On a Rugged Path, a Watercolor Impression

Sometime I would like to do another version of this painting.  This time around I was doing a lot of experimenting, not sure exactly what effect I was going for.

When I started this, I was painting at a friend's house and I hadn't printed out the photo I was working from.  I had the picture on my camera.  I would take a look at the photo until the camera shut off, paint what I remembered, then find the photo again, look at it again until the camera shut off and paint again.  I was OK with the process because it gave me a chance to test my visual memory.

Below is what I had by the time I finished the painting session.

When I came home I printed off the photo so I had it to work from for the rest of the steps.

I noted immediately that I had painted the trees and the cliff taller than the photo shows them to be.  I rather liked the exaggeration.

Session 2

Here I was thinking about the figure on the trail.  Should I make the figure dark or the the cliff dark?  How much contrast would be effective?  I was also concerned about the edge where the almost nonexistent trail and the cliff met.

Session 3

I decided to make the cliff dark and strong.

Session 4

I added Orange Lake and Quinacridone Gold to the cliff but wasn't sure I liked it after I had done so.  I started defining the roots and rocks with Ultramarine Blue and Cobalt Blue.  The dark shadows are mostly Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna.  I masked off some spots for more rocks and the little stones mixed with them.

Session 5

A session of bits and pieces...more shadows around the tree roots, more definition of the rocks, more playing around with the edge where the cliff and trail meet, more fussing around with the color of the cliff.  I scrubbed out some color, added some color. My painting buddy reminded me to add the distant trees and ground cover.

Last details...This is the point at which I sit my painting on easel in my studio which is in the basement. Every time I go downstairs for something, I stop on the steps and look at it from a distance.  What needs a bit of touch up?  I adjusted the base of the closest tree, added a little bark texture to the trees, scrubbed out a bit more on the cliff, added a bit of shadow here and there to the rocks and roots.

And then, I stopped.