First Snow - Holiday Greetings

Thought this would be an appropriate subject for the holiday season. I was practicing painting winter landscapes and tried a technique I found in one of my watercolor books "Watercolor Painting Techniques". A watercolor by Zoltan Szabo shows a technique to depict this snow scene. I was pleased with the result so decided to post it. I changed my piece around a bit and added foreground scrub and a darker effect with the trees and background. Watercolors used were burnt sienna mixed with French ultramarine for the sky and distant trees and Antwerp blue mixed with burnt sienna for the foreground trees, then sprinkled with salt for the snow effect. Size: 10" x 6.5".

I wish all my fellow bloggers a very happy holiday weekend and much joy and prosperity for 2011.

First Light

We have been experiencing the most incredible skies early in the morning lately. Fortunately I get up early enough to see them. For this watercolor I did an underpainting with raw sienna and then used brown madder and French ultramarine mixed with a little payne's grey. I really like the effect the limited palette provides. Size: 12" x 8".

Dusk In The Headlands

Back to my atmospheric watercolors. I like trying out different color combinations to create the atmospheric feel in my watercolors. I love the work of Caroline Simmill and the colors she used in wash #4 for the One Hundred Washes blog challenge. When I tried painting with these colors I could not get them dark enough, even though I used ivory black. For this watercolor I used raw sienna and indigo (which when combined with other colors makes nice darks) and a little burnt sienna on the foreground hill.
Size: 10.5"x9".