Painting in progress – how to get unstuck?
This rainy night in New Orleans painting is one of the commissions I’m currently working on. After several sketches in grayscale and color, I moved on to the 11×14″ painting. The first couple of washes looked fine but as I kept working on it, I lost the vibrance and spontaneity that I really want this painting to have (an easy thing to lose in watercolor!). I took the masking off too early and ended up with too few whites to work with. I also didn’t like the way that the colors in my painting interacted, I felt it was a little too dissonant.
So I abandoned the original painting and started making studies. Different color schemes, different ways to leave out the whites, more or less wet-into-wet-ness – but overall, trying to keep it fresh (as a rainy night should be). This also coincided with me finding a pretty good blog post by David Kessler with tips on how to loosen up your watercolor painting. Most of those are things that I keep telling my students but it’s one thing to know it and another, to remember to apply it when you’re stuck and don’t know what to do. Kessler’s post was definitely helpful.
I now have four studies, in addition to the original painting (the one on the very bottom). I would looove some feedback! Which version do you like best? What works (or doesn’t work) for you?
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- Rainy Night in New Orleans Watercolor Painting | Yevgenia Watts - [...] a failed first painting and all those studies, this is where it took me. I am pretty happy with ...
I have to say I really like them all. I really like the original. It may not be the feeling you were going for, but it is well done. It looks like a late night stroll. Everyone is asleep, and this couple decided to go for a romantic walk in the rain. There is a quietness to it… but warmth from the shop lights. It feels very cohesive to me, but I do understand how you feel about the “freshness”.The colors in the 2nd one work. Looks like maybe the sun peaked out for a moment on a rainy day, everything seems so bright at that moment because your eyes have adjusted to the grayness.I like the third one, the colors and reflections. The first one feels like you are looking through the windshield, just before the wipers clean the glass again….and #4 is great, the high contrast gives it more of a fantasy feel. I would put them all in a frame to be honest. Off to read the post by David… thanks for sharing the link
Your work here is wonderful. And so interesting to see 5 versions side by side for comparision. For me, the third one pops the most off the screen and I am drawn to the saturation/depth of color you have captured. However the fourth one has a greater feeling of light reflecting in the street and just feels more like a rainy night to me. I agree with Sheila, they are all great (but for different reasons). Thanks for sharing the link. Some great tips there. One tip that jumped out at me was limiting the number of colors–I LOVE color (the more the merrier). Maybe limiting the number of colors or trying colors/color combos you don’t normally use might give you a boost? I hope you’ll share the final effort with us when you are done/satisfied.
;-> Felicia
The Journal Junkie
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Wow, thanks for sharing the studies and also the link. I like the third study the best for it’s vitality and richness of colour. With that said, your final one that was the actual abandoned one, was my second favourite because of the warm tone and the size of the figure on the left which I assume to be the male.
Stay inspired!
They all work in their own way! Nice.
I like the reflections in 4, but the buildings over the umbrella have a muddiness to them. 3 works except that the reflections have some hard edges. 5 also works if you could cool the orange in the middle. It seems to fight with the couple for attention. One teacher I had said you can cool a warm but you can’t warm a cool, so there’s hope if you choose to tone the orange down. I love seeing all 5 versions and the fun you had seeing what would come of different ideas.
oooh, nice! I like the sharper figures in #3 and the colors in #4. Overall, #3 is my favorite. Thanks for sharing!
Each painting has something good, I like the colours you used in the second sketch, perhaps with some reflections like the fouth one has?
I like version 3 the best, although some of the edges could use a bit of softening. Each one has its own charm, including the one you abandoned (which is my second favorite). nancy
Love the way you are methodically going through this. I have the same problem with my watercolors and I tend not to think so hard. I am too tight, I think. Anyway, for me, number 3 is magical.. I’m going to check out that Kessler post.
I vote for #3. Delighted that you even have time for painting with a new baby and and toddler!
Wow, thank you so very much for your input everyone! I’m working on the painting today and hopefully, this will be the final version
I’ll post it when it’s done!