Coast of Maine

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

I have been thinking about the subject matter for this painting for some time. Originally, I liked the dark, solid foreground balanced against the simple, yet abstract background.   

I intentionally took on several challenges in this picture. First, there is the really dark foliage in the foreground which to date I cannot say I had attempted. Generally speaking, I do not mix or apply darks or even black to the the degree I did here. For the foreground to be this dark often requires the background to be in the light. Yet I tried to get variety in the foreground with the verdant green growth in the front of the picture which is a combination of Payne's gray with gamboge. This combination provides an earthly color alive with moisture and light if you can capture it. However, the clump of evergreen trees in the foreground got away from me as I applied subsequent layers of watercolor. They ended up out of scale, unvaried and mechanical looking.

In addition, I am trying to get better at painting water with it's varying surface characteristics such as: placid, gentle waves, turbulence, whitecaps & reflections. Recently, I have been trying to capture the true color of the water I see, which always seems to be changing with the light. It is another thing to try to mix a comparable color. There is an overall cool feeling provided by the range of blues.

In watercolor you learn something every time you put paint to paper. Sometimes it is the most subtle change in color or how much the paint changes from when it was wet, until it is in a dry state.