Shapes and Colors Revised

I had time to look at the composition with fresh eyes this morning after uploading the video demonstration of this scene yesterday.

Diablo Lake View

Compare the revised version of the lower left hand corner of the composition (above) to the initial one (below) as I left it on yesterday's YouTube demonstration.

While I think either one can work in the sense of a sketch on location, I enjoyed working with alternating simplified shapes, colors and values to develop that corner a bit more. The danger is knowing when to stop. The purpose of the sketch is to gather the shapes and colors into a unified whole while retaining the immediacy of a fresh experience with nature.

How would you have done it?

Initial shapes ready for watercolor. See my demonstration on YouTube

Day 9: Shapes and Colors
Creating an impression is all about the shapes you use. With a few circles and some horizontal and vertical lines, you can create a stunning beach scene. I was inspired to paint an alpine scene instead.

Day 9 Climbing Mountains

Climbing Mountains and New YouTube Demonstration

Day 9 of World Watercolor Month
The prompt for today is climbing mountains. I think this phrase fits both metaphorically and realistically because it seems like you’re climbing a mountain sometimes while trying to develop your watercolor skills doesn’t it?

After our sketching session we looked over the results.

A whole group of us climbed to the outlook past Buster Brown field during my recent Watercolor Nature Journal Workshop at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center. Along with the demonstration and my sketch of Rita already on the page, I added another little vignette showing the view below. I managed to indicate the bridge across the distant edge of the lake.

New Watercolor Demo on YouTube

I’m also using this sketch to fit the prompt of “shapes and colors” for day 9 of the FireflyWatercolor Challenge. The idea of the challenges sparked my creative  muse. I had just visited the North Cascades National Park and wanted to do something about that rather than a beach scene. (saving that for later, though). I concentrated on interlocking the mountains, lake and surrounding forest shapes in the composition and distinguishing them in atmospheric perspective through color.

If you would like to see a video demonstration of my process please visit my YouTube channel here. Give me a thumbs up if you like it!

After recording and uploading the video, I looked at the sketch with critical eyes and decided to develop the lower left c orner a bit more. See tomorrow's post.