Saturn V, Space and Rocket Center
Watercolor Sketching Tutorial

Painting Demonstration 1

I’m awed by the Space Program. Men went up into space basically strapped to the tops of explosives. Did the space program start with a few men in their backyards strapping dynamite together? Hey ya’ll, see what we can do!

And the whole world saw. It’s basically how civilization was built.

Men landed on the moon in what was a enormous Mylar balloon. They floated in space attached with a rope or two and enclosed in what doesn’t look so different from an astronaut Halloween costume. After all, that’s what velcro came from.

They calculated all this with slide rules. (Yes, my husband just asked for and got a slide rule for his birthday. He’ll show anyone “his new pocket computer.”) He loved seeing Wernher von Braun’s slide rules.

And computers the size of houses that held less power than my phone. They rather remind me of the old screw fusebox at my grandmother’s, really.

These engineers were some of the most amazing, inventive people the world has ever known. I couldn’t believe the well thought out sketch in von Braun’s boyhood journal detailing a life support for a rocket. Remarkably like what he later created. I wish they had shown images of some of the other journal pages.

Painting Demonstration 2

So many steps to a painting. This is one I’ve been wanting to paint since we went to the Rocket Center last year. I didn’t take a photo or bring sketching stuff and I’d been regretting it ever since. So always bring a camera and take a sketchbook!

Painting Demonstration 3

I did this sketch inside the Saturn V Exhibit hall. Just a quick sketch to not interrupt the birthday boys! It’s unbelievable how huge this rocket is. It’s the sort of thing that makes my mouth drop open when I first see it. I haven’t had problems with perspective in years but this one – it’s just massive.

The painting took longer to get to than I planned. Boys got sick, after a week of sick boys cuddling I got sick (I never got sick before kids), then the vegetable garden needed to be planted. Life happens, but my fingers have been itching to paint.

Sometimes painting is like that. I still have very clear paintings in my head of Venice, boats in Maine, last fall, or spring cherries. Someday I will paint most of them!

Painting Demonstration 4

Sketch with the tricky perspective.

Painting Demonstration 5

First wash. I’m really drawn to the floor reflections. Bright blues and orangey reds.

Painting Demonstration 6

Strong darks in this. Lots of ultramarine blue and maroon perylene.

I had to include my husband and the boys in this one. It’s a present for him, after all!