Land of Enchantment

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I just spent the last week teaching a Watercolor Workshop in Taos New Mexico and this was one of my demo's of the Mabel Dodge Luhan House where we were headquartered. It was a beautiful morning with sunlight and shadow showing off the rich colors of the adobe building and the cottonwood tree. I started with a cerulean blue wash for the sky and painted right over my drawing of the trees. This way I could leave bits of the sky showing through when I painted the leaves. Next I mixed cerulean blue with lemon yellow and painted the distant tree. The other tree behind the birdhouses was painted with olive green and lemon.

Moving onto the birdhouses, I mixed burnt sienna with French ultramarine blue then used cadmium red and cerulean blue for the roofs. The gray for the posts was mixed with cerulean blue and brilliant orange. For the adobe I mixed cobalt violet with yellow ochre and added mineral violet for the darker values. The ladder was a bit of a problem. First I painted it with light gray but didn't like the way it attracted to much attention so I painted over it with the adobe color. Later I repainted it with a darker gray.

The cottonwood tree added strength and stability to the composition and I painted it with the same grays used earlier while using my rigger brush for the fine lines in the bark. The leaves are a mixture of olive green, lemon yellow, and French Ultramarine blue with bits of unpainted white paper. For the lawn, I dry brushed olive green and added French Ultramarine blue for the cast shadows. It was important to leave bits of olive green in the cast shadows for the effect of dappled sunlight. Later in my room I added the lantern and a few flag stones in the lower left corner. If you are painting from a photo the cast shadows are usually to dark and they never show all the color. Painting on location, you see the cast shadows are full of color, especially on a sunny day.

Every spring I look forward to my workshop in Taos and this year was exceptional because of the fun and talented participants who I would like to thank for joining me in Taos. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton