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Paint with
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The
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Simple Secret to
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September 2012
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Yellow, Red, Blue & White
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Display until September 3, 2012
Zeli (detail; oil, 36x36) by Sharon Sprung
Chris Beck combines consummate
watercolor techniques and a designer’s
eye with whimsical subject matter.
BY CHRISTINE MCHUGH
playing
in earnest
C
CRISP EDGES WITH brilliant watercolor. Simple shapes in compelling
compositions. Details that delight the eye. These are hallmarks of Chris
Beck’s style for her most recent paintings of quirky vintage saltshakers
and toys. Beck, whose first love and primary focus is watercolor, has
also worked in collage and acrylic and enjoys experimenting with new
materials and approaches. She spent some years painting what she calls
“serious” art but says that “serendipitous visual discoveries” have always
played a part in her choice of
subjects and that she’s always had
RIGHT:“One of my first saltshaker
“a fondness for the silly and the
pieces, Heirlooms (watercolor,
whimsical.”
10x10) was a finalist in The Artist’s
Magazine’s 24th Annual Art Competition and also earned me my signature
Nostalgia and Laughter
status in Watercolor West,” says
Beck grew up in the Wisconsin
Beck. “These little ducks are very
home built by her grandparents
much like the set I loved as a child.
and taken over by her parents after
They’re posed on a vintage tablecloth
her grandmother died, so housewith some heirloom tomatoes.”
hold goods and toys from the past
surrounded her. She particularly
loved a set of duck saltshakers that were displayed in the china closet
along with other trinkets. “As an adult, I have a moment of delightful nostalgia when I find a similar item in an antique shop or auction,”
explains Beck. “I certainly don’t want to bury my head in the sand when
it comes to the problems of the world, but I don’t want to eliminate joy
from my life either. Silly vintage toys and saltshakers make me laugh
and bring me a lot of joy.”
Beck’s quirky sense of humor definitely plays a part in her recent
pieces. “Lately I’ve been incorporating visual jokes and puns featuring
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September 2012
59
various goofy critters,” she says, “because
I enjoy the planning process as well as the
chance to make people smile and laugh.”
A Determined Mastery
As light-hearted as her recent subject matter
may be, she’s dead serious when it comes to
her craft, and there’s nothing “light” about
her tenacity to overcome challenges in her
art or her life. One such obstacle occurred in
1995 when she came down with a mysterious,
chronic fatigue-like illness and was forced to
give up all her creative activities. (At the time
she was making and exhibiting award-winning
art quilts and also working in other fiber arts.)
A year later, “in an effort to find a way out
of that sad state,” Beck decided to go back to
the watercolors of her undergrad years for two
Materials
Surfaces: stretched 140-lb. paper and unstretched 300-lb. paper
(Winsor & Newton 140-lb. cold-pressed paper for traditionally painted
pieces; assorted Arches and Lanaquarelle surfaces for experimental
works)
Watercolors: mostly Winsor & Newton (WN), with some Holbein (H)
and some Daniel Smith (DS) for specific colors (Beck has researched
all the paints she uses in both Michael Wilcox’s and Hilary Page’s guides
to watercolor paints and has eliminated pigments that are unreliable.
She favors transparent paints rather than opaque in most of her work,
although she loves French ultramarine blue and finds the granulating
properties of the various cobalt pigments perfect for certain subjects.)
Basic palette: Winsor lemon, new gamboge, scarlet lake, permanent
rose, Winsor violet, French ultramarine blue, Winsor blue–green shade,
cobalt green, permanent sap green, quinacridone gold, brown madder (all
WN); green gold and quinacridone sienna (DS); cobalt violet light (H)
Brushes: primarily kolinsky sable quill-style brushes—Beck’s favorites
are an Isabey Onyx and a Da Vinci Artissimo Series 44 (printing worn off
but roughly equivalent to a No. 10 or 12 round); also Isabey and Winsor &
Newton squirrel-hair quill brushes in a variety of sizes; a No. 6 Da Vinci
Maestro kolinsky sable brush for small areas and getting into corners on
large areas; occasionally Loew-Cornell synthetics (they carry less water
and won’t flood small areas of detail); a variety of small synthetic brushes
for lifting—some with very short soft bristles; Cheap Joe’s Fritch scrubbers and Daniel Smith Scrubbie brushes; soft toothbrushes with a flat
bristle surface for lifting and for spattering; Cheap Joe’s Uggly brushes
for applying masking fluid
Masking fluid: Graphix Incredible White Mask liquid frisket (lifts easily
and can be left on the paper longer than other masking fluids); Winsor &
Newton untinted masking fluid for very fine details (flows well and can be
used in a ruling pen for line work)
Digital equipment: camera, scanner, printer and Adobe Photoshop
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very different reasons. “First, I love the tactile
qualities of painting with watercolor,” she says.
