Whimsical Nocturnal Journey

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. The poet Eugene Field lived in Denver when he wrote the the poem Wynken, Blynken ansd Nod and his house is now located in Washington Park in Denver Colorado. After his death the house was purchased by Molly Brown and donated to Denver. It was used as a library for a while and now sits proudly in the park adjacent to this statue of the three children in the poem who sailed off at night in a wooden shoe. I have long admired this statue and when I saw it in the exact sunlight that captured my imagination I decided it would make an interesting painting.

This view point was chosen because of the evening sunlight on the statue and the location of the house along with the large pine trees. I did adjust the statue slightly so that the children's faces lined up with the darkest darks. To capture the transient effects of light on the statue I painted warm color temperatures in the sunlight and cool temperatures in the shadows. You can see how the white watercolor paper glows through the light washes of yellow ochre on the areas of the children in sunlight. Yellow ochre is an opaque color but with plenty of water it becomes translucent. The shadow areas are mixtures of blue, orange and violet. Burnt sienna, which is actually a red color, was mixed with blue and mineral violet for the darkest values. The cerulean blue window panes are the richest shot of pure color and they are also located near the children's faces. To further direct the viewers eye, tree branches lead you right to the light struck areas of the figures.

I wanted a warm color to surround the statue so I painted that side of the house with yellow ochre, cobalt violet and burnt sienna, The light struck side of the house is the same colors in lighter values. The small section of lawn is olive green with olive and perylene green for the cast shadows. Most of the sky was blotted out with greens from the trees so that the sky became small negative blue shapes that do not complete with the rich blue of the window panes. Burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue were mixed for the tree trunks and you can see the branches get more complicated and detailed the closer they get to the statue. The statue was refinished and moved to this location and I always stop by to see it in different lighting whenever I am painting or walking in Washington Park. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton