Seeing Shapes

As you may have been able to tell, I get carried away with details.  After "Above The Little Colorado" I knew something had to change.  I've been studying and thinking about what I could do that would help me paint what I feel more than what I see when I work on a landscape painting.  I think I'm already doing that when my subject is cacti, but landscapes are almost overwhelming and I tend to get bogged down in the little things.  

This is a series of shapes with value, nothing more or less.  It worked.  I like it.  

The first attempt at this is above, "Towards the Gila."  I felt like I managed my goal fairly well, which was to see only shapes and use only light texture.  When I decided to try this I chose a small format and gave myself a limit of two hours from start to finish.  It was fun and I was anxious to try again, so today I set my timer, got out my little watercolor block and waded in. 

This is something that started out simple and quickly became a problem.  Darn it.  However, I did learn from it and I will try again! 

Using Higgins black ink I painted the cliff shadows before adding color.  The mountains/cliffs went fast and I was able to keep them simple. However- as usual- the vegetation got me.  Again.  More.  Still.  Rats.  The trees in the background on the right side drove me crazy. The trees in the background on the left happened like I wanted but it was the chamisa brush in the foreground that really tripped me up.  I've known for a long time that I wanted to create a 'shorthand' for vegetation, one that is simple and can represent brush without me getting me all tangled up in it.  Maynard Dixon had a bush shorthand style that I love.  It might be time to figure out mine.  

Thanks for stopping by! Alice