20140102 - Tuareg

Based on a painting that I saw by Elisabeth Morin, I decided to do my own rendition of the Tuareg People. Think of the Fremen of Dune. These are nomadic people who live in the Sahara desert.

While this type of lonely picture could be depressing, I prefer to think of it as looking out over the trials and tribulations of life .. dreaming where we will go and of the eventual goal. Perhaps lonely. But dreaming of the future is always a lonely endeavor. Yet, it is not depressing, since it holds the promise of a future reward. Dream on!

With this painting, I continue using the Sennelier watercolor paints for the sky in this painting. To this, I used my M. Graham Raw Sienna and Burnt Umber for the sand dunes and Phthalocyanine Blue Red Shade for the cloth.

As you can see, I had some problems with bleeding at the horizon line. Since I never intended to make this a permanent painting, I tried to use quick sketching techniques to capture my vision. But I will do this one again to see if I can capture it without those problems.

As you know, this is my first painting of the year. With it, I decided to attempt to frequently paint. More than that, I decided to work my way up toward painting people by doing projects like this. I'll get comfortable painting the silhouette of people and clothing. That will allow me to built up the skills needed to do watercolor portraits of people.

Here's hoping you goals for 2014 are rewarding and achievable!