In class this week we started to work on creating space with a landscape. I got to work while the students worked! The challenge with sunsets is always the depth. Can you create recession in the sky when the warmest colors are in the distance? Warm colors usually come forward and confound the effort to create space. Also pinks and reds that seem to sit in front of the gray or blue clouds tend to recede as well. This one seems to do what it is supposed to do. Painting requires bravery as the paint is put onto the paper in a dark, thick wash with water on the paper. Then you turn the board to try to get the paint and water to move in the direction of the cloudy sky. How it mixes is really the magic of watercolor-very hard to control.
The orange hills also address the same issue but with the ground emphasized to rely on it to create the space. The sky is in the background. Orange wants to come forward and so the foreground has to be bright and have enough contrast to keep it in the middle ground. Enjoy!
Class Work
