daydreams SI: LVL 8 views

For this sustained investigation (SI) I am exploring how I can capture what I daydream about using watercolors.

For this painting I used a real place I have been, I don't know the name of the parking garage but it's on Fore st. in portland. I have watched the sunset here a couple of times and it's a really idyllic scene. I started off my painting with broad swathes of color to block everything in. After that was done I added more details atop the broad color patches forming all the shapes n' adding depth. I experimented in my work by adding not so conventional colors like the pink and purple walls of the parking garage. I also played around with a bunch of different compositions of the buildings in the background before painting them in. My project started off pretty odd, The composition was unusual and looked weird. By using a warm unifying color pallet everything gelled together.

I used lines to create contrast and emphasis throughout the painting. I used shape on the building to create unity between them all. I used colors that were warm and similar to each other to make things feel cohesive and create unity and contrast.

The story here seems to me like two people met up at the top of a parking garage to enjoy a sunset and maybe get some sushi afterward. This painting relates to my work because I have done this very thing in the very parking garage depicted. I even drew myself with my yellow jacket on. I'm proudest of the unique compositions and how the colors make everything warm and bring the composition together. I'm also proud of the little details I added like the Eastland hotel sign in the top right of the painting and the reference to my Happy Sushi painting. you can see the same sushi shop from a different perspective a little left of center in the painting. I struggled in making good colors for the buildings in the background, to overcoem this, I sketched some buildings on scrap paper and figured out what colors would look good.