I continued working from photos for this exercise and selected two pictures: A view on the pond in the Brooklyn Cemetery (2013), and a scene from Spreewald near Berlin in Germany (2004). This is a beautiful water landscape where the river Spree originates, and I’m certain to return there to paint when I’ll be back in Germany.

Work on this exercise was dominated by my attempts to paint accurately, at the same time loosen the tighter approach… probably two things that don’t go together! I painted 4 versions of the cemetery pond in different formats and two versions of the Spreewald, alternating between the two subjects. I’ll present the paintings by subject to discuss the challenges.

The pond at Brooklyn Cemetery (photo source, 2013)

The main problem here was the fountain which I did not manage to integrate well into the painting. I tried oil pastels as a resist but found my shape too gross. Maybe I should have made a light wash underneath it to connect it to the rest of the painting.

Another problem was with the colours. I tried to be true to the photo, but found that in my painting, the blue sky did not work well with the autumn colours of the trees. Maybe this was because I did not mix my greens from blue and yellow but used pre-mixed hues instead. I might try to work from a more restricted palette and mix my own tones.

Overall, I think the studies are too tight and overworked and this comes from my aim to depict all the details as accurately as possible. I experimented with the dry brush technique and was surprised how intense and opaque the colours came across. Versions 2 and 3 are made with more water. I was experimenting what worked well for blending colours and creating the reflections on the water. These first three versions were guided by the attempt to improve on the details. Unfortunately, each time I got annoyed after a certain time and then lost concentration. So I guess this is not my most preferred way of painting with watercolours.

Then to try a really different approach, I followed a recommendation by my tutor and painted with the left hand. I painted entirely wet in wet, focusing only on colour and placement in the composition. This painting is the least recognizable, but the most pleasant to look at, I think.

Version 1 (33 x 43 cm): First try, dry brush technique
Version 2 (27.5 x 38 cm): Using a flat brush wet in wet and wet on dry, making different marks
Version 3 (24 x 34 cm): Round brush and mixture of dry brush and wet in wet, small format
Version 4 (24 x 34 cm): Left handed painting, wet in wet

Spreewald near Berlin (photo source, 2004)

The greates challenge in this scene were the branches in the middle hanging over the water, and their reflections on the water surface. I found it very difficult to visually separate the two from another. Another difficult aspect was the red wall to the left behind the large tree. I considered using resist for this, but then found the area to cover too extensive and decided to try a different approach: Painting the background as a wash after painting the foliage. I think this worked quite nicely in both versions. I did use resist for the banister and in version 2 for the highlight around the little duck in the center.

I mainly focused on the trees and their foliage, trying out my new brush technique of holding the brush sideways onto the paper to create irregular marks. I think I like version 2 better than version 1 because the greens of the trees are more like I wanted them, and I also like that the water reflections are softer in version 2. To note is that I’m beginning to experiment with the brushes and try to fit the brush to what I want to do, and also try to make more varied marks.

Version 1 (33 x 43 cm), Version 2 (33 x 43 cm): Trying to improve the foliage of the trees and the appearance of the water.

Concluding reflections

I see some skills developing but am not very satisfied with my paintings. This is mostly because I still find the style too tight. I don’t think I captured the beauty of the scene that I saw when I took the photographs. I think I’d benefit from painting more in the looser style. On the other hand I’m kind of stuck to the idea of accurate representation and have great difficulties of just letting go – I perceive strongly the obligation to follow course instructions. Maybe it would help to alternate between approaches to loosen up.

It is also interesting to see how the painting develops when I re-work to improve tonality. The price is that the painting becomes overworked but it is also helpful to observe what happens when contrast is increased and really dark tones are added. Maybe this helps to become more confident in applying intense and dark tones right away so that the overall tonality needs less corrections.