Painting of the Day – “Moss Forest”

“Moss Forest” 11” x 15” mixed watermedia
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2015

I've spent many years marveling at the drippy, amazingly-rich colors of Washington’s mossy forests. The colors shift with the weather but on rainy days the bright-green mosses are particularly eye-catching. Mosses covers everything here, anything that stays still long enough for them to colonize. And although this can, and does, pull down structures, the gentle, neon-green-splotched groves are a rich and welcoming sight to my artist’s eyes. This painting is my latest attempt to capture a moss-drenched forest scene. I used distinct layers of acrylic, watercolor, and casein to try and capture the luminous quality of the greens.

Study for the Constellation Canis Major

“Study for the Constellation Canis Major” 8” x 11” casein.
Copyright, Sara Light-Waller, 2015

Let me start by saying that Canis Major is a tough shape. The poor dog has to sit up to fit all the star positions correctly. And this shape is just plain awkward! In the old star maps Canis Major is shown as a greyhound, a coursing hound. (All the better to chase Lepus, I suppose.)  I decided to change him to another rabbit-hunting breed, the Maltese Pharaoh Hound. I thought the Pharaoh Hound's erect ears and reddish color might add interest to the constellation's otherwise static shape.

In order to show the dog’s color in harmony with the star field, I shifted my previous yellow/purple color palette to orange/blue. I also changed the look of the stars within the dog, making them bright points of light.

So how did the study work out? 

So-so. 

I like the way the colors turned out, in both the star field and the dog. That said, I prefer the warmer yellow/purple palette to the cooler, orange/blue scheme. I also like the way I painted the stars in Lepus better, they’re more subtle and allow better appreciation of the animal as a whole.

"Study for the Constellation Lepus"
Copyright, Sara Light-Waller, 2015

What's next?

I may do some sketches of Canis Minor and see how he can work in the composition for my final painting. Because the little dog has less stars in his constellation I may be able to put him into a more dynamic running position without compromising the look of the old star maps. More to come on this soon...

Study for The Ship

"Study for the Ship," casein 8" x 10"
Copyright, Sara Light-Waller, 2015

Today’s painting is a study for the space-going sailing ship in my story.

Smaller studies like this can be very helpful. They let you work out problems before getting into  a larger painting. For example, this galleon has a lot of parts, too many for clarity at its eventual small size. Viewers will want the IDEA of a galleon, with enough details to be accurate but not enough to be distracting. Through the process of drawing and painting this ship here, I've worked out what can stay and what details need to be either simplified or done away in the final painting.

I like the way the ship is looking here. It’s not overly-colored, allowing Space to be bright and colorful, which it is. LOL I still need designs for the pennants, but I'll figure that out soon. 

Next up… Canis Major.

Study for the Constellation Lepus

"Study for the Constellation Lepus" 8" x 10" casein
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2015

For a little while now I’ve been writing a fairytale as a series of linked drabbles (100-word stories). “A Patchwork Tale” is planned as a story in three parts, with illustrations in pen & ink and watermedia. Eventually, I’d love to publish it as a bound book. We’ll have to see how that goes later on.

For now, I’m writing Part II and starting the illustrations. Here's a detail study for the first painting. This one is called, "The Constellation Lepus." I'll do two more studies like this one before starting the final painting.
 

If you’re interested in reading Part I of “A Patchwork Tale” you can find it on my other blog: Through the Looking Glass.

Painting of the day, “Sunset Giants”

"Sunset Giants," 11.5" x 14.5" watercolor and casein.
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2014

I like this painting. It reminds me of the way I used to feel when I lived in Tucson. The evening light was spectacular as it lanced across the desert floor, turning all the dusty greens into spectacular shades of red-orange.

Two ways to look at foliage

I find painting flora very challenging. I live in the Pacific Northwest where there are stands of trees everywhere you look. I love drawing and painting trees, but figuring out how to best interpret them in watermedia is an on-going challenge.

I have been a representational artist for many years. Right now I’m stretching my boundaries and learning how to abstract. This is a wonderful and challenging process that's forcing me to see the world in new ways. In service to this process I’m tinkering with different ways to paint masses of foliage. Here's what I've been working on this week.

"Foliage study #1" (casein)

In the small casein study above I've used a palette knife and calligraphy brush to make random marks that can be seen as leaf groupings.

"Foliage study #2" (watercolor)

In this watercolor study, I've used negative space to create shapes that can be read as non-specific plants and a distant forest scene.

Of the two, I like the second approach much better. It feels like a real place to me, even though it's not, and it reads as harmonious. Painting it was fun and interesting. For me, it's clearly the winner in my little art contest. Funny to think of it that way, but subjectivity IS a big part of art.