Changing seasons

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

I have been working on this watercolor on and off since Christmas. It is of a neighbor's house right outside my studio window. I like to observe the changes in the landscape throughout the seasons, from the emergence of plant life pushing up from the soil to the colors of fall foliage and finally snow accumulating.

I got off to a great start with nice rich washes of pigment but set it aside as the bustle of the holidays picked up. When I came back to it, I was more tentative and some areas became more overworked than I prefer. I like the little old garage building with the natural light filtering through and around the curtains. The silhouette of the trees behind the garage look too evenly spaced, providing an unnatural appearance. 

However, there are many other things I like about this watercolor. I like the warmth of light projecting from the windows in the house. I love the warm glint of light coming off the clapboards just below the eaves on the front of the house. The large, draping evergreen seems to glue all the elements of the picture together and add an element of mystery. Next time, I would use a cool blue such as ultramarine blue to push back the groundcovers in the foreground with less opaque greens. 

What do you see or what would you imagine? Sometimes I get in a zone and paint in a seemingly random sequence. Is it finished? Sometimes I know right away but with this one not so much.