Glorious Gardens

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I spent the last three days teaching a workshop in Denver Botanic Gardens and I have never seen the gardens look better. We had the right amount of rain at the right time and all the people working in the garden have created a masterpiece. Everywhere we looked there were interesting things to paint. At different times there were men like this working in the lily pad pond and it reminded me of this painting that I did a few summers ago, I was intrigued by his black hip boots and the rest of his clothing reflected in the dark water. His hat blocked out the sun and turned his face into a simple dark shape. I wasn't interested in his features but rather his gesture as he pulled up the lily pad and the stirred up reflections in the water. His shirt is three different values of cerulean blue, the same blue that I used in the water. Light shapes reflect a little darker in the water and dark shapes reflect a little lighter. You can see the blue shirt in sunlight is slightly lighter than its reflection. For the water I started with a light wash of cerulean blue then when it was dry I added darker strokes of the blue on the left and even darker strokes on the right where I mixed Venetian Red with the blue to get a darker blue gray. Linking is an important part of painting and the metal container and the hip boots are painted with similar values so that they merge into a single shape. Also, the dark green water and the dark blue gray water merge together because of similar values Linking pulls different shapes together and simplifies areas into single shapes and makes the painting easier to read. On behalf of Denver artists I would like to thank all the workers who make Denver Botanic Gardens such a delightful place to visit and paint. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton My watercolor classes at the Art Students League of Denver start on the 7th of September and they are: "Introduction to Painting in Watercolor" - An in person class that meets in the evening at the school once a week for seven weeks starting Monday, September 13th from 5:30 to 8:30. "Glorious Gardens in Watercolor" - An ONLINE class that lasts four weeks and starts Tuesday, September 7 from 1;00 to 3:30. "Autumn Mountains in Watercolor" - A four week in person class that starts Tuesday, September 7 from 6 to 9pm. To sign up or for more information contact the Art Students League of Denver.