Watercolor Study

The idea behind these works was to create realistic watercolor studies of landscapes. I wanted to capture not only the physical aspects of the landscape but the parts of the landscape that made people feel a way. I worked on showing the depth and shadows of the landscape, since so often landscaped can look very flat and two dimensional. I wanted to use varoius techniques that allowed different looks and textures to make sure that my paintings were as accurate as possible. I used different brushes and strokes to capture different elements of the landscape such as the trees, and the ripples of the ocean.

For this I used all watercolor, as that was the assignment. I did use a very light graphite pencil to first sketch out proportions and get some of the basic ideas copied from my photo onto my paper. I then went in with watercolor and used a variety of brushes such as a small square one to get nice thin lines as well as a calligraphy line. And then I used a bigger dry brush to blend things and create texture in larger areas such as the sky and water. I also used a paper towel every here and there to pick up paint and make areas lighter.

I started all three with a sketch of simply genral proportions. None of my sketches had really any detail in them, and you prbably would not be able to tell what you were looking at just based off of the sketch. Then I used either a photo or real life as a reference to make my painting. I definitely struggled with mt real life one (study 2) because the scenery was so close and seemed to be just a wall of trees I wasn't sure how to capture dimension without blurring the trunks. On the third one however I think that I had the time I needed as well as a photo reference which was a lt easier for me, and it came out much better. I could allow the background to dry before I mixed new colors and tested them out and put them on top of my base layer.