Watercolor sketches

(C) 2019 Dale DiMauro

Often I paint a simple little preliminary watercolor sketch before settling on a composition. It gets me thinking about a potential painting. Sometimes I paint them because time is limited while in other instances it is important to just get something down which I can come back to.

Both of these watercolors were down in about twenty minutes. It gives me a chance to consider pigments I might use. Also, I try out different techniques. 

In the top watercolor I wanted to capture the quality of the glow of foliage against the dark vertical trunks. I want to keep it simple yet draw the eye deeper into the forest. 

This is such a precious time of year as all that deciduous foliage is going to disappear quickly leaving the stark reminder that Winter is around the corner. I do like the quality of light in the watercolor, though.