Hi, Friends,
When I finished the 12 week Artist’s Way course, I made a commitment to myself to follow up with 90-day self-nurturing plan. It includes a concrete plan of action to write daily, take myself on an artist’s date once a week, and explore more fully my favorite creative practices. One of these is watercolor painting.
My “date” this week was to attend a workshop at the local art association, which took place on Wednesday. It included a one hour tutorial by Tony Couch. Today I am sharing the practice pieces that I painted as a result of the workshop.
Tony talked a lot about what the landscape artist paints. He insists that we don’t paint a tree. We paint a symbol of a tree. We don’t paint water, we paint a symbol. Symbols have specific characteristics that make the objects instantly recognizable to the viewer. For example, for a deciduous tree the characteristics are shape (round crown), colors (varies with the season) and textures (expressed by the leaves and the bark)
Painting the symbol of a tree.
Painting a symbol of still water.
To practice the still water technique, I painted a scene from Iceland. It’s based on a photograph published on Unsplash – a free use site for photographers and other artists. Here is the reference photo:
I started with the sky and worked my way down to the water.
Initial washes are complete. I will come back to deepen some areas and add finishing details. This was painted on a Stonehenge paper block using a palette of Hansa yellow deep, Winsor green yellow shade, ultramarine blue, pyrrol scarlet, quinacridone red, carbazole violet, burnt umber and Payne’s gray.
Daily Fiber 
I really like what you are doing here…..
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Thank you. I’m getting the hand of it.
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This is so fun, Laura! I love the suggestion about symbols… and your iterations of said symbols are fantastic! Your painting though… brilliant! (and as always, thank you so much for sharing your paint colors and techniques!) Have a great weekend!
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Hope you are feeling better.
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I always like the thoughts behind a painting – what the painter is thinking. Symbols are so powerful as they say far more than words. It looks like you on to a fun journey. Your tree is so joyful!
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It is a fun journey. Thanks for commenting.
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I LOVE the idea of a self-nurturing plan! And for many of us Art is one of the main ingredients. Your paintings reflect that. I haven’t tried watercolors in years and YEARS… you make it look so simple. Yet lovely. Thanks for sharing!
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I’m into year 5 of learning to paint with watercolors. There have been plenty of frustrated efforts and failed paintings paving the way.
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Thanks for sharing your details. As a self taught, practice, watch, read and learn by trial, I enjoy it when folks open the door of possibility like you have done.
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