Watercolor Wednesday 2

The weather in Chicago goes through a number of radical changes during the transition from one season to the next. Last week we experienced blistering cold, and at some point during the past couple of days it shot into summer and then reverted back into fall.

In honor of this temporary fallback (PUNS!) I painted this scene to remind me of milder weather—the kind that does not make me feel like I should crumple under the weight of infomercials and purchase a Snuggie.


For this one the trees were the first to be drawn and painted, followed by the birds and then the faint silhouettes of trees in the background. I've been painting on handmade cotton paper from a class I took a couple of years ago. They give me an interesting texture to work with, but since some of them were loft dried, they've warped a bit and have a tendency to scan with messed-up light levels and colors that aren't quite right.

My solution?

Textures! In this case, an understated paper texture with a faint yellow tint, placed over the original image as a "color burn" layer in Photoshop. It's a quick, easy fix that can help the feel of your work.