Evening Glow

Painted this quick demo as part of my latest Youtube video on watercolor choices for beginners. Anyone interested can find the video at at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeoS4QBSfWc

Brooding Sky

We have had some pretty stormy weather lately which inspired this watercolor. I used only three colors - burnt sienna, indigo and French ultramarine. Every now and then I am really pleased with a painting and don't nitpick about what I could have done better and this is one that I am rather pleased with. I also recently revamped my web site - after using wordpress for many years I decided to make the change-over to Squarespace with a more modern look. If you are interested in seeing my new site please click on this link.

Nightfall

It was very difficult getting the colors right for this posting. The watercolor is actually a little darker than it appears here, especially in the foreground. I wanted to paint an atmospheric night scene using a range of blues. It took about ten coats of glazing to get to this stage. I almost abandoned it halfway through because it looked uninteresting. For the last stage I decided to take a rough painters brush and using Daniel Smith's indanthrone blue mixed with neutral tint I swept the brush back and forth and left it to dry. I think it really made the sky come to life.  I then had to come up with something interesting to paint in the bottom third of the painting. It had to be something simple that did not detract from the sky, which I wanted to be the focus of the watercolor. I was pleased with the end result of this piece. Size is 14" x 10". I used indigo, French ultramarine, indanthrone blue and neutral tint for the sky, and burnt sienna with French ultramarine, raw sienna and a little sepia ink for the land area.

Marsh Light

I have done a number of watercolors of the local marshes. They really appeal to me - not sure why.  I used a dropper filled with watercolor to draw the reeds. I find it easier to be more loose with this method. The sky is done in layers with raw sienna for the under painting then red iron oxide with some neutral tint added. The hills in the background were a mixture of cobalt blue mixed with some Payne's grey. Size is 10.5"X13.5".