20140215 - Cardinal Pair

Well, painting the Cardinal Pair took much less time than I expected.

That's the advantage of snow scenes. There's less of the paper that needs to be painted.

Of course, the flip side is that you must believably cover enough of the paper to KNOW that it's a snow scene.

In effect, you have to think in an opposite direction to how we normally think. Normally we start with an empty scene in our mind and add color (including white) to create the scene. However, with watercolor painting it's necessary to create a NEGATIVE painting. I don't paint the trees. I paint the parts of the limbs NOT covered with paint and the sky above them. Do that properly and the tree suddenly pops out when you look at the painting.

In this case, making it a little more difficult is the need to provide enough detail so it is believable, but not too much. Too much detail would make the trees appear closer.

Also, by using cooler (bluer) colors it helps the trees recede. Warmer (redder) colors make objects appear closer. For example, even though the male cardinal is a bluer color, I added a orange glaze over the cooler blue-red. This helps it pop out of the painting and appear much closer.

So, here's hoping you enjoy the result. I know my wife likes it.