sunrises
8x10in watercolor on paper
Remember the little painting of a sunrise?
Well, that was a fun exercise on a piece of leftover watercolor paper.
I very much like that super vertical format. But after a kind request, it grew to an 8x10in.
Keeping the layers gradual and not totally mixed in a wider area was a challenge and many, many layers of blue and orange later, I manage not to create mud in the middle.
Generally when you mix contrasting colors (blue and orange) you get a greish neutral, but I had yellow and green to save the middle.
I painted it from orange to yellow and then painted the blue from top to bottom to meet the rest of the colors.
Then I got thinking, what if I start with the blues and do a smooth gradient to white and then add the warm tones, basically painting it backwards from the first 2 attempts, so I tried.
On the third attempt the blues intevitably bleed into the white space and gave the yellow a cool tone at the end, but maybe that is a cool morning sunrise, right?
Pictures make more sense to me than words, so here is what I was talking about
The difference is more striking in person, trust me. I’ll say come on over, but ‘warm sunrise’ went to it’s new home (THANK YOU!)
But you could have ‘cool sunrise’ to see with your own eyes, once I get the sky series finished. Click here to be in the loop.
8x10in watercolor on paper
There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.– Jo Walton
My patron had seen the exact sunrise, the same day, it was a gorgeous morning to be up early. Plus, she taught me that the star was indeed Venus, the morning star; which symbolizes hope and guidance, how cool is that?
This time around, I was extra careful with the moon. That morning the moon was so crisp, like and x-acto cut paper sliver in the sky. The star was so glowy, too. So here is how it happened.
Because of these sunrise paintings. I have been paying more attention to the sky. And I am grateful I am, because I have seen some crazy cool clouds, light effects, and colors.
I encourage you to look up too!