Day 28 — Feathered dahlia

Feathered Dahlia ink sketch with watercolor wash. 3″ x 5″.

Today’s posting is a ink sketch of a feathered dahlia from my mother in law’s garden, with a watercolor wash on the top. It’s a small little piece, just 3″ x 5″ but fun to do.

A good friend suggested to me that the top right green patch on my mountains yesterday caught her eye too much, she wondered if it was a meadow. Good catch Diane! I think its value was too bright and it drew your eye up and out of the picture plane…and we do NOT want that!! Big smile. So I toned it down with a light wash of permanent rose to gray it down (red and green are complementary and neutralize each other) and added a touch of blue at the bottom for shading. I think it’s better now.

Desert’s Green Glow with the top grass area muted.

I have to say that plein air painting in our 20% humidity with a wind was a challenge yesterday. the paint dries almost before it hits the paper — ok, a slight exaggeration — but it’s a lot different than how quickly it dries in the studio.

Desert’s Green Glow. 8″ x 10″ watercolor. $25

So below is how it was yesterday. Do you think the change helped?