Just Fishin’

"Fishing the Tellico" is the first watercolor painting I've completed in months, having spent my "art" time creating scratchboard art, painting a few pet portraits in acrylics, participating in some Zoom art sessions, and creating this new website. Switching media keeps things interesting, but it always takes me a bit of time to readjust.

I put together a palette of many transparent colors for this painting and arranged them like a rainbow. To help me see the colors better I painted each on a sample swatch sheet (layed in the middle of the palette for this photo). On the swatches I noted each color name and the paint manufacturer, since I had pulled a variety from my stash. Sometimes I stick with one company's paints, like Golden QoR watercolors. Like golfers amass a variety of putters, painters often accumulate a sizeable collection of paints! For this painting I chose bright and clear hues as well as warms and cools.

I chose my favorite 300 lb. cold press Arches watercolor paper, completed my pencil sketch, then applied masking fluid to preserve white areas. The figure would be my focal point, so I painted the area around him in bright and light values. I was also planning for the figure to have the most detail and strongest contrast between darks and lights, to help draw the viewer's attention.

Sometimes the areas preserved with masking fluid can be too stark if left as pure white paper. Notice how most of the white areas I left for highlights on the tree trunks and branches were eventually painted over with light washes or softened with a bit of scrubbing. I also lifted some of the distant trunks by laying an old credit card down and wiping a dampeded brush along one side, then blotting off some paint. In the water I retained the white masked areas for the sparkles and splashes of the moving river. The distant shore was purposely done with cool colors and few details, with warm tones and more detail in the near rocks, water, and foliage.