Tag: landscape

Winter Water

Having used a lot of gouache colors in my palette, this is a deliberate effort to see how I can make a primarily white painting. Snow, of course, is the best subject.

The two whites available for gouache are zinc white and titanium white. Zinc white is more transparent and works very well with colors to lighten them. It is not as bright as titanium white. Titanium white is more dense and opaque, and works very well for areas you want to be very white – such as white caps on waves and here very bright areas of snow.

Besides the two whites, I kept my palette limited to most ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, yellow ochre. A touch here and there included some orange, yellow, and umber to mix colors I needed.

Strathmore Vision CP 140# watercolor paper; gouache; 9×12.

Back Country, Amargosa River

The Amargosa River is located in Nevada and California, moving into Death Valley National Park of the Mojave Desert. As a river, it flows freely both above and below ground, providing much needed water in an otherwise dry climate. Because of it, there are many rare and unusual plants and animals, some found nowhere else in the world. It is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conserve it . . .

This is another gouache painting. I wanted to capture the contrast of the river basin to the mountains it runs through, as well as illustrate the wonderful colors you can see in a desert or riparian area. Dry, rocky mountains, flat areas from flash floods and trails, the occasional tree, low-growing plants adapted to a dry environment. Plant colors are generally pale – sage green being a dominant one as well as bright yellow flowers. Dry air lets you see for miles into the distance and at times you wonder if you will ever see a cloud in the endless blue sky.

Gouache, Strathmore Vision 9×10 140# CP paper.

A Bow to Loiseau

Not too long ago a painting done by Gustave Loiseau called Les Peupliers (The Poplars), ca 1898, caught my eye. I really liked the composition, colors, and overall atmosphere – a bright, sunny, breezy day in the countryside. I will leave it to find it based on my rendition of Loiseau’s lovely painting.

As with yesterday’s painting, this is done in gouache on Strathmore Vision paper. I painted in the underlying colors with an angle brush and then used a finely pointed round to do the remainder of the work.

Gouache is, to me, a rather strange paint, but one which I really enjoy using. The colors always strike me as a bit unreal, but not necessarily in a bad way. They always seem to end up rather cheery, even when I use them to create a rather monochrome or dull scene. It can be used really thin, as a wash, as well as thicker – it all depends on the amount of water you add to it. It is designed to be opaque, but its opacity depends on how much water you add. I think I am on a bit of a gouache streak as I have at least another painting to show you . . . .

Strathmore Vision 140# CP watercolor paper, gouache, 9×12.

Between the Mountains

One thing I love about California is the fact that the geography varies so much! Oceans with flat beaches, oceans with cliffs, mountains with snow and mountains with pine trees, and deserts stretching flat and hot, surrounded by mountains and creating a secret world fascinating and forbidding. Worldwide, deserts host animals and plants and insects which survive on little water, are stark and seemingly dead – but of such beauty. Deserts are not for everyone – familiar and comfortable landscapes full of trees and greenery are very different. It took me a long time to appreciate a more stark landscape than the rolling green hills and woods of the midwest and eastern seaboard.

This is a painting I have been working on in my weekly class, inspired by multiple memories and photos taken. I had a limited palette of white, ultramarine blue, Indian yellow, and light green. I tried to catch a golden glow as well as give a yellow-orange cast to the desert floor and hillsides – and create a softly blended painting.

Oil, 12 x 16 canvas panel.