Another Lovely Day!

I’m trying hard to stay busy. I’m getting pretty nervous about presenting at IAPS, so I packed up my painting gear and headed to Elk Rock Island again, yesterday afternoon. I might have to do that again today too! I found a great spot in open shade where I was really comfortable. I wasn’t in direct sun, my painting surface and my palette had the same kind of light, making it very easy to see the color correctly. I decided to paint the water and reflections and chose a view that I wouldn’t usually gravitate towards. For some reason it was calling me, so I listened. Lots and lots of green to deal with. I think it’s one of the hardest things to paint, so I just didn’t paint with much green. I did a warm under-painting with lots of red and blue. Then when I started with my pastels, I tried to substitute brown for green. At the end, I added some bits of green here and there. I think it worked nicely.

After reevaluating the reference photo, I can think of several other ways to have approached this scene. It will be fun to try it again in another way!

Watercolor under-painting

Plein air sketch