From Concept to Reality: Watercolor Renderings

Founder and Principal, Geddes Ulinskas uses watercolor renderings to bring his architecture to life. He first became fascinated by the art in the fourth grade when his aunt, Holly Hobbie, gifted him his first watercolor set. Drawn to the lightbox effect and translucence of watercolor, he further developed his craft through many classes including workshops with San Francisco-based artist, Michael Reardon. Almost every project is brought one step closer to fruition with watercolor renderings which often provide a sense of completion for clients.

Geddes begins the process by creating an outline and planning the colors, shadows, and highlights for the watercolor. Before he reaches for paint, he has already mapped out the rendering and has an idea of how he’ll use color to give visual clues that will highlight the drawing’s focal points. There is little room for error as mistakes are difficult to correct in the medium. After a day of planning and execution, the art-like rendering is completed and ready for the client to view.

Watercolor rendering in progress for a residential project in San Francisco.

Geddes’ workstation before the start of a watercolor rendering.

Birds-eye view of a residential project.

The exterior of GUA’s Modern Mix-Use Building.

An interior preview of GUA’s Eclectic San Francisco Residence.

Interior setting with a San Francisco vista.