landscape from the immagination 31.7.16

So here we are at the end of July, the last day of World Watercolor Month, and the end of my journey through Tony Smibert’s Painting Landscapes from your Imagination. As a finale I thought I would revisit one of the images you may remember from my post, “encapsulating the essence,” a drawing of the Sino Himalayan Garden at VanDusen Botanical Gardens here in Vancouver.

I made a monochrome print on Arches watercolor paper (11″ x 15″); took this to the studio;
mixed my bowls of color and let the washes do their work.

Worldwatercolormonth Day 31

I wonder what August will bring…

landscape from the imagination  29.7.17

Having worked my way through Tony Smibert’s Painting Landscapes from your Imagination throughout this past month here is the final paragraph of the book, which will explain the origin of today’s painting, my “original” variation on the book’s last exercise.

“I hope this book has encouraged you. There’s room in the watercolour world for you to take any technical and aesthetic direction you choose. So become an original! Work with the medium in your own way. Adapt, absorb, modify and utilize my suggestions or anyone else’s in any way that works for you!

Great final words in an inspiring book from which I have learnt so much.
Thank you Tony.

Evening Light II 28.7.16

Back to the drawing board today with a second visit to the third and final exercise
in Tony Smibert’s book Painting Landscapes from your Imagination.

Worldwatercolormonth Day 28

Evening Light 27.7.16

“Here’s an opportunity to apply some of the most traditional watercolour techniques
to painting a valley landscape suffused with warm evening light.”

This is Tony Smibert’s introduction to the third and final Project of Part IV in his
Painting Landscapes from your Imagination.

I decided to stop at this point even though the exercise had a number of further components to it. I liked the lightness of the painting, which reminds me of the wonderful vistas we experienced a couple of years ago in the Land of Enchantment that is New Mexico. I also was thinking of Tony’s words later on in his introduction:

“I think I could (maybe should) have stopped a number of times when the painting was working well…
because I do believe that simple is best.”

Stay tuned as I’ll finish Tony’s exercise, and his book, with another painting tomorrow and keep this one as it is, i.e. sometimes the best advice is to quit while you’re ahead.