We had a beautiful 80 degree day – the first in 2012. I painted this sitting on our back porch. It was late in the day and the light was changing fast.
I drew the scene in pencil first. I attempted to get the relative sizes and placement right by using the central post as a unit of measure. I used my pencil at arm’s length to measure the post’s height and then I used that unit to measure everything else. The last post in the row is one unit to the left and is 1/2 the height. The fir tree is one unit to the right, etc. I also tried to get the perspective right. I drew in the vanishing point lines and then the posts.
I then added the watercolor starting with light green and light brown. I worked my way up the values. Finally, the last thing I did was to use a Pentel Presto correction pen to add the white dots. Total time was around 1 1/2 hours.
The next day we had similar lighting so I took a reference photo.
Here’s the two page layout of notes and painting from my journal.
Moleskine watercolor journal, pencil, Lucas watercolors – Light Yellow, Cobalt Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna, Payne’s Grey, Pentel Presto correction pen.
