Wild Iris Meadow - Watercolor

"Wild Iris Meadow" Watercolor


Wild Iris Meadow is a wonderful park located just beyond Evergreen, Colorado. It’s a warm Spring day but the weather is about to change as storm clouds have gathered over the snowbound Mount Evans Massive.

The black guidelines are scribbled in with a felt-tipped pen, setting the tone for the simplification of the pretty scene. The bright colors are derived from a palette of pure yellow, green and blue.

The loose brushwork is a difficult technique because it’s uncomfortable to let the fluid medium flow with uncontrolled freedom. Soft passages of warmer pigment spread unchecked across the painting’s lower foreground.

Working in this way provokes great difficulty while dealing with the immediacy of an unforgiving medium. Despite its challenges, hopefully, this quick sketch captures the surreal beauty of a pristine wilderness.

Comments

  1. Donna L TurnerMarch 17, 2018 at 4:33 PM

    Wow, Dan, it's great to see you trying out a new medium. Another way to describe "unforgiving medium" might be "loss of control." That is something we all need to learn - to relinquish control. After all, we're not really in control anyway, are we? Please show us more!

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    Replies
    1. Dan MillerMarch 23, 2018 at 10:01 PM

      Thanks Donna. My technique gets pretty tight because I'm drawing most of the time. Painting in watercolor helps me to loosen up a bit. Also, I can work out a composition and color scheme pretty quickly and then complete a more finished drawing from the painted sketch rather than use a photo reference. Working in this way sometimes makes my finished drawing more expressive.

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