Final Watercolor Landscape

"Bridging the Sunset"     

Medium- Watercolor

Oct 31, 2024 

8.5 x 6in 

When I first started painting, I didn't know what I was doing. For example, you can see a clear change in the sky from my first draft to my final painting. When I did a wash on the original, I didn't let each layer fully dry and I just sort of loaded the paper up with pigment and water.  This was a big mistake because It caused the colors to blend in a way I didn't like, and it broke down my paper. In my final draft, I took painting the sky very seriously and made sure to use what you taught us in class about "scrubbing".   I also struggled when making the bridge. I first painted it quickly without much thought because I assumed it would be easy.  Absentmindedly, I made the bridge without perspective and it looked completely off. In an attempt to fix my mistake, I used too much water and made everything worse. It eventually led to my paper ripping. I made sure to change some things the second time around. I carefully planned out where I would add shadows, lightly sketched where I would paint, mixed different shades of gray, and made sure every line was clear and precise. I'm very happy with the bridge and think I made great improvements. Finally, in my rough draft, I didn't think to paint sunlight reflecting off the water, but added that small detail in my final and think it really added to the landscape.

I used the wet-on-wet technique to create washes for the sky and water/ sunlight reflecting off the water, first putting the paint on light, and then adding more layers. I used the loaded brush technique for most parts of the bridge and road, and also for the background landscape. I used the lifting strategy to fix my mistake. I loved that this was an option and I found it very helpful. I also found changing pressure with my brush was a great way to make the clouds. In most of the practice sheets, I made the clouds with the dry brush technique. 

One of the biggest things for me was my issues with the bridge. When I first messed up the perspective, everything I did to fix it just made it worse. I tried to use lifting, I tried painting over it, and it just made it look so messed up. I'm very happy that I decided to glue a whole new piece of paper on top because there was no coming back from the original.