I felt that a great way to see progress was to re-examine my baseline painting and go back and retry. Since the beginning of this assignment, and my exploration of watercolours, I have learned many things, which I applied to the painting on the right,
I began with a wet-on-wet technique blending colours for the sky and the sunset. I realized during this process, that the best way to use wet on wet is to work in segments. As such, I didn't wet the bottom of the page until after the top was done. The layering then began. However, you can't do too much without waiting for the paint to dry, If you try to add more layers on wet, the colours will just blend. This may be a lovely effect but not necessarily what goal is.
Between each layer of green, of trees and of grass, I had to wait for the previous layer to dry. Thus I was using the wet-on-dry technique which allows for more vibrant colours. Speaking of colours, the new paints I have been using, though a wonderful choice of colours, aren't as transparent as the first set of paints. When first exploring watercolours, paints were strongly encouraged to be of higher quality and, thus, of higher price. These were cheap. You get what you pay for. All that being said, I do like the choice of colours.
After many weeks of painting and exploring, my final work (for now) can be found here. I am very proud of the work, though I have to admit that the real thing demonstrates the shades of colour much more.
The subject perspective is more balanced with the increased representation of sky versus landscape. Enjoy the softer tones of greens and introduction of more details related to trees, shrubs and grass. The application and progression of the techniques is apparent in this exercise and its results. A great representation of Vermont's vistas.
ReplyDelete