process, we consider foreground, middle ground and background—and ways of expressing relative distance in a wide format. We continue to look for shapes and the range of values in the landscape, and observe the effect of the time of day and weather. We will use a limited palette, emphasizing warm and cool color to capture the effects of light and atmosphere. Details can be added with line as a counterpoint to areas of shape.

We gather at the end of the workshop to share sketches, experiences and insights.

Learning Goals:

• Participants will practice several ways of seeing and developing composition while drawing from a panoramic urban landscape.
• By focusing on shape, silhouette and the effects of light, participants will practice developing a drawing from general overview to particular details.

Suggested Materials:

• Watercolor sketchbook or sketchpad (paper heavy enough to use with wet media), horizontal or “panorama” format is ideal though not absolutely necessary
• Soft sketching pencils
• Sketching pen with permanent ink
• A travel watercolor set or other portable palette of watercolors
• Watercolor brushes in a range of sizes, and/or water brushes
• Water container
• Rags or paper towels

Optional materials could include colored pencils, kneaded eraser, folding stool or easel, etc.

Other sample sketches