It doesn’t always take traveling to a scenic vista…
Sometimes you can just step off your back deck and start down into the woods. With even what seems like a nondescript scene, once you pick and choose what you want to leave in or leave out, what story you want the scene to tell, then you have material for a sketch. A very simple scene can still provide some inspiration or a challenge and give you something to say.
Critique is welcome! What would you have said about this scene?
Almost there!
Finishing touches! For some reason the paper appears less white in this photo.
I also want to praise this sketchbook! I’ve always used Arches 140# Cold Press or rough. I’ve experimented a bit with Fabriano and I just got my hands on a sheet of Saunder’s Waterford, which I can’t wait to try. But all those are expensive papers, and I refuse to work on wood pulp paper to save money when I want to make sketches or practice techniques. A few years ago I happened upon Bee watercolor paper. Are any of you familiar with it? It’s European made 100% cotton 140# cold pressed paper. And it’s cheap, or it was really cheap when I first started buying it, in 2019 about $14 USD for 50 6x9 sheets, which are perfect for sketching or small paintings. Now on Amazon it’s $24.90 for 50 sheets but still a bargain! It’s usable front and back and good for trying out color mixes, making color swatches/mixing charts or working out problems without feeling you are wasting a lot of expensive paper. I actually love painting on it and have done a few pieces of my favorite work on it. It’s also sold by the roll at $65 for a 36in x 5ft. roll. That’s $1.46 a square foot and cut it up however you want. Or in these lovely sketch books with sturdy black chipboard front and back covers which are great out in the field, no need for a backing board for your painting. This one contains 30 perforated 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper thick enough to use front and back for 60 sheets. It also comes in 5 1/2 x 8 and 8 inch square. Bee paper products are also available on Blick’s where the sketchbooks are $13.57-$19.21, or Merriartist which only ships to the USA, but the largest sketchbook there is only $14.40 . Cheap Joe’s has a five pack of 22x30 sheets for $22.19.
Do I sound like I am enthusiastic about it? Yes, I am. I wonder if it’s available in Europe.
Lovely painting Grainne. I like that you’ve warmed the colours a little more than the photo. I would have cooled the distant path to give depth and added some dappled shadows across the path. I think that your trees are really good in terms of the colour, structure, foliage and light source.