Da Vinci watercolor on 140 lb Langton cold press paperThe temptation was so great today to just say "Forget it! I am just going to paint subjects that I know I can paint well." I am learning so much by pushing myself outside my comfort zone but some days it is very scary.
One subject that I am having a lot of problems with is trees, shrubs and grasses. I find it very hard to see the form when there are so many different colors of green and so many individual leaves or grasses that make up the whole.
I decided to do this tree today. I don't know what kind of tree this is but I love the bright red leaves. I also thought it might be a little bit easier to paint than a green tree. It wasn't. I reached a point where it was just a mess of red color against the background and I thought "I can't do this".
I took a breath and remembered when I first tried to paint cats and I would reach that same stage of stuckness. I learned through practice that it is all a matter of just adding more layers and more depth. So I started adding some areas of bright red and suddenly I could see shape and form in the tree which made it easier to complete. It didn't fully come together until I added the tree trunk and branches then it looked like a tree.
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