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!

20131025 - Fantasy

Today's project in my watercolor class was to create a misty type forest scene with a setting sun. Of course, I could not leave well enough alone and ended up going for a stylized scene.

The idea is that you have a forest in the far distance, more clearly defined pine trees in the middle distance and either deciduous or long leaf pine trees in the near distance. In the Carolinas this would be the sort of scene that you might find near a Christmas Tree farm.

But rather than going for standard color combinations, I decided to lean toward some more striking colors. So, the trees in the distance are redder than you would ever see in real life. And the nearby trees have vibrant foliage. The upper part of the foliage is darkened  by the gloomy twilight conditions. The bottom of the foliage is highlighted with the setting sun.

Perhaps it's fantastical, but I had a lot of fun bringing the colors and approach of this painting together. Hopefully you will enjoy it as well.

20131013 - Not all paintings end up as I want them

Sometimes it feels as if the painting takes on a life of its own! That's what happened today when I started to attempt a blue ridge mountain sunset. The colors just did not work out right. But I suddenly realized it looked more like a science fiction scene than it did a mountain landscape. And Voila! The Rainbow Dunes of Tanak were born.

So, even if the painting does get away from you, you can often enjoy the process and clown around a bit. Realistic? Nope. But lots of fun to imagine what might cause this type of psychedelic experience. And it's not all that inconceivable that a planet might end up with "Rainbow Dunes".

So remember that when life hands you some lemons, go ahead and make some lemonade and enjoy the result!