In this blog I will be showing 3 of my most recent watercolor demonstrations and I will also be showing the photograph that I used for the painting. I will try to give a little of my thought process for the decisions that I made about the composition and edits of the image. Because these pieces are all 45 minute demonstrations with a lot of talking on my part sometimes the finish is not quite that of a studio piece, but then again I hardly ever paint watercolors in the studio. 
12×16 watercolor on arches 300lb CP. In this demonstration I tried to move the viewer from left to right and then back into the center of the painting where the wonderful dead trees are contrasted against the violet blue mountains. I was interested in bringing all of the texture and color forward and softening and graying the colors in the distance. I am not happy with the parallel lines of the white shapes, I could have done a better job of varying their shapes but at least they are different sizes.
12×16 watercolor on 300lb cp paper
I wanted to really capture the light wash on the rocks and get a sense of perspective with the big rocks in the front and small in the back. It was also my plan to get the trees receding by making them darker and richer in the foreground and color and grayer in the distance. I think this worked pretty well. The figures were an afterthought and I think they add a nice bit of interest to the distance and they also add scale.
12×16 watercolor and 300lb paper
I tried to keep this really simple but I wanted to have a clearly stated center of interest with the blue valley and texture vibrant trees. I also changed the scale of the painting by really enlarging the foreground rock. This make shapes more interesting and creates a much stronger feeling of depth and perspective.
The following images were used for these painting.
Impressed! I’d give anything to paint that loose with watercolors.. Your work is always so refreshing, Steve.
I wish I could paint oils as well as you do so we are even