Another watercolor, mostly wet-in-wet, but I ended up doing a lot more details in dry brush as the painting progressed. Finally, I applied some glazes in an attempt to unify different sections as I had overworked the painting quite a bit. The even spacing of the brush / trees in the lower middle ground are rather amusing, too – didn’t I look? I didn’t really notice them until I scanned the painting!
This is reminiscent of the foothills in California as they give way to the Sierras. Here, I used a hake brush about 2 inches wide to render everything – land, sky, trees. Most was wet-in-wet, but the blobs of bushes and some of the trees were done on a dryer surface.
At the end of the Ventura pier, the platform widens out and in the center is an opening. You can look down into the waters below, and see the supports reaching up.
Years ago – maybe 25 – when I lived just a short way from the pier, in the middle of a fierce storm, a friend and I walked out to the end of the pier. The wind was wild, waves were high, we got soaked, we were stupid, we nearly flew off in the wind. The next day it turns out the pier had been severely damaged where we stood. Closed for weeks and weeks, the supports beneath were reinforced and rebuilt.
And now you see them.
Oh, how I loved our visit to Pt. Lobos in Northern California! The coast is amazing – cliffs, trees, sea, waves, birds, and trails to wander with a surprise around every corner.
I tried to capture the sense of mist rising from a lake in the early morning. Dry brush seemed to be the best solution, but I think I sort of missed it (hahahaha). I used a square, flat brush, moving up and down and sideways. The thing is, it wasn’t really foggy and blurred, but rather defined in the image.
Feels good to be painting again!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 