Fall Glow!

Fall Glow

Watercolor 11" x 15" Mats to 16" x 20"

My watercolor above, Fall Glow, is another in a series of paintings using the auturmn palette I discussed in earlier blogs.  This painting was done from a photo taken in the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains. 

In order to paint the foliage with consistency across the tree area, I masked off the large trees trunks before painting.  However, I did not mask the split rail fence in the foreground. 

I also painted the sky from the top to the ground level in a pale wash of Phathalo Blue adding clean water as I drew the color down to the horizon.  This allowed a little bit of blue sky to show through some of the tree foliage and the color became also white as it reached the horizon.

I placed a wash of color in for my background trees first and then used a deerfoot stipler to dab in foliage using several shades of yellow, orange, red, and even some green.  Once the background foliage was dry, I removed the masking and painted the tree trunks.

Watercolor tip:

Some of the tree trunks and branches were painted using a "secret" technique.  Some of the smaller trunks and branches were painted by applying paint to the edge of a piece of mat board and pressing into the dry foliage.  This allows for a quick application of paint and a consistent fine line. 

Happy Painting and Happy Halloween!

Karen