Awhile ago, I did a project for my university's 100th anniversary, but it had to be done in acrylic paint. It was a new medium for me, and I had to learn from scratch. If you've painted with both, then you know that shadows and hightlights are done completely differently. And that messed me up big time! Nothing I did in watercolor from that point on seemed convincing and real to me. I just couldn't make watercolor work for me. I decided to go back to the drawing board (so to speak) and got some instruction and demo watercolor books. This is a demo from one of them. I learned a lot, especially about highlights and shadows. Although I didn't have much emotional connection to this painting as I have never been to Italy, it was lots of fun. The bricks, the reflections in the window, the shadows - the whole idea of suggesting, rather than shouting was really interesting to do. It really helped me get a handle on how much detail to put in (like the weathering at the bottom of the door and the moss on the wall near the water) and how much to leave out (not every brick needs to be painted). It boosted my confidence enough to do some more.
The title of the book is "Painting watercolour landscapes the easy way" by Terry Harrison.
4 comments:
I like this a lot. You really captured the feel of the building. Well done!
Very nice. I love those happy colors!
You did a fine job .... watercolor is so different from acrylic, that's for sure! The things you learned that you mentioned were a good reminder for me too! Thanks! nancy
Nice one Cordelia =) Love this little view
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