In The Studio: Another Day in Rockport, Maine

This was a really quick painting I did to warm up for my workshop.  All I was trying to do was have fun with the light on the rocks, really expressing the fun fall foliage without getting sappy, and to quickly get the water reflection.  You will see from the photograph that I played pretty loose with the subject matter but that is the way I approach watercolor.  I try to find one thing to focus on for a center of interest, in this case the rocks and contrast at the rocks and then I wanted to minimize the contrast every where else.  I know that the image is not very focused but this is a painting blog not a master photography site.  I like the cool shadow under the rocks against the crisp white paper this creates a nice focal point defined by a wonderful white piece of paper.  I learned this from Matt Smith in an oil workshop to keep in mind warm light cool shadows so the shadow is definitely cool and the light feels warm.  You can see that I really played with the subject matter and absolutely exaggerated the fall foliage.  Try to express yourself through the subject matter and have a concept going in to the painting.  If not you will just frustrate yourself trying to copy photographs, and if you succeed the painting will just be a rendering not a creative work.