Anatomy of a disaster..

Sometimes I amaze even myself at my lack of patience and fortitude.  Take this summer, for instance.  I went on a little road trip through some of the prettiest country in the state of New Mexico and was so inspired to start a painting that I got going as soon as I got home.

Remember, dear reader, that I am a struggling landscape artist.  Not my best subject in any case.

This post is a reminder to myself and anybody else out there with the same issues to slow down and ruin your paintings slowly.  Don't be in such a hurry to over-paint it all at once.  Some time to ponder and stew ideas is ALWAYS a good idea.  Always.

I sketched a bit on site, and took some reference photos.  At home, I decided it justified a full sheet of 140 lb. paper, so I stretched my sheet and stapled it down tight.  Sketched it before I went to bed that night.

Here are some photos of the process up to the point I should have said walk away:

Drawn out, mask applied and shadows begun.  Sky done with manganese blue, one of my favorite blues. (It isn't a mixer and has very little power on it's own.  It's charm to me is the soft color for skies.)

I used ultramarine blue and burnt sienna for my background hills.

Hills and foreground added.  Trees just suggested, just like I've been taught.  Suggested, not rendered.  They could have been a dreamy blue, but that silly person in my mind kept saying, "trees are green" and over-riding my own good sense.

Here is what I ended up with.  I hated it, decided the back and middle grounds were too dark and went to bed.  If I'd have left it, it could at lease been a record of a not too bad learning experience.

So, here we go on the wreck part..  I got a bristle brush, wet down the mid and back grounds and began to scrub and lift pigment.  Not sure if this photo does the job justice, but it was pretty much pale and washed out by the time I was done punishing the poor thing.  

Enter my trusty black ink pen.  I love pen and ink work with watercolor, right?  This'll look great!  Hahaha!  It didn't.  So, now I have a record of a lesson learned that will hang on the wall of my studio to remind me to slow down.  I won't post the last photo, the one where I decided more pen work would surely do the trick.  I do have my pride.  

So, fellow wanderers, upward and onward.  I lived to paint another day.  One day I'll paint a really cool landscape.  Till then (or tomorrow, whichever comes first)!