Water across the landscape

Water was the final landscape element for the class.  Marilynn did a great demonstration on reflections in water.  Water is almost always darker then the sky.  The reflections in the water always go from the object toward the viewer, and are never larger then the actual object.  Reflections can be dark or light, since they exhibit the same color as the object.  Also the depth of the water and angle of light effects the reflections.

The clouds had finally brought rain.  The ground was very wet and the sky was overcast.  Instead of trying to find a spot outside to paint I picked a photo that I had been wanting to paint for a long time.  A photo from a 2007 trip to Scotland of the small town of Dornie.  Dornie sits along the shore of Loch long close to one of the most photographed castles in Scotland, Eilean Donan.  I found the town to be as picturesque as the castle.

While there is only a bit of water in the photo, there are lots of clouds, hills, trees and rocks.  It seemed like the perfect time to try this painting.  I selected Phthalocyanine Blue, Lemon Yellow, Yellow Ocher, Quinacridone Red for my palette.  The mixture of Phthalocyanine Blue, Yellow Ocher and Quinacridone Red made the perfect gray, which I used for the sky and rock wall.  The sky was done wet-on-wet to make the blanket of clouds.

Marilynn and Carol helped me make some adjustments to the values of the water, houses and rock wall to make a much improved painting.