Setting sun

Below is a painting of the sun setting over Lake Erie. The painting is based on a photograph of the marina in downtown Buffalo. The color in the sky is produced with multicolor washes. You start by drawing a line on the paper, making sure that the line is not exactly in the middle of the page (that would produce a static, hence boring, painting). Then you draw a half circle for the sun. You then wet the paper, making sure not to wet the half circle for the sun. Then you add color, which bleeds all over the place because you are using a technique called wet into wet. It is pretty cool. The best way to do this technique is to attach your watercolor paper to a board with making tape. That will minimize the curling of the paper.

A lone jogger at the marina in downtown Buffalo.