Da Vinci watercolor on 140lb Bockingford cold press watercolor paper
I wanted to try painting the Fisgard Lighthouse, Victoria, BC. I had taken a reference photo from a long way away and it was blurry and dark. The only thing I could really make out in the picture was the lighthouse.
I like the way the lighthouse is silhouetted against the dark pine trees but I had problems with the rocky ground in the forefront. I also had problems with the windows. I just couldn't get them to look right. I am finding that with this size painting I do better work on close-ups of subjects. As soon as I try to paint a subject that is a little farther away the detail becomes to small for me to do.
When painting tiny windows you're always better off creating them by painting around them, ie: three quick horizonal red brushstrokes crossed by three vertical red brushstrokes. That way the window edges will always be perfectly lined up because they were all made with one stroke.
ReplyDeleteThanks for following my blog and for your comment. I will have to try your suggestion the next time I attempt painting windows :)
ReplyDeleteI used a similar technique in this digital image created on a computer. The alignment defines the shape of the object so having them pointing in the same direction is way more important than the level of detail. I'm not worried too much about size or perfect accuracy either.
ReplyDeletehttp://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL252/1891491/3652265/108640306.jpg