The original design, which was published in 1834, was on a horizontal format, but for the brief, I needed a vertical format for a frame with a 7.5 x 9.5 opening. The phrase 'brief' is used for interior designers to describe what the client wants. In this case I am the client and the designer, so I am wearing my own briefs.
I cut an 8x10" from my normal cold press watercolour paper, then used a stencil to draw the 7 x 9"outline of the picture with pencil. With this size, there is a quarter inch around to go behind the mat, and another quarter inch so I can write the name of the print and the date at the bottom, plus it gives a little wiggle room to fit the mat opening. The 8 x 10" is standard American picture size so you can put the work in pre-cut mats and frames. The 7 x 9" picture size is very close to the Japanese size called chuban (~7.5 x 10). The original Hiroshige design was about 9 x 14".
The outline was painted with a number 4 sable brush and lamp black paint, using a large book as a guide for my wrist to keep the lines straight. The rest of the main outline was also with lamp black and the number 4 brush. Then I filled in the colours using the original picture for references. I set up my small notebook computer on the art table to have the image showing on the screen. Prior to doing the painting I had done several small pencil sketches to work out the compositions. The little semi circle shapes on the corners were inspired by the Japanese prints, I used a dime to create the semi-circles.
I wrote a longer post today because I am trying to work out this method so that I can mass produce original watercolour landscapes. My ambition is to paint one landscape painting for every country in the world, which is about 197. That will probably take several years to complete as a reasonable pace. I am also planning the provisionally titled "17-odd gas stations of Notre Dame de Grace" series.
8 x10" cold press. Watercolour, February 2020.
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