Alvaro castagnet Archives - Liron Yanconsky

Biggest Watercolor Painting Influences – Stan Miller, Joseph Zbukvic, Alvaro Castagnet & Chien Chung Wei | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 58

Hi there, Liron here! Today I want to share with you my biggest painting influences – Stan Miller, Joseph Zbukvic, Alvaro Castagnet and Chien Chung Wei.

I will talk about what I learned from each one of these artists. Let’s get started!

1. Stan Miller

My biggest insight from Stan was how colors don’t matter, and it’s all about the values.

Stan Miller has so many insanely helpful YouTube tutorials, and in them he always emphasizes – if you get your drawings right and your values right – it will look realistic.

I learned the most from Stan Miller, no doubt about it.

Check out this tutorial to see what I mean: Stan Miller – Portrait Demonstration

2. Joseph Zbukvic

From Joseph I learned a lot about simplifying what I see. I learned I can manipulate things and represent them in a simpler manner that really works for the viewer.

Another thing I learned was the importance of believing in the process and allowing the painting time to come together.

I no don’t give up on ANY painting, until it’s 100% doomed haha.

3. Alvaro Castagnet

Ahhh, Alvaro. Such a unique spirit. From him I learned a few interesting things.

First – the important of contrast, or as he likes to call it – contradiction. This means having hard edges and soft edges, warm color and cool color. Conflicting elements that add interest.

One practical thing I got from him was to place cools and blues in close proximity, inside the shadows, to create interest and richness to the shadows.

Overall, my style is very different from Alvaro’s, but I do get a lot of inspiration from his uniqueness of style.

4. Chien Chung Wei

I started following Chien Chung Wei more recently, and even featured him in my newest episode of Painting Masters.

I learned to much to even explain here, so you’ll have to listen to the episode haha. Mostly I learned real skill is. His work is several folds more impressive than anything else I’ve seen.

And with that being said, let’s move on to the Artist Corner!

Artist Corner

So today I wanted to focus on… Chien Chung Wei!

Instead of writing, though, I urge you to take a look at my most recent episode of painting masters:

This artist is really something special.

And that’s it for today, hope you enjoyed this one!

And here’s where you can find me

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care, and we’ll talk again really soon,

– Liron

What Makes Art Good? | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 51

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What makes art good?

Hi there, Liron here – and today I wanted to share my insights after listening to Antrese Wood’s podcast episode with Alvaro Castagnet.

In the podcast (The Savvy Painter) episode, they were talking about what makes art… well – art!

Alvaro shared his perspective on what is important when creating, and what separates good art from rare / great art.

Impressed By Castagnet

First off I want to say how impressed I am with Alvaro’s dedication to ART. He seems to be an artist through and through, and not “just” a painter.

I didn’t know he had such a developed outlook and perspective on this topic.

My Main Takeaways – What Makes Art Good

Here are the points I found important here:

1. Creating with innocence. We know how to make beautiful art, but then we learn and internalize a lot of excessive baggage. Unlearning is the key. Children’s paintings are beautiful and fully authentic.

2. Being present while creating. Something I mentioned here many times in the past.

3. Sensitivity to the world. This is something I’ve been talking about, but never phrased this way. Alvaro is a GENIUS. It’s such a good way to put it. Sensitivity. The ability to see more, where others see nothing.

4. Spontaneity. This is especially true with the wild medium of watercolor. At times you have to be able to be flexible and react to what the paint does.

Vision & Techniques Work Together

The above help you develop a clear vision.

What techniques do is help you execute on that vision. This is why techniques are important, but have their place.

A spectacular vision, imagination and perception, together with mediocre technique – can actually do wonders.

Excellent technique with complete lack of vision may produce boring work that has no soul.

And this is it for today. Would love to hear your thoughts on this in a comment below!

And with that being said… Artist corner!

Artist Corner

Today, I’ve featuring Antrese Wood! I mentioned her podcast and wanted to share more information about her.

She actually has an interesting life story, and art played a very significant role within it. She’s a painter, working mainly in oils and watercolor. From what I’ve seen she focuses on the A-la-prima approach (finishing the painting in one go).

She created a body of work called “A Portrait of Argentina”, which I highly recommend you check out. As someone who visited some of these places – she did a FANTASTIC job.

Antrese’s website: http://antrese.com/

Antrese’s podcast episode with Alvaro Castagnet: https://savvypainter.com/podcast/alvaro-castagnet/

A painting by here that I absolutely LOVE: https://shop.antrese.com/original-art/original_art_products/persistence-pmb4gqkh1da

And here’s where you can find me

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care, and we’ll talk again really soon,

– Liron

Impressionism Painting | Liron Yanconsky’s Podcast – Episode 20

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In the picture above is an Edward Seago study I did a while ago

Impressionism Painting

Impressionistic paintings have always attracted me, from the moment I discovered the genre.

I always loved the ability to represent what you see on paper, with the added value of your own interpretive skills, and your special flare.

The Zbukvices and the Castagnets

Immediately after discovering Joseph Zbukvic and Alvaro castagnet I was HOOKED.

I started seeking out similar artists, and paintings in that loose impressionistic style.

I also attempted painting in this style, which was a huge challenge (and still is!).

Edward Seago

Another artist I recently discovered that does impressionism in both OILS and watercolor, is Edward Seago.

He will probably be responsible for me getting into oils in some point in the not-so-far future (;

What Makes Good Impressionistic Art

I have my own opinion about what makes a good impressionistic painting.

This is my opinion, and I could be wrong about some things, or missing others. This is by no means a conclusive list.

Here are some things I noticed so far:

Accurate drawing – This is a must. This is the basis for creating a realistic impression of what you see.

Good sense of light and shadow – This is the second most-important item on my list. I believe this is as important as an accurate drawing.

