Tonight's Watercolor

(C) 2020 Dale DiMauro

This watercolor is inspired by an experience along one of the many finger-shaped landscape inlets along mid-coast Maine. The landscape is characterized with dramatic views of the sea, often from a rocky or sandy shoreline, full of uninterrupted evergreen masses. In addition, the ocean smells draw you in.

The horizontal format of this watercolor block is great for painting landscapes. Most of the time I prefer Arches watercolor blocks with a cold press surface.

Landscape painting can be really exciting as it is not so technical as say figure painting. As long as the perspective is fairly accurate I find I can experiment with different brush techniques. Since the paper has a tooth to it, you can drag the brush across the paper at a steep angle and achieve lovely speckled affects.

Art Therapy

(C) 2020 Dale DiMauro

A few weeks ago I injured my left hip and upper leg area. I am not sure how it actually became injured. However, the muscles around that area were quite tight. Several nights I could not sleep well, particularly when laying on that area. Since then, I have been recovering quite nicely. 

During this time period I painted this romanticized landscape. There is no reference for this painting, just an imagination, but it still lingers in my consciousness. 

Originally, I imagined this massive, dark evergreen dominating the majority of the paper with it's far-reaching branches. This tree was backlit with morning light making it's way upon the horizon over the distant hill. While the background with the cool evergreen was dominant, the foreground had the warmth of newly fallen (orange) needles.

While this post may seem odd, I believe it depicts to some degree, the power of both our memory and imagination drawn from our landscape experiences. 

I certainly do not know how climate change will alter are relationship to the land. However, it is certainly something to consider with far-reaching implications.

Watercolor doodle

(C) 2017 Dale DiMauro

When we were in Maine on vacation last month I purchased this small Arches watercolor block (about 4" x 10"). I found it in Northeast Harbor at a science store of all places. I thought it would be a useful size to practice painting figures. Also, it seems desirable to add a cool car or two to some of my watercolors when they are called for. I think of these as little practice sheets.

There are important lessons I have learned in regard to seating figures into the landscape. Figures give motion and direction to a picture. Just that little bit of a skin tone to the face or arm makes it feel human. The lower leg or boot needs to be of a darker value to define the presence of the figure. Washes suggesting grass or meadow around the feet naturalize the image and offer a pleasing composition.

Automobiles need to be anchored into the landscape, too. Tires usually cast shadows, which unite the vehicle with the ground plane. These shadows typically are the same value as the tires. This underbelly value gives the vehicle substance and contrasts well with the color of the frame.

I hope to practice these figure and automobile studies until I am very fluid in their execution. They give a sense of scale and character to a watercolor.