Water Reflections

On a painting trip to France, I visited the little town of Honfleur with its beautiful harbor that has attracted so many of my favorite artists. It was the paintings of Donald Teague, the great American watercolorist, that inspired me to include this town on my trip. I found the gorgeous harbor with all its colors exciting and, at the same time, overwhelming so I decided to use the complementary color scheme of blue-green and red-orange. This allowed me to focus and simplify rather than try to capture every color and every detail. The water reflections were captivating and a very light breeze kept them from being an exact mirror image. When painting a very light color like the white boats, the reflections will be slightly darker and very dark colors will usually reflect slightly lighter. Carrying the same colors into the background with a few changes of color temperature tied the painting together and created depth in the composition. For me, watercolor is the perfect medium for recording my travel memories. Happy Painting!

Dennis Pendleton