“It’s flowing and effortless to apply. I also love
the clarity and brilliance of the paint, and its
unusual properties that make experimentation
fun. And second, I have problems with chemical sensitivities, and because watercolor has no
dust, no solvents and no fumes, it’s the perfect
medium for me. It’s a lucky convergence!”
At first, Beck could muster only enough
energy to paint postcard-size pieces, but she
persevered and gradually worked her way up
to larger paintings. Within two years, she
was exhibiting in regional shows, and then, a
year after that, she began entering national
competitions.
Over the years Beck has worked hard to
perfect her craft but admits that getting started
on an actual painting can still be a bit of a
struggle. “I know I’m going to have a certain
number of near-disasters and be convinced at
some point that I’ve ruined it,” she says. “I also
know that I’m going to have physical aches and
pains from concentrating for long periods on
these precise works.” However, when she’s in
her creative zone, she’s ready for anything. “I
get so absorbed in the process,” she says, “that
I forget all my trepidations and just deal with
things as they come up.”
BELOW: “Colonel Mustard (watercolor, 6x6) was part
of a painting challenge about containers, which an online
painting buddy and I set up,” says Beck. “Changing the
color scheme on this small mustard pot made it more
striking than the original, and I also added the feathery
forms in the background for interest. I masked the highlights but lifted the more subtle details with a small brush.”
An Eye for Design and Detail
Although she has always had a good eye for
color, the strong sense of design apparent in
Beck’s paintings comes from her many years
of work as a graphic designer (after receiving
a bachelor’s degree in the fine art program at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison). She
approaches her subjects with a designer’s eye,
looking for visual impact rather than strict
photorealism. “I prefer subjects that have simple, basic forms,” Beck says, “but also interesting details and good graphic-design qualities.”
Using her camera as her initial composing
tool, Beck takes multiple photographs from various interesting angles to frame her subject. Then
with Adobe Photoshop, she crops the best photos
to create strong compositions and manipulates
contrast to further enhance the images. She also
occasionally uses Photoshop during the painting process to solve value and color problems.
Smooth Washes and Crisp Edges
Since her return to watercolor, Beck has
become proficient in several approaches to
the medium, including masking-and-pouring
and using a stencil-type technique for backgrounds. Lately, however, she’s employed the
classic method of painting wet-on-dry for her
vintage saltshakers and toys. When strongarmed to talk about the smooth quality of her
washes, Beck, ever hesitant to toot her own
horn, admits that this is an exceptional skill
ABOVE: “I added the
shakers in Hip Hop
Bebop (watercolor,
12x12) to my collection of trinkets and
found the perfect
setting for them—
the cover of a book
on frogs, featuring
a froggy orchestra
on the cover,” Beck
says. “This piece
was recently included in the 36th
Annual Transparent
Watercolor Society of
America Exhibition.”
September 2012
61
she has and that masking is one tool that helps
her achieve it. “I love to use masking fluid,
whether as part of a pouring process or to save
highlights,” she says, “and I regularly use it
when I want to create a smooth wash in an
area involving irregular or broken shapes that I
need to protect from the paint.”
Beck’s first step in a traditionally painted
piece is to apply masking fluid to preserve
highlights and to mask shapes inside areas
that will be a different color. After letting the
mask dry completely, she starts applying paint.
“Because the paint must be dry in one area
before I paint next to it,” she says, “I usually
work all over a painting in a sort of jigsawpuzzle style to develop the crisp look I prefer,
and I often return to a painted area once it’s
dry to apply additional washes, either to intensify the color or to shift it slightly.”
She also does a great deal of work on her
paintings after removing the masking. “I either
RIGHT: “Fish Out of
Water (watercolor,
6x6) is another one
of the challenge
paintings set up with
my online painting buddy Pablo
Villicana Lara,” says
Beck. “The theme
was ‘fish out of
water.’ I painted the
blue-green background color of the
fabric, then masked
the fish images and
the reflections on
the fish planter. After
painting the ceramic
planter, I painted
in the black background color. When
it was dry, I removed
the masking and
quickly pulled a wet
brush across the
upper section to blur
the image slightly
and push it back in
space. To finish, I
lifted out highlights
on the fish and
painted in the reflections from the fabric
under his mouth.”
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tint areas that have been masked or scrub edges
and lift around them to soften and integrate
them into the image,” she says. “Masking is an
important part of my painting process, regardless of subject matter or stylistic approach, and
I enjoy working through these additional steps
to complete a painting.” (See From Masking to
Finessing, at right.)
Beck regularly sits back and analyzes the
painting during the process, but this scrutiny
increases as she nears the finish. She may
soften an area, push it back in value, glaze over
a whole section or lift color to create a highlight. To intensify the crisp look she likes, she
spends a lot of time cleaning up edges before
calling a painting finished. “Dreaming up new
ideas and planning the painting are the most
fun for me—there’s lots of mental stimulation
and no stress about getting the paint to cooperate with the idea,” she says, “but basking in the
finished painting runs a very close second!”
