Ogden Pleissner's Woodcock Cover

(C) 2014 Dale DiMauro

This is my version of Ogden Pleissner's watercolor painting called Woodcock Cover. Last spring I wanted to paint a full sheet (22" x 30') watercolor with a classic Vermont scene. I take daily walks in the winter through nearby preservation land called the Brattleboro Retreat where there are woodlands, open fields, and farmland full of many of the landscape characteristics visible in Pleissner's paintings. Central to the contemporary experience are people walking their dogs. 

Ogden Pleissner was a well established and well known artist who was thought to have painted over seven thousand paintings in watercolor and oil, both large and small. Before his passing in 1983 he donated over 500 watercolors, oils, and sketches to the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.

To paint a full sheet is a jump in scale over what I had been doing, which were closer to quarter sheets (11" x 15"). Since I live in Vermont and he was known for his hunting and fishing scenes of Vermont, I went about utilizing his inspiration.

I could have carried the picture further, but I do not think it would have made much of a difference. Sometimes it is hard to know when to stop. I thought the values in the picture were good in that there is depth to the image and a clarity of forms. I used Prussian blue for the water, and the rough paper brings out scratchy highlights on the surface of the stream, which I like. I used unstretched rough Arches 300 lb. watercolor paper for this picture.