Rocks in Watercolor: El Capitan Step-By-Step

El Capitan, 8x10" watercolor

I have started teaching a series of classes at The Art Verve Academy here in Tucson about "Features in the Landscape".  In my latest class this fall I cover rocks and mountains.  For the rocks session I decided to demonstrate using two subjects, El Capitan and Double Arch, because these are instances where basically a big rock is the "star" of the composition.  Each rock has interesting color and texture to practice varying painting techniques.

In this blog post I'll demonstrate a step-by-step of the El Capitan painting and in a following post I'll demonstrate the Double Arch process.

El Capitan Reference Photo, cropped to 8x10"

I took the reference photo one morning during a 2011 trip to Yosemite National Park.  As you can see in this light, one face has full direct sun but the contours of the formation create a sizable cast shadow in the middle section.  There are also cast shadows in the main cracks and fissures, providing a bit more texture to the rock face.  For beginners I thought this would be an easier subject to tackle.

First Wash

After tracing the contour lines onto an 8x10" piece of watercolor paper I made the first wash.  I like to use a bit of exaggerated color, wet-into-wet, in my first wash because I believe overall it adds interest to the subject, and the color can always be toned down later in areas as needed for greater realism.  It's a opportunity to break the ice with a new painting and start an artful interpretation of your subject.  Since most of the rock face of El Cap reads as white in the photograph, I decided to let mingle three dilute colors of a primary triad:  azo yellow, quinacridone rose, and cobalt blue.  Where the light was the strongest I emphasized yellow.  In the mid region I tended to drop in rose and places destined for gray I dropped in cobalt blue.

Second and Third Layers

Once the first layer completely dried, I then started laying in earthy yellow streaks using a two-brush technique.  I used Daniel Smith Monte Amiata Natural Sienna on one brush, then soften the edges of the streaks with a second brush that was damp with clean water.  Then I applied the gray streaks using a similar method, this time with a dilute mix of burnt sienna and ultramarine.

One dried, I started applying the shadow shapes using a mix of rose and ultramarine.  In the main shadow swathe I dropped in some sienna as well.

Fourth and Fifth Layers

In the fourth layer I started painting in my foliage at the base of the rock.  For the trees I used mainly a mix of azo green and ultramarine, my new favorite combination for greens lately.  I also dropped in some burnt sienna in places to add a more natural effect.  For painting the foliage I used a "dancing brush" technique to try to get natural leaf cluster shapes and allow an airy quality by leaving some untouched spots.  When the trees were dry enough I painted in the initial wash of the grassy area with the same greens with the addition of my sienna for the dry sunlit grasses.  Wet-into-wet is useful for dealing with the reflections in the water because it provides an effect of vague shapes.

In the fifth layer I refined the tree shapes with  negative painting using darker valued greens.  In some cases I added more ultramarine or Payne's Gray and in others some Quinacridone Violet.  I was aiming for near black in the deeper shadow areas.  To see the darker areas in the foliage I did a lot of squinting at my reference photo.  It takes a bit of intention to override your brain's commands and trust what your squinted eyes see in terms of light and dark values.  I often used my second brush, damp with clean water, to soften edges.  I also refined some of the shadow shapes in the grassy area and the water reflections.

In the fifth layer I also tackled the sky, up to now an unpainted white.  Honestly I thought the plain blue sky in my reference photo looked too ordinary and boring so I decided to take a risk and put in a stormy sky.  One of my favorite situations of light is where your subject is "spot-lit" against a stormy sky because it really illuminates the subject, so I aimed to create that effect with this painting.  I wet the entire sky shape with clear water and started with a gradient of blues (as if I was painting a blue sky) to give a foundation color to the sky.  So at the horizon I dropped in my greener blues (cobalt teal blue and cerulean blue), then going up in zenith my cobalt blue then ultramarine at the top of the paper.  Then I got a little wild and dropped in various concentrations of gray (mixture of burnt sienna and ultramarine), quinacridone violet, dioxazine violet, sienna, Payne's gray, and more ultramarine.  I kept dropping in more color, in some cases gently blending with my brush (but not too much!) until I was satisfied with the results.  As long as your wash has a sheen it's okay to continue to work and drop in more color.  It felt right to emphasize a really dark value next to the right diagonal shape of the rock (with the help of my Payne's Gray), and I think my intuition was telling me to use the dark clouds to help balance the composition.  I'm actually quite pleased with the result and very glad I took the risk.

Final Painting

For the final layer I did some refinements here and there.  Using a tiny brush (size 0) I added some fine streaks of gray to the top of El Cap, and added any streaks, blotches of patina, and cracks that seemed to be missing.  Then for the trees I used my tiny brush with white gouache plus a bit of indian yellow to paint in the lighter-valued tree trunks and their reflections in the water.