Watercolor Retreat day 3

The third day we worked on a new technique.  Using true transparent yellow, red and blue pigments to paint a marsh at sunset (Aureolin Yellow, Quinacridone Rose & Cobalt Blue).  Most paint is a combination of various pigments.  A true color contains a single pigment.  A transparent paint lets lets you see through one layer of paint to the one below.  

We first painted yellow where the marsh grass, trees and their reflections in the water are.  After the yellow paint was completely dry we painted red on the sky and water.  

After the red was completely dry we painted blue on parts of the sky, trees, marsh, and water.  To darken the trees and make the deep shadows in the marsh I added more blue.  It was amazing to see how well this technique worked.

Ironically, the spring high tide flooded the backyard and the streets around the house we stayed in.