See how Jake Winkle paints light and movement in watercolour with this video and then follow his demonstration to paint Runners and Riders, below.

Silhouette and contour

'I would like to consider the importance of the silhouette or contour,' says Jake.

'My simplified paintings don’t contain much in the way of detail or texture, as I prefer to use flat slabs of colour to texture. In fact, I almost solely rely on slabs of colour, tone and silhouette to describe the scene.

'To me, the silhouette does not just refer to the outside contour of an object. It is used to describe any shape or area of similar tone within an object or a group of objects.

'For instance, a street scene lit from one side will have large shadow and sunlit areas. The silhouettes would be made up of those areas that join together because of their tonal similarities. Shadows and darks of adjoining buildings form one silhouette, their lights and highlights form another.

'You must have interesting and varied shapes when creating silhouettes. Too many straight lines and too much repetition and symmetry quickly become distracting. A composition with symmetry somehow looks wrong.'

The Golden Section

'At some point most artists have used the Golden Section as a means of setting up an aesthetically pleasing composition.

'The Golden Section shows that the optimum position for the focal point may be in an area approximately one-third in from either edge of the paper and one-third up or down. To me it is really saying ‘Don’t put the focal point slap bang in the middle of the picture or right against the edge.’ In other words, break up the symmetry.

'I often paint figures and animals, in particular horses racing. In order to enhance the feeling of movement and to maintain a random silhouette I don’t usually  include fingers on hands,and feet or hooves on legs.

'I like to use a combination of blending shapes and dry brushstrokes to keep the silhouette interesting.

'If you half close your eyes when studying trees and foliage, you will see their silhouette shapes. Then, using a combination of dry brushstrokes and wet brushstrokes, capture the canopy shape in a natural looking way. If the landscape is level the trees will stand out as an interesting dark silhouette against a pale sky.

'Remember that objects in the distance don’t automatically get paler. Sometimes a cool dark distance can be used to profile a bright pale foreground'.

Demonstration: Runners and Riders

This painting of racehorses and their riders galloping directly towards the viewer is what I call a vignette. That is to say that all background paraphernalia has been omitted.

Because I required a simple clear wash for the background and foreground I used masking fluid to preserve some highlights on the jockeys’ clothes.

Step one

I drew the scene with a 2B pencil and masked only the brightest highlights.

I damped the paper with clean water and applied a pale wash of cobalt blue at the top, running it into a combination of raw sienna and burnt umber at the bottom.

When this was completely dry I peeled off the masking fluid to reveal the highlights as white paper. This gave the impression of ghostly runners and riders emerging from the background.

Step two

Beginning on the left, and searching for as much colour variation as possible, I painted the horses as dark silhouettes in a variety of muted greys, browns and ochres.

To imply depth in each horse I suggested their rear ends and back legs with cool dark greens and blues.

By holding the brush back along the handle I was able to suggest the legs with dry brushstrokes, usually omitting the hooves and varying the width of the marks as I went.

By blending colours together wet-into-wet I was able to present a mass of horse-like shapes in a fairly abstract manner.

Step three

I continued to model the horse shapes, running them into the riders’ boots and other apparel if their tonal value permitted.

Then I worked on the riders, balancing the muted colours of the horses with bright primary and secondary colours for the jockeys’ vests.

Shadows on white jodhpurs were painted in cool blues and violets or warm siennas and violets.

All the time my aim was to ensure that the objects and their space shapes appeared natural and random.

Finished painting

Runners and Riders, watercolour, (38x56cm)