There’s a dam-like service road that separates two arms of the lake with a perfect place to park and sketch. I have no idea how many sketches I’ve done just from this spot.
no. 10 round brush with a sharpened end, assorted watercolor pigments, hot-pressed watercolor paper
STEP ONE: Apply Wash and Marks
Small brush marks, linear marks and spatter work suggest the weedy summer foreground.
STEP TWO: Color Middle Ground
The middle ground is fairly simple, with quick washes and glazes. No need to overwork to get the point across.
STEP THREE: Create Soft Forms
Here I used simple pencil guidelines that would show under the loose watercolor washes. Some washes, like the warm colors, I painted wet-in-wet so they’d spread into dryer washes to create soft tree-like forms. Others I painted wet-on-dry for more defined strokes to suggest the darker trees on the far hill.
STEP FOUR: Add Final Details
This was painted on the spot, en plein air and relatively quickly. It’s not necessary to try to reproduce every detail because the eye fills them in.