What I thought would be one painting full of textures became a detail series of 7 or 8 paintings because of my insistence on perfection.
I wanted to paint a representation of rugged mountain. The photograph had a great composition. But the mountain was really a huge Mound that was itself a beast-like rocky terrain on an already inclined smooth slope.
I chose a rough paper. Then painted something that turned into a collage #1. But I thought I was trying to hide my painting flaws by adding a collage paper.
So, I chose to stick true to the shapes I saw and the colors I saw. I realized Burnt Umber was not an easy tone to work with! On top of that, I chose to combine it with Quinacridone red. The result was too much details with odd shaped rocks. Trust me, I was trying to stick to what I saw.
But out of frustration, I turned that into a collage # 2. Oh boy! It became overwhelming!! I even added lot of trees (true to the scene!). In the process I added too many colors. But this time, I liked the collage texture and how the colors worked together.
Then, I reminded myself: – that I want to learn to paint a representation of how the mountain ‘felt’ when I saw it. So I went back to the easel again. I thought of making the rest of the colors subdued this time. But I couldn’t get away from painting every rock. The result kept me still dissatisfied.
Then I literally washed my painting. The whole of it. And while it was wet, I added slightly wet pigment on dry brush. It gave a great ‘Pastel-Like’ effect to my painting. I was happy I discovered something new!
But I still wanted to paint a representation. I decided to focus on getting a good composition, and decided I wanted to use all the pigments I used and still get some details of rocks I wanted to keep. I liked how it turned out, but I am still not sure if what I painted gives a certain ‘feel’ of the mountain I intended at the start of the process.
I finally created what I think is the best version. Here it goes.
Smitten By Watercolors 