We see the world in the form of light and shadow, and portraying accurate values is the key for creating realism.

Simplification and abstraction – Here shines the true spirit of impressionism. We are not trying to include every single detail we see.

We simplify things for the viewer, including only what’s ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. And the levels to which we simplify is a personal / style-related choice, but the impression we create still resembles the subject to a high degree.

Colorful / harmonious palette – To me color is secondary, but in some ways it can significantly enhance a painting.

When the colors work well together the good painting turns into a fantastic celebration of mood, atmosphere and temperature.

How to learn impressionism painting & how to improve

This is a question I don’t really have an answer for. I’m still learning this myself. However – there are some habits I noticed have been helping me with this.

Painting from live reference – This means either painting real objects inside, or real scenery outside. It means NOT working from photos.

I cannot stress enough how important field work is. It is an integral part of improving your visual language, which is what we are doing here, after all.

I also think it’s important, from time to time, to work from photos. The reason is that you can be more relaxed, well-organized, and practice the techniques.

Outside you have to hurry, the light is constantly moving and changing, and things are dynamic. Inside you don’t have that issue.

Learning from others – The way I approached learning this is by constantly alternating between two mindsets – inspiration and isolation.

What I practically do is focus for a while on learning from one specific artist who’s work I enjoy. The time-frame for this can range from two weeks to two months. I call this the inspiration period.

Then, I shift into isolation. I ONLY focus on painting what I see, as I see it. I don’t watch YouTube videos. I don’t look at other peoples’ art. I only focus on MY OWN WORK.

And then I go back to inspiration for a while, and the cycle begins again.

I find this REALLY helps me to soak up inspiration and knowledge, and then internalize everything and combine it with MY OWN style.

Conclusion

And this is everything I wanted to share!

Like every new skill, it can be a bit of a challenge. But with enough consistency you get the ball rolling and before you know it – you are an expert!

I hope you enjoyed this one (:

Artist Corner

Today we talked about Edward Seago. He was an amazing English painter who worked in both oils and watercolor.

He lived from 1910 to 1974, and led an interesting life. He was quite close to the royal family, and was even invited on a tour to the Antarctic with prince Phillip.

He produced there what is considered his best work. I personally love both his oil paintings and his watercolors. He had an amazing way of simplifying what he sees.

You can read more about him on Wikipedia – Edward Seago

And here is a Google Images search for you to browse and enjoy

And here’s where you can find me (:

You can support me on Patreon

Check out my YouTube Channel – Liron Yanconsky

Or ask me questions on Instagram – @LironYanIL or Snapchat – @LironYan3

How to Draw for a Painting – Still-Life Watercolor Painting Process

Hi there!

A while ago I worked on this painting of a pastry called Rozalach (which is insanely delicious!!).

I also recorded the entire painting process.

As I was watching the footage, I realised it would be great material to talk about DRAWING in the context of painting.

In other words, this is great content to explain how to draw for a painting.

so without further ado, here’s the video (and if you prefer to read – scroll on! 😉)

Drawing for a painting is different

Drawing for a painting is different from drawing when pencil is the final purpose in mind.

It requires to be as detailed as necessary, but not more than that.

With this process, I starting by marking the edges of the pile of Rozalach pastries.

You can see what these look like in the reference pic on the top left corner.

Once I finished indicating the edges, I was able to fill up the space with quick sketches, representing the shapes of the tasty doughy rolls.

This is the hardest part. Once you get those guidelines in, it’s only a matter of filling in the gaps with the finer details.

Here you see me filling in those details. The main things I’m looking for are strong changes in values (meaning darks and lights).

When drawing for a painting, this is extremely important.

Here is the final drawing!

This is a good indication of how a typical drawing that’s ready to paint will look.

Some prefer to be more detailed, while others prefer less details.

I will tell you what – I recommend experimenting with both. Trying different levels of detail has its utility.

More detailed – may allow for more realistic results.

Less detailed – allows you to practice using the brush more, and “drawing” with the paint (rather than just “coloring” the areas between the lines).

And now is my favourite part – The drawing is ready to be painted! At this stage I can already imagine the colors I’ll be using, and the transparency of watercolor (which I love).

Painting

List of colors:

New Gamboge
Quinacridone Burnt Orange
Pyrrol Scarlet
French Ultramarine

Here is the very first wash.

My main concern is achieving an even result that’s “flowing” properly, and a variety of interesting colors.

Sometimes I go really wild with my colors (especially with portraits), but this time I decided not too.

I was afraid the colors will make it harder to communicate what I painted (a pastry that not everyone will be instantly familiar with).

And so I decided to go with an interesting range of yellows, oranges, reds and some blues.

Notice how I also made sure to connect the Rozalachs with the background. The purpose is to ensure they don’t appear to be “cut off” from the background. We want them to look like an integral part of the setting.

I find this extremely important at times, especially with painting people as a part of a scene.

After that, I move onto the second wash, where we’ll put in the darker shades.

This immediately breaks the painting down into more discernible shapes that actually have a meaning.

In most paintings, I find this to be the most difficult stage. That’s because you really need to start paying attention to the drawing.

There’s one cool effect I think I was able to get at this stage.

The pastries are covered in sugar powder. To indicate that powder’s texture I made use of the paper’s texture (I’m using a cold-press paper for this one).

Notice the areas just under the Rozalachs in particular. I used dry brush strokes that will preserve the paper’s texture and create a powder-like effect.

And here’s the final result!

There was actually a third layer as well. Make sure to watch the full video to see it.

I’m very pleased with how this painting turned out. I love the color selection, composition, temperature and overall feeling.

I hope you enjoyed this quick lesson, and I’ll talk to you soon!

– Liron