Dots!

Dots!

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

Connecting parts of the painting...

Back to the top half of the painting: I have softened the roots of the nearest cypress and I like the way it looks, so I think I will do that to them all.  A few slim tree trunks in the background make it look less abstract and their reflections in the water connects the background to the still water.  My painting buddy says that I need more browns in the background and I think that I agree.

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

Here is my plan: dots!

I started the rocks over completely and have added more colors in the water that runs over the steps and rushes on the right.  I'm much happier with the rocks.  I am layering and layering.
Foam is starting to become a focus at this point.  It is white, but it has a lot of tiny little shadows and reflections that pick up every color around it.  Here is my plan: dots, dots and more dots!

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

Too much dark green!

I needed more darks in the rushing water on the right, so tried some very dark blue-green.  Too much!  I'm going to have to layer some light stuff on top so that only bits of that end up peeping thru.  Also, is it just me, or do the rocks look a little more like baked potatoes than hill country limestone?

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

How will I know when it is right?

Back to the top half of the painting...  At this point, I am just dabbing randomly at the background, trying to get the right balance of greens with yellow peeping through.  How will I know when it is the right balance?  When no blob of color jumps out at me as being too strong or too sharp edged.  I hope.

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

Still water is easy. Rushing water is hard.

Lots more colors are going into the water at this point.  Still water is easy.  Rushing water is hard.  All you can do is stare at it for a long time and then put on some of the colors that you think you see.  Then go away and empty the dishwasher or something.  Then come back and look at it again.

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

So I add some stronger colors in the cypress roots, the rocks (which were looking like baked potatoes) and the falling water.  Probably too much, but that is how acrylics work for me: I get things too strong, then I tame them down, then they get too tame, so I punch up the color, then they are too strong again...  You get the cycle.

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

When I am not sure what to do next, I put the painting next to the photo and compare.  YOWZA!  I am not shooting for photorealism here, but the colors sure do need work...

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

Starting to look real

It is starting to look like a real stream...

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

Beginning the rushing water

It is going to take a lot of layers of a lot of colors to get that rushing water to make me happy...  Here is the very beginning.

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

Base colors on cypress roots and starting down the cascade with some blues...

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

river

Laying in the creek....

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art 

www.TexashillCountryArt.etsy.com

Big and Acrylic!

I'm happy with the small watercolor sketch, but for the painting I am going big and acrylic.  I think that I will need the flexibility of being able to paint layer after layer till the shift from one color to the next is just right. 
I have been experimenting with using a palette knife instead of a paintbrush and think that this painting will be a good application.  So, I started with my favorite part - the background.

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

First step, a 5x7 watercolor sketch...

First step, a 5x7 watercolor sketch... 

I did not like the look of the messy tiny roots in the cascade, so I have replaced them with rocks... 

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com

Cypress Cascade photo inspires a new painting

I fell in love with the composition of this photo - especially the light shining through the trees in the background. I also love the way the water changes from flat calm to a rushing cascade and the knotty intricacies of the cypress roots.
I took this photo at the Cibolo Nature Center in Boerne.
Journey along with me as I paint this...

Nan Henke

Texas Hill Country Art

www.TexasHillCountryArt.etsy.com