Finished Object Friday – Belize Memory

Today I finished my first attempt to capture a feeling in watercolor.

On December 12th, I wrote this entry in my Belize journal, describing the boat trip back from the reef after snorkeling there:

“On either side of me the sea rolled by, with bright, transparent turquoise water punctuated by amorphous, dark green forms of sea grass and coral clumps below the surface. After the first several miles had passed, I began to detect bits and pieces of the shoreline. They came in the form of striated horizontal lines, looking like a slow fade from one color to the next. First sea green, then turquoise, followed by the strip of land separating the bay from the lagoon. The land was dark, with bumpy forms of vegetation. Beyond and above that was a cool blue strip of atmosphere. Was it mist, fog or ordinary clouds? I couldn’t tell. Eventually I detected the purplish forms of the mountains, overlapping each other and rising from the mist.”

I’m relatively happy with this painting. It captures the way I felt about what I saw that day. Working abstractly was an experiment. I might try to paint the scene again using a more organic style.

This is also my first painting on Arches hot press paper. It took a little getting used to. Pigments used were Winsor green, Thalo blue, Prussian blue, quinacridone gold, quinacridone red, carbazole violet and Payne’s gray.