From Masking to Finessing
BY CHRIS BECK
To paint Dippy Duck #2 (at right; watercolor, 8x8)
and my other whimsical subjects, I use a classic
wet-on-dry method with masking and wash
techniques I’ve perfected over time.
1. Prep and Masking: After transferring my
image to watercolor paper and “blotting” excess
graphite with a kneaded eraser, I soak the paper
in cold water for three to five minutes, drain it and
staple it onto a stretcher board. When the paper
is completely dry, I apply masking fluid to preserve highlights (enlarging them slightly to allow
for smudging the margins at the end) and to mask
small shapes surrounded by a different color. For
certain details (like saltshaker holes), I paint masking fluid out to the highlighted edges and paint the
details in at the end. When the masking fluid is
completely dry, I can start to paint.
2. Initial Painting: I proceed to paint each portion
of my subject (for instance, the bill, wing, head and
body) by first painting clear water on an individual
area but not quite to its outer edges, which keeps
the edges well-defined. When the paper is no longer shiny but just damp, I add my paint, pulled from
pigment-rich puddles of color and, while the area is
still wet, pull in a shadow color to give form to that
portion of the subject. When a color needs a boost,
I repeat these steps as needed.
3. Bleeding Color: For areas such as the wing
in Dippy Duck #2 (where I wanted the green to
bleed into the yellow as it does in the glaze on the
ceramic), I repaint the adjacent sections (with warm
yellow, in this case) and then paint the actual element (cobalt green here) while the adjacent color is
still damp.
4. Background Painting: After the subject is
dry, using a large brush I paint the background
with a light-colored wash. When that color is dry, I
carefully paint a contrasting color around the background pattern with a medium-size brush. I let that
dry thoroughly and then, using a very light touch,
pull a quick wash of water across each background
section to soften the shapes.
5. Masking and Lifting: Next I remove all the
masking fluid with a rubber cement pickup. Using
a scrubber brush that’s wet but not dripping, I lift
out the highlights, blotting up the lifted color with
a tissue. I smudge the margins of the highlights
while keeping the centers white to give the illusion
of shine.
6. Details and Finessing: Finally I have fun painting in the details. Then I spend a bit of time cleaning
up the edges with a small brush.
web
EXTRA
For a link to the
full-length description of Beck’s process for Dippy Duck
#2, go to www.
artistsnetwork.
com/tamonlinetoc.
Colors used in Dippy Duck #2: Winsor &
Newton Winsor yellow, scarlet lake, permanent
rose, French ultramarine blue, Winsor violet, cobalt
green; Daniel Smith quinacridone sienna
“I prefer subjects that have simple, basic forms, but also interesting details
and good graphic-design qualities.” Chris Beck
September 2012
63
ABOVE: “Originally
painted at a smaller
size for the second
annual challenge
on ‘Peeps’ (with
two of my online
painting buddies),
this larger piece,
Spring Peepers
(watercolor, 10x13),
also features one
of my vintage tin
toys cleverly hiding
out with his peeps,”
Beck says. “I’m very
pleased with the
colors reflected in
the box, and I had
a great time painting all the silly frogs
on the background
fabric.”
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True to Herself
Beck’s love of trying new things and her choice
of fanciful subject matter speak to a spirited
individualism. (Perhaps this trait is best illustrated by the fact that she still sees herself as
a transplanted Midwesterner after nearly 30
years in California.) Successful at developing
a personal style that fulfi lls her creatively and
emotionally, she shares some advice for beginning artists: “Be true to yourself,” she says.
“Paint something that you’ll be thrilled to paint
and to share. Choose what you love, work
hard at it, and persevere through rough times.
Avoid fads and copying, but always be open to
incorporating new elements in your work.”
Asked what she would like to see happen in
her life in the next five years, Beck quips, “Just
one biggie: Vintage saltshakers will achieve
world domination!” She continues on a more
serious note: “I’ve learned to take one step at a
time and build on successes as they happen. I
hope that I continue to challenge myself and
remain excited about my work. Everything
outside of that is icing on the cake.” ■
Meet Chris Beck
Chris Beck’s awardwinning watercolors
have been featured in
books and magazines,
including Watercolor
Artist and The Artist’s
Magazine. Between
2008 and 2011, Beck
curated and wrote a
watercolor showcase
blog, Brush-Paper-Water (www.brush-paper-water.
blogspot.com), in which she posted 66 biweekly
features on watermedia artists. Although inactive
now, the showcase remains available as an online
resource. Beck is a signature member of the National
Watercolor Society, the Transparent Watercolor
Society of America and Watercolor West. Visit her
website, www.chrisbeckstudio.com, and her personal
blog, www.chrisbeckstudio.blogspot.com, for more
information.
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