When abstracts become landscapes

[Donna T]

Both of these had abstract beginnings with no particular subject in mind but they revealed themselves as I worked on them. The specific look of a scene is less important to me than the feel of it, as if it's more memory than reality. The pencil marks on top of the watercolor washes are more noticeable here than in real life. In the beginning they keep me from getting too literal. Both are 10 x 10 watercolor, graphite pencil, acrylic and watercolor pencils on watercolor paper.

 

[Enyaw]

These are really nice works. I think you found the secret… let the painting dictate its finish.

 

[Grapes]

Donna, both are excellent! I'm a big fan of the second one, the blue color painting.

 

[Donna T]

Thanks Wayne, trying to retain even a little part of the original abstraction is a challenge. Mostly I wreck it with reality.

Thank you Moscatel. I’m glad you like the blue one. Sometimes you just need to get lost in a favorite color.

 

[snoball]

Regardless of how they began, they finished beautifully. I love the atmosphere in that last one.

 

[PaintBoss]

Oh, oh, oh! You found the sweet intersection of styles, my fav type of landscapes. I love these mood landscapes. Beautiful colours and a beautiful merge of representational and abstract. Gorgeous colour in the first painting with the gold and yellows. But the blue is ethereal and hypnotic. Love this!! You know in art sometimes we want to see how closely we can capture our subject, but there is more to that in art too. This is where the human factor comes in- the artistic part. An infusion of something we wish to convey. Taking it somewhere a little different than just the literal copying. There is skill in being able to copy, no doubt. But to me, our contribution is then putting our “human- ness” into a painting. That’s really what makes something artistic, that creative artistic spin on a subject.

 

[Sanlynn]

Both are very pleasant to view. I’m a fan of the blue, too.

 

[Artyczar]

These are so beautiful! You sure are good at these.

 

[Donna T]

Sno, Christine, Sanlynn and Arty - I really appreciate your comments because this is kind of new for me. I should mention that the blue one almost didn’t make it. I covered over the watercolor washes in the bottom half and had a real mess of busy shapes that didn’t work. In frustration, I covered the whole area with blues but there wasn’t much depth. Out came the rubbing alcohol so I could scrub in a tree. It’s not like it was planned from the beginning but it was what the painting needed.

 

[Triduana]

These are so good! I just love the first one with the bright clouds. I am still trying to figure out my style for painting landscapes and I find these very inspiring.

 

[Donna T]

Kay, I’m trying to figure out my style too! Thank you.

 

[Terri]

They're both beautiful! I love the floaty ethereal feeling of the first one, and those gorgeous purply blues in the second. How good you are, creating the tree by removing color. It's gorgeous!

I also like seeing the graphite lines meandering around in both.

Wonderful work!

 

[Donna T]

Hi Terri - thanks so much. I like hearing that the graphite lines aren’t too distracting. They really do keep my literal brain from taking over right away.

 

[Triduana]

I love seeing graphite lines in paintings.

 

[Jo Castillo]

These are lovely. I thought they were pastels when I opened the page. I like the blue, I’m not a yellow person. I find your yellow clouds very appealing though. I could look at them over and over. A style that suits my mind and feelings.

 

[john]

Really nice. Great depth to the texture.

 

[Donna T]

Jo, I forced myself to start with yellow because it’s not my favorite color either. I assumed it would get covered but the orange variations saved it. Thank you!

Thanks John.