Autumn Blaze

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I got a brand new Luchetti sketchbook and this is my first painting on the first page. Luchetti are considered the top of the line sketchbooks with 300 lb. 100% cotton watercolor paper. They are 8 x 8 inches and mine is cold press and they also come in hot press. They lay out perfectly flat and you can paint right across the two pages if you desire. The paper is a little different from the Hahnemuhle watercolor paper that I have been using but I like it a lot and am happy with this painting. I love this time of year in Colorado when the the trees change color and the weather is an artist's delight.

I started with the two biggest aspen trees using a mixture of cobalt violet, cerulean blue, and yellow ochre. I let the colors mix right on the paper while leaving the left side of the trees unpainted white paper to show sunlight. You can see how the colors separated and left interesting edges and drips as they reacted to the texture in the watercolor paper. Burnt sienna and ultramarine blue were used for the dark markings on the trees. Next I added the other aspen trees with the same colors and while I was painting the distant trees I also used transparent yellow, lemon yellow, olive green and brilliant orange to begin painting the aspen leaves. As those colors moved down I added perylene green to create a feeling of depth. Yellow leaves were sprinkled into this dark area to create a smooth transition.

Below the perylene green, in the middle ground, I added green mixed with cerulean blue and lemon yellow, orange, and transparent yellow. The foreground was painted with all the colors I had previously used plus Indian red for some of the fern leaves. You can see how close values showed off plants that appear to be in shadow. It was nice working in a sketchbook where the paper didn't buckle because of the heavier weight and I give the Luchetti sketchbook an A+. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton