I was rummaging through the art closet this week and ran across a number of watercolors that I did in late fall and early winter 2014 and realized I hadn’t shot or shared them so I set them aside so I wouldn’t forget (again).

These were initially inspired by some commercial video work I had seen and I thought it would be fun to explore a linear approach to some landscape paintings. These are all based on my own landscape photos, mostly from Southern Utah.

When I head out on a trip where I know I’ll have some time to sit and paint I print out a handful of photos to take with me in anticipation. Once I get to a camp site and get my camp sorted out, and the mood hits me, I look through what I printed and pick one to turn into a painting.

Its really a pretty straightforward process, I lay the print down on top of some watercolor paper and sandwich a sheet of graphic transfer paper in-between. I often apply a bit blue 3M tape to hold it in place, otherwise its apt to move around a bit too much. Then I trace through the layers and end up with a ghost on the watercolor paper. I’ve experimented with strictly linear tracings and some curved tracings but feel a mix of the two is the most pleasing for me.

Once that is done I come through with a permanent marker/liner and make those ghost lines permanent. From there its a relaxing process of applying the watercolor. Mixing from a limited palette, some transparent and some opaque pigments, I paint to approximate the color values in the image. When its done I put it away and forget about it – in this instance for more than a year – but that made for a nice surprise and brought back some good memories. So, without any more fuss, here’s a couple more from this series.

If you like these, there are a few more here and I’ll likely post more as they happen.