My oh my. This was one of my very first landscapes and it was incredibly challenging. I have limited experience with watercolor so this was a piece that involved trial and error. I am actually not too disappointed in the way it turned out for one of my frist watercolor pieces.
I got the picture from one of my close friends, Carissa, who moved up to Asheville this fall. I miss her so very much so I when I needed a landscape idea I thought of the beautiful mountains in fall up where she lives. The changing colors of the leaves are a signature part of the mountains of North Carolina that I wanted to capture. I knew I wanted to paint this but I was debating between mediums. I think watercolor was an appropriate way to capture the lake and colors of fall. To begin, I worked in my sketch book and I immediately knew how difficult working with watercolor would be. Just getting the color you want and the right amount of water while preventing over blending and pilling on the paper. I really wanted to be able to use both very light watercolor and pure watercolor paint. I knew that was the only way to get the depth I wanted. I also chose a very large piece of water color paper. I wanted to make sure it was large enough to get the full effect of the water colors. I also tried to effectively capture the composition and the rule of thirds that I used. I knew I had to work in light layers, which I tried to do throughout the water. However when I got to the trees the color was more concentrated than I thought. To compensate for this I added water and tried to make the leaves look realistic along with the shape of the tree line. I added purple to the mountains to make them stand out more against the trees while making them still appear in the background. After that, I added in the dock. The dock was incredibly difficult. I had a hard time capturing the shadows and the correct shape of the wood. I moved on to work on the branches, I think I got the shapes and snags of the branches well. Stay tuned for a break through... Then, the amazing Hannah from last year visited out art class. I was honestly embarassed to show her my piece because I have seen how great her work is. When she saw it she immediately knew what I need. More darks. She told me that this will get the dock and tree branches from looking like they are in the water. Can I tell you she was so right! It turned my piece into a much higher quality piece of art. I transformed the landscape into a more realistic painting. I think this is a piece I could go back and add to but I also think it is one of the most improved pieces I have done this year. I really wanted to just quit but I stayed persistant. I think this piece taught me a lot about myself as an artist and showed me that I am capable of trying new things and succeeding. This first one may have not turned out to be the best piece I have done so far but it shows me it is doable. I am so thankful for the encouragement I recieved from people at my table and everyone around me. I can honestly say this has probably been my favorite art class.
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January 2017
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