Be aware that the blues are not as blue as this photo shows, and the yellow/gold is too acid here. Not sure why but I just could not get an accurate photo of this painting. Everything looks too blue/yellow and very blotchy. With that in mind, I loved painting this and it was difficult because I was facing a bright sun coming through that canyon.
I love Fabriano when depicting anything with textures and especially rocks! perfect! I think that I was able to marry up my photo to my painting except the gold/yellow is not as sharp but more blended with the other colors.
Again, the blues are too blue in this photo….I had a difficult time depicting the underlying rocks. I think with plein air when you get in and get out, sometimes you grab an illusion of a scene without getting the whole tamale of a depiction. Not enough time especially when the light is moving so fast. I think that with my photos, I’ll be able to go back and do a studio painting and work up to the finish that most people appreciate. For me, I am caught in between. I like the freshness of a plein air and yet I like a certain amount of “I’ve got it” in the level of finish.
Learning Points:
- Watercolor is a medium worthy of tackling over and over, hours upon hours and especially if you can get out and paint from life, do it!
- Don’t give up! every relationship is worth the work and determination. Watercolor is a relationship of sorts. I have always loved watercolor and I plan to make this marriage work!
- Paint what inspires you, very important. I love the river and the river loves me (I think) and I love watercolor when I paint what I love, a lot of loving going on!
- Morning sun is the best when it is peeking over a ridge or just hitting the subject, same goes with evening light, when it glows and hits that zenith of pure beauty.
- Don’t be afraid to use opaque white, I did! the watercolor police were not in proximity and it is not a crime.
Yuba Gold 
These are beautiful I love the way you paint rocks! You did great to match up photo and paintings!
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I tried to match them up…..thank you! I love painting rocks and hoping to get it honed in just right. I need to learn where to soften the sharp lines, hard to do when they are actually there especially where the light hits an edge of a rock.
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Yes but I really love the way you paint them they looks great and the sharp edge is there if there is light 😉
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Beautiful representation of the rocks and textures Margaret.
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so lovely!! great use of Fab paper Margaret ….. drooling. gorgeous.
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I was too much in a hurry to go into detail about how much Fabriano fits this kind of scene and painting…..love Fabriano paper! I can easily be the poster child for the paper and so could you! 🙂
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details schmetails!! who needs them, when the colors are bursting and the wind is blowing free?! its about the Feeling!!
I love how you get it, M You Want to Share That Gorgeous Feeling – of ‘being out there’……..
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exactly! that is so important…..I rather have that and the wind in my hair instead of stagnate, boring and precise paintings 🙂 you are a doll ❤
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I think, we kinda think a bit alike with the hike and paint approach! 🙂 a bit of a rebel at times maybe……. lol
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I don’t know why blues are so hard to photograph some times, but they sure are. I think you did a good job. I tried plain air on the last camping trip and it ain’t easy that is for sure. Between bugs and weather and sun in your eyes and heat and just not being able to spread out…and all that stuff that indoors does not have…I think you did a nice job and I like your rocks. The photo matching was really good too. More power to ya Margaret. Painting outside ain’t for the birds.
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lol….thank you! Many people don’t realize how difficult plein air can be and in watercolor…..punch that up a few notches. It was a little precarious getting to the spot I was at, I had to climb over boulders and most of them were slick. I was thinking of getting closer to that jumble of rocks but I had visions of getting stuck between two big boulders and having to cut body parts to extract myself. I know morbid, but it was one long, deep crevice and I was so tempted in “hopping” it….I failed to mention that part of the story. I might not be encouraging plein air painting if I included everything, you know? But oh, I do love excitement and living on the edge, I will be plein air painting until I can’t shuffle no ‘mo. 🙂
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I can’t imagine dealing with water colors in that atmosphere….I would have a big mess of muddy puddles blowing around on the paper…and a body full of mosquito bites. I’m glad you didn’t go for the suicide mission. Yay for constraint Margaret. There is a plain air painter here in nm that I really like…she does oils. Her name is Dee Sanchez. When you are bored, you should check her out. She has beautiful colors. You can look at her stuff for inspiration when you are blistering from sun and windburn and itching from bug bites and wet from falling in the river and hungry cuz the raccoon stole your lunch….after you get home of course.
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most likely a bear would steal that lunch and then I would happily chase him….I love bears and sometimes I don’t know any restraint! I will look up that artist….thank you!
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Lolol…I almost said bear but I didn’t want to say that and then have a bear really steal your lunch…i would feel so bad! I would laugh at raccoon.
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lol! yes…..laughing I rather do than scream!
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Yeah…you’re like a rock painting master class!! Love the way you render them!
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thank you Charlie….I still have a lot to work with and to learn but you are so kind!
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You rock! Wow Margaret, that first rock painting blew me away, it is, I think the best rocks, my fav of your big stones so far, you are so ace at them, it could be the arrangement of the stones, and the colours used, but my brain just loves that one the best, you always paint them so well, so I have no idea why that one has pulled me in??
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Hehe…..well, I was pulled in and I think that what the artist is pulled or swayed to paint, the viewer picks up the bug. 🙂 I got lost a bit in the jumble of rocks on that right side and I just faked it by working darks and lights but at least the main focus worked. It was hard painting it for the first 30 minutes because I was blinded by the sun! My photo was taken about an hour after the sun was hitting….I am so very glad that you like it! thank you for your comments Rebecca!
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It’s a pleasure, I love seeing the beauty you live within 😀
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Hi Margaret, I’m with Rebecca – your first rock painting is fab! What I like about it is how you’ve captured the weight / mass and solidity of rocks, whilst retaining the lightness of watercolour, really using it’s transparency and translucency, – and of course the granulation is a lovely way of communicating the surface texture. I think it takes great confidence and skill to paint the way you are doing at the moment Margaret and it’s wonderful to see!
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Thank you John! that really means a lot to me….it is more like throw yourself in the river and paddle your way through the rapids…that is how it feels sometimes 🙂 your comments helps me to know that I am nailing it….or rocking it!
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Haha – you’re doing both Margaret – Look forward to seeing what comes next!
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Wonderful!!! I agree with the other comments about painting #1 – but I love the other ones, too. I really love how the light sparkles on the rock in #2 and how you did work out the sharp edges, which looks awesome in combination with the softer parts. Great work – all three!
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Great work again Margaret. I like #1 and #2 best. In #1 the way the yellow follows a path through the painting is very good, and also the repeating patterns of the rocks really give a strong abstract foundation. In #2 I really like the sharp edge and its color on the rock at bottom left. This is masterful stuff.
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thank you! #3 was my old tired self trying to get one more in before the river and light closed shop…lol I am going to work on softening up my edges, not losing my “rock map” which I did at some point. I hate that when it happens, I like strong and bold and confident and it is hard when my rock shapes get muddled and I have to find my way around. Thank you for your observations and comments, always feel free to give a shout out when you do see something amiss.
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Beautiful mingled color on the rocks! To interpret rocks so they don’t look like potatoes is a challenge which he met and succeeded.
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