Pink Moon Hombre
Well this an interesting process! For this painting I actually ended up making 3 different sizes for it as I worked out the kinks. The first, pictured below measures 4x6" and acted as my "first take".
In this first 'small' painting I worked out the bigger shapes trying to be very clear about where I was adding details, where the color shifts and shadows came in and trying to keep an overall compositional idea present. Pictured below is the second take. A 5x8" version.
After having gotten a practice run in it was easier for me to go heavy on my earlier choices. In this next phase I tried to play with a bit more contrast and detail in specific areas that made sense to me. Working out the shapes of the bushy tree zone was difficult and I think I ended up learning a lot from it before moving on to the big one at 8x10".
I really enjoyed this iterative process and I think I was able to "plus" the overall idea in a small way each time. I heard of a study done on basketball players recently about the benefit of visualization for free throws. I wanted to give myself an opportunity to visualize the painting a few times over while gradually making incremental changes and I think this was a good pathway to tackle a complicated subject.
What are some of the ways you prepare yourself to perform?
Very nice. I am struck dumb whenever I witness patience practice in art making. I am too hyperactive and simply never “prepare”. There are many paths to expression. I envy yours, and always wonder where I would be if my mother didn’t drop me on my head as a baby:) Congratulations!
Another dropped kid here, maybe that's why I get paralyzed when I only have one painting to work on. I end up being so precious with them that it takes a lot of time just thinking about the next step instead of going for it. Thanks for appreciating the craft! I feel like every artist out there has had mixed experiences with watercolor. I'm just trying to tame it a little! lol
I have yet to delve into that medium. It scares me:)
Scares me too, I have ruined lots of paintings! :)
Hey Friend,
I'm a huge fan of Watercolor paintings and trust me, this is a lovely one. I would have just loved to see more depths underneath the rocks, it would have been so solidified that way.
mmhm, I can see what you mean. I'm still learning a lot so I'll have to practice letting some of the base show through the water. I agree, sometimes you can see a little bit of the rocky rocks through the water and that does add a big 'plus' to the image. Thanks for dropping by!!
Yeah. I'm glad you got that. It's nice getting to see your piece today, would definitely love to see more.
These are wonderful, peaceful paintings 😊
Thanks, so glad you enjoyed!
Beautiful work
Awesome! glad you enjoyed :)
I like a second and the last version. The second is more like night scene, cool colors and well done reflection of mountain as well we contrast of the sky in the water. For me the most difficult to do the rocks as they usually dark and it becomes often too dirty, because I sometimes do not want long enough so that the watercolor dries completely.
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Thanks! I really like the second one too. I think if I were to change anything I would probably go in with a better reflection and sky light on the second one The final image came out with better detail but I think it lost some of it's moodiness that was in the smaller paintings. I'll have to remind myself of this one my next paintings.
If you don't like to wait for the watercolor to dry you can always use a hair dryer to speed up the process. I usually try to have about 3-4 paintings going at a time so I can do a coat on one and set it aside to dry while I bring the others up another layer of color. Not a bad flow for me but sometimes I get really mentally exhausted from having to wrap my head around more than one scene.
Rocks are just funny shaped cubes. I'm not trying to oversimplify or make light, they're totally frustrating!! It helps me to think of them as cubes though so I only have to worry about direct light, sky light, bounced light and occlusion shadows. Simplifying in this way makes the rocks a little less daunting.