Medium/Support/Size I Used
Watercolour on paper A4 (11.5" x 8.25"). Colours: Lemon Yellow, Cobalt Blue, Raw Umber.
My Thoughts About This Challenge
It didn't turn out anything like the beautiful painting in my mind's eye, but as this was my first attempt at one of these challenges and I haven't done any painting for many, many years I wasn't too disheartened. At least I've made a start and I'm learning!
I liked the muted colours of the photo, the sense of mystery about the castle, and the way the mountains lead the viewer deep into the distance, but I'm not sure if I really captured any of those things.
As I like pictures that tell a story I couldn't resist adding a figure about to cross the bridge.
Tips and Tricks
- I spent (wasted) a lot of time on preliminary drawings, trying and failing to copy the photo exactly. In the end, I did a rough sketch to get the approximate shapes and didn't look at the photo again. I will definitely use this approach next time - it saves a lot of frustration!
- I wanted to make the mountain nearest the castle a little darker but adding a second wash made it look messy. I need lots of colour mixing practice so I can get the right colour first time.
