Edge of the Sea, Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, 2015 #17
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Day fifteen of the challenge -- can't believe I actually made it half-way this time!!! This is another Plein Air piece from the white cliffs of Limartour Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore. From the usually foggy horizon one can still tell the emerging silhouette of the Bodega Head in the distance, floating in a sea of clouds merging into the shoreline. Ice plants grows on the top of some of the white cliffs, together with other shore grass and scrub bushes give a sense of lush growth even at the end of a long, dry summer. One local naturalist once told me that even in the driest year this shore gets plenty of water by means of condensation. Near the bottom of the cliff, piles of darker rocks are scattered around, covered by sea weeds and barnacles, chitons and like. The water beyond them a dark blue-grey.
The moist air at shore kept my watercolor paper from drying, so I was able to do a fairly wet-in-wet lay-in of the major value shapes in my first wash, which I was almost never able to do in even the smaller plein air pieces. After that I played with different brushes making marks with fairly fluid washes, trying to form interesting shapes that reads as "grass" and "foliage" without actually painting the individual blades. I painted the darker rocks first as one mass, later adding smaller, even darker planes on their shadowed side. Some spattering with stiff bristle brushes finished the work. It's an overcast day without strong light and shadows, but I liked the subtle colors revealed by this less harsh light. Colors often seem more saturated and nuanced on overcast days to me. Since such days are plenty in the Bay area from June to October, I decide to paint outdoors more often on them to practice observing the difference in light qualities between these and sunny days. Plein Air painting is really great learning experiences to me -- one is always marvelling at the infinite variety nature presents and humbled by our limited ability in capturing them with brush and paint. Never a dull moment...
The moist air at shore kept my watercolor paper from drying, so I was able to do a fairly wet-in-wet lay-in of the major value shapes in my first wash, which I was almost never able to do in even the smaller plein air pieces. After that I played with different brushes making marks with fairly fluid washes, trying to form interesting shapes that reads as "grass" and "foliage" without actually painting the individual blades. I painted the darker rocks first as one mass, later adding smaller, even darker planes on their shadowed side. Some spattering with stiff bristle brushes finished the work. It's an overcast day without strong light and shadows, but I liked the subtle colors revealed by this less harsh light. Colors often seem more saturated and nuanced on overcast days to me. Since such days are plenty in the Bay area from June to October, I decide to paint outdoors more often on them to practice observing the difference in light qualities between these and sunny days. Plein Air painting is really great learning experiences to me -- one is always marvelling at the infinite variety nature presents and humbled by our limited ability in capturing them with brush and paint. Never a dull moment...
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