Project 7: Landscape

The scene depicted is of Fisherman's Bastion in Budapest, Hungary, right off of the Danube River. I've liked this photograph for a long a time and have considered making a piece inspired by it, but I have always been intimidated by the level of detail. That being said, I was at first hesitant to choose this subject as my landscape. I wanted this piece to be quicker piece and I was worried that the details in this photo would inhibit my intentions. I ended up simplifying the stonework of the structure in my original sketches which made the whole prospect seem much more doable.

 I chose to do this piece in watercolor because I hadn't worked in that medium yet this year. I started off by doing some rough sketches in my notebook.  I really enjoyed the loose quality of water colors, that a few expressive colors in key places could have a great impact. The color scheme of the photograph  was also very interesting to work with. It contained a wide range of blues, rich brick reds in the distant city, and vibrant greens in the close up trees.

After lightly sketching the scene, I began by blocking off the areas in the clouds I wished to leave white and by putting in a blue wash over the rest of the sky. I then put in the distant mountains and forests as well as the buildings, for which I put in warm light browns and red roofs. I moved my way toward the foreground, using lots of layers of green in varying shades and hues to give the trees depth. The building itself I painted last. I first did a light gray wash over the whole thing and then went back and placed in the dark grays. 

Overall I am happy with the piece. There are a few areas that turned out darker than I would like them to be and I would like to have sharper edges in some places. On the whole though,  I really enjoyed this process. Watercolors were a nice break from oils and I'd like to paint something in them again soon.