Old Work Made New

In my last post QoR watercolors were the feature, with more studies to come. A couple of days ago I happened on an old unfinished plein air watercolor in one of my 8x10 sketchbooks. That particular painting was only partly colored. I had followed my standard method by laying in a sketch, faintly and in this case with watercolor pencil. Usually I follow that step by painting back to front (ie top to bottom) and light to dark, when using watercolors. I had massed in the sky and background foliage in middle values but time had stopped me from further work on the spot. A search of file photos helped me locate the reference shot I made at the time, and with that assistance and the new QoR Modern Watercolors, here is the result.

"At the Birdland Marina," watercolor on paper, 2020

The buildings in the distance are a commercial marina along the Des Moines River, only a couple of miles north of downtown. The sketch group had gone there to paint, and I had already finished one small painting before starting this one. The distant foliage on the left and above the building, plus the small shrubbery on the bank, were either still blank for painted in middle values. The finished painting is vague on the right side, primarily to guide the viewer's gaze back to the buildings and the yellow-green tree that fronts the blue marina building. In this case several areas of darker green were easily layered-over with lighter greens because these paints are semi-opaque when applied full-strength.