Shape By Shape

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I have been working more in my sketchbooks in preparation for my upcoming workshop in France. My sketchbook is a Hahnemuhle 6 x 9 inches with cold press watercolor paper. We finally had our first snow in Denver and I raced downtown to gather material for paintings. I love the wet snow which sticks to everything, streets, trees, utility poles, buildings, and vehicles. It also hides so many unnecessary details and helps me simplify. I have a checklist on the first page of my sketchbook which I read before I start painting. It reminds me to work with big, medium, and small shapes, repeat colors, simplify, use the unpainted white paper, etc. etc. Reading this checklist gives me confidence and helps me decide what kind of mood I want to create.

Starting with big shapes I painted the sky, buildings, and snow covered foreground. Rose dore and cobalt violet were used for the sky, grays mixed with cerulean blue and brilliant orange were used for the buildings and the foreground snow is cerulean blue and a small bit of yellow ochre. Moving on to the medium shapes I painted the light rail stop with a mixture of burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue then used the same colors plus orange for the light rail car. The utility poles and cable poles were also painted with burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue and they are all one value lighter than the light rail stop. The trees were created with unpainted white paper, white watercolor paint, and perylene green.

Finally the small shapes. The distant bus is cadmium red and the cars are cerulean blue and gray. Yellow ochre, and burnt sienna were used for the figures and the traffic light is unpainted white paper with cadmium red and gray for the lights. When painting the small shapes it is important to vary the sizes, small and even smaller, while scattering them around in different locations. At last, I took a deep breath and looked to see if I wanted any finishing touches. Spattering in the foreground snow and under the light rail car plus a few bits of white paint here and there finished it off. Creating small paintings like this gives you the opportunity to try out techniques and ideas that could lead to bigger paintings. It is also a wonderful way to bring home memories from your travels. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton