A Beginner's Journey into Watercolor Painting
Part 6
Welcome to a new instalment in my Beginner's Journey into Watercolor Painting series! Today, I have 10 new watercolors to share with you, all dating back to March 2023.
A walk in the snow with the dog. My first satisfactory attempt at drawing a human figure. The tree and reeds are also very well done. (Experienced artists will probably disagree, but I do not care. 😉) I'm thinking of using this painting in a future book...
Playing in a poppy field. I'm not in love with the look of the area just underneath the mountains, but I managed to draw flowers! A feat in itself. So, the result could have been (much) worse. This piece might also appear in a future book project.
The house on the hill, inspired by the lovely piece here. Do not let the simplicity of the scene fool you, it is actually harder to paint than it looks. A year ago, I would have given up after an hour. That is why I am glad that I persevered; the result is very cute. This scene could end up in a future book too.
Two cacti at sunset. The cactus on the left looks ugly, but I decided not to throw it in the garbage as there are a few things that I like. The sky is one. The grass also looks nice.
A lighthouse in a storm. Another challenging scene that I had always wanted to paint! Very happy with the way the foamy water looks! I worked on that part for about two hours, with a mixture of wet and dry paint for added effect. And it was very relaxing! Of course, the lighthouse is still not 100% like I envision it in my head, but overall, this is the best one I have drawn since starting with watercolor painting!
The umbrella in the rain. As you can see, I picked a different subject this time. My piece is based on the one here. My goal was to focus on the splashes rather than just copying the scene. I used a gel pen for the white and wet paint for the grey and yellow, and was pleasantly surprised to see how well the idea worked out.
The umbrella in the rain (2). My technique still being rough, I knew that I would not be able to emulate the scene here. I just went with the flow. And guess what? I prefer my version!
Balloons in the sky. The tutorial I watched said that this scene was very easy to paint. "Screw that," my brain answered, forcing me to spend hours on ruining the whole thing. The balloon on the left looks as if it had been patched up numerous times. It should not even be able to fly! A case of suspension of disbelief in action... 😂
A beach at night. When I lack ideas, I usually find myself thinking of the beach. I added a cloud and the foam to make the scene a little less boring to peruse.
Afternoon sailing. By now, you know that I like boats. So, I had to end my post with a few. Not my best work, but also not my worst. I have no idea why, but the sails gave me a hard time. The clouds look fluffy and nice, though!
That's it for today. See you next time for more paintings from yours truly.
Want to see more of my work? Check out my other posts below:
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I hope you enjoyed this post. What is your favorite watercolor in the list? Do you paint? If so, show me some of your work.
Oh, and by the way, if you are a writer, author, or artist, I would love to hear from you. Click the link below for more information.
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Cendrine Marrouat is a writer, photographer, podcaster, blogger, anthology editor, and the co-founder of Auroras & Blossoms and A Warm Cup of Cozy. She has authored and co-authored more than 40 books, including The Train: A Short Story (2023), In Her Own Words: A Collection of Short Stories & Flashku (2022), After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine (2021), Rhythm Flourishing: A Collection of Kindku and Sixku (2020), Walks: A Collection of Haiku (2019-2020), and In the Silence of Words: A Three-Act Play (2018).
Cendrine's work has appeared in many publications. She is the creator of the Sixku, Flashku, Sepigram, and Reminigram; as well as the co-creator of the Kindku, Pareiku, Vardhaku, and Hemingku.
Website: https://creativeramblings.com
About the Creator
Cendrine Marrouat
Writer & Author⎜Photographer⎜Artist⎜Co-founder of Auroras & Blossoms / A Warm Mug of Cozy⎜(Co-)creator of literary forms
"The Train: A Short Story" is out!
Website: https://creativeramblings.com
Donations: https://ko-fi.com/cendrineartist
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The hidden means in nature
In 1917, Toribio Mejía Xesspe, a Peruvian archeologist, was flying over the Nazca Plateau, when he noticed something incredible. Massive line drawings — known as geoglyphs — stretching 175 square miles. Turns out these artworks, which depicted a monkey, a spider, plants, and more, were created around 500 BCE. What had compelled people thousands of years ago to work so hard to create images of the natural world? Some believe it may have been part of a spiritual practice, while others think it was functional — showing the locations of water sources. But whatever the purpose, this much is clear: human depictions of nature reveal as much about the people and the societies who made them, as they do about nature itself. Hi! I'm Sarah Green, and this is Crash Course Art History. [THEME MUSIC] We often think of art about nature as sort of…unbiased. A reflection of what is. Often beautiful. Sometimes, clichéd. But not political, usually, or deep, or containing hidden meanings. And yet, representations of the natural world are just that: re-presentations. Somebody had to pick which part of nature to include: what to highlight or exaggerate, and what to leave out. And usually those choices reveal something about the artist— both personally, and in the cultural context they’re coming from. Like, let’s look at some art from the Chinese landscape tradition. These two artworks display many of the same details. This visual repetition has served as a sort of code that let people read the works across centuries almost like you’d read a poem. And even the colors themselves were part of the code. Since as early as the 400s C.E., soft blue and green color palettes have been associated with dreamlike, magical environments, where humans live in balance with nature. An aspirational state in the religion of Chinese Daoism. Over time, Chinese painters built on this tradition, using the blue/green color palette to create natural landscapes that, while not magical, do invoke a sense of tranquility that can feel just as dreamlike.
By Timothy Mwiti3 days ago in Art
Comments (3)
That lighthouse! Wow, incredible; I really love that whole painting, the house looks amazing too, and the sea! What a vibe. And the second to last one?? I have no words....Okay....I have a few. WOW; I love the layers and how serene that scene is, despite the muted colors (those clouds!).
These are wonderful! And what a brilliant idea for a series!! Well done 👏✨
It's been so cool to see your skills evolve over this series! Also cool to see the themes and motifs that capture you, and hear your thoughts behind what works and doesn't in each painting. When you sit to paint, are you often looking to make something that will fit in a book? Do you find this pursuit is similar to your writing, in that you're mulling over the same creative elements each time?