Behind the Art - September Sunset
If you saw my last Behind the Art blog, you will know I started doing these to share more of the creation process behind my work.
There was a week in September this Summer where it felt like every night was the most beautiful deep orange, yellow, pink, and purple sunset. And then another night would come along and then THAT was the most beautiful sunset.
I took several photos on my walks and this one was the one I chose to paint.
I chose it because of the clouds. Little patches of clouds with the sunset colors hitting them felt like a fun challenge.
What I thought would be the most difficult to capture... was. The sky at the top was still a light blue - and the clouds had bits of gray and purple coming through. I decided to use masking fluid on my sketch first. After adding base oranges and yellows to my satisfaction, I let it dry.
Watercolor dries pretty quickly out in the sun. You can blow dry it (and sometimes even paper towel it.) For this one, it was a hot day so I chose the sun.
I removed the masking fluid and then went to work on the clouds, adding large variations of purple. Lastly adding in the black that was the palm trees against the sunset. You can't really tell, but the middle of the paper ripped and that was due to 1) the paper quality (a postcard) and 2) the nib ripping it from the masking fluid. I think it still came out nicely.
This one was a lot of fun. I still feel enticed to add more vibrancy in the colors but I didn't want to lose the blended beauty and the light blue sky. It's a good piece to paint again and see how it changes or... just be happy with it as it is.
Cheers!
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