Musings, April 8 2020

Looking back over my last few paintings gives me a feeling of accomplishment. I have produced some very fine watercolors here. The landscapes are not as brightly colored as my floral still lives used to be and yet, there are subtle color variations that please me. 

The rock star among my paints for landscapes is Schmincke Naples Yellow. For florals I hardly ever used to use the opaques among the pigments. Cadmium Red used to be a big no-no on flowers. But exactly these opaque, sedimentary colors are the ones I’m drawn to when it comes to landscapes. My favorites are Cadmium Red, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Green and Naples Yellow.

 My spring color challenge was meant to be mostly florals but I’m still clearly favoring landscapes.  Maybe it’s because going on a drive around town during this “hunkering down” phase of our lives is my daily highlight. I used to think of spring snow melt as one dirty episode in an otherwise beautiful landscape. But now, I see chunks of ice as an asset when the landscape is lacking other interesting features. Also, tufts of grass in the snow  make the most beautiful landscape pattern.  Sunlit grass turns golden and thereby provides color splashes. 

Here is a view of my painting spot this morning and some of the latest paintings :

Some things that I’m (hopefully) learning while painting:

1.Do not attempt to represent all of the complex scenery in a small 8x10 painting. Instead, pick the interesting bit that attracted you in the first place, and try to paint that. 

2. Put the color down and then leave it alone! Quit fiddling with it!

3. A few fast deliberate strokes look much better than many slow ones. 

4. Pick the right photos to paint from. Some are better left to the photographers and realist oil painters.

5. There is nothing wrong with adding a few highlights with gouache at the end if it keeps you from giving up on painting all-together. It adds sparkle and frees you up to be a little messy in the beginning. 

6. The color of the sky can be adjusted to whatever you need it to be unless the sky is your focus to begin with. 

7.Healthy trees are blunt on the bottom and pointy on top. This might sound like common sense but when painting it is not always a given. When in Alaska, throw in some dead trees for variety.

8. A whole forest can be represented with one blob and 2 tree trunks.

9. Flick your wrist when painting branches. 

10. Know when a painting is lost and start over. (With bigger pieces, I used to be proud of the fact, that I could “save” it but the attraction of these small watercolors mostly lies in their spontaneity, and all fiddling is a disadvantage. )

11. A flat brush dragged almost horizontally across wet paper produces very nice bushes. 

12. Leave the reflections on water till the end so you are not reflecting something that’s clearly not there. 

12. Most scenes require at least one trial run. But when #6 still doesn’t turn out, go back to #1 or abandon project all-together. 

Let's see if I can remember some of these things when painting the next 10 paintings of this spring color challenge.