Tag: Kilimanjaro CP 140# paper

A View of Zion National Park and the Virgin River

Pixabay is home to a lot of great pictures! I used one of them – as you can see below – to create this watercolor. Unfortunately, the scan doesn’t show the real warmth of the rocks as painted very accurately as it could, but c’est la vie.

I chose this subject because the warm rocks on the left and right of the photo move into cooler ones as atmospheric conditions work their magic. The foreground of the photo is very dark and trying to catch the details and put them all in shadows was also a challenge. I also tried to create a focal point for the watercolor, namely the point at which the Virgin River, in the lower middle center of the painting and photo, turns. At this apex I also tried to create some visible interest to lead the eye into the canyon beyond. Of course, the big rock structures also add to this sense of depth.

Painted in watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140# CP paper.

A Messy Thaw

Nothing like a slushy pile of dirty snow alongside the road to make you really appreciate bright, white clean snow!

I thought I would do this for more practice painting snow, using some of the things that stuck in my mind from the Shari Blaukopf’s class on painting snow. Add to that, I tried to recall and implement some of the things I have learned over the past several months from my courses with Ian Roberts. Something seems to be shifting!

Kilimanjaro 140# CP; 9×12.