Foresight Is Always Good

I’m feeling quite pleased with myself at the moment. I’ve completed a painting for my mother-in-law, and while she hasn’t seen it yet, those family members who have seen it all agree that it will be a perfect pairing for the “Winter Birch” painting I did in 2016.

Here’s another look at that painting.

Around the same time as I painted this — April 2016 – I did another “birch tree” painting.

You’ll see that it was based on a similar theme and a similar color palette. When I painted these two watercolors, I absolutely loved the colors I was using. And so, I made a color swatch, and I wrote down all of the different hues. I also made a few notes on the process.

I was very happy when I looked through the art files on my computer and found those notes and all the information on my color choices. That made it much easier to create a “complementary” painting to go along. And, since I’d previously done a single birch tree and then a pair of birches, I went right on to paint a trio. Here is the painting I’ll be giving my mother-in-law:

In the end, I did a few things differently. My watercolor techniques have changed over the last five years, and I approached this painting with a greater sense of freedom. I did not leave as much “white paper” as in the previous paintings, nor was I quite so precise in drawing the tree trunks. On this painting I also added in a few leaves still clinging to the branches, and overall I made this a more “up close” view of the trees.

Below you can see the two watercolors side by side.

I will probably take a brush with the dark brown-black mixture to add a few additional details on the tree trunks. I think the paintings will work well together. I think it’s interesting, too, to note slight differences in how I completed these. I won’t say that one is better than the other; I’ll simply say that while they’re similar, they are different, and I do like both of them.

What I like most of all, though, is the foresight I showed in making notes about the color palette I loved. I guess I knew that at some point I’d want to come back and re-visit this birch-tree.

Even though I’d planned on painting several different watercolor scenes that “might work” with the original painting, I’m not going to take that approach now. I’m certain my mother-in-law will be pleased with this painting, and I’m thinking it might be easier for her not to deal with decision-making. In the interests of keeping the process as easy for her as possible, I’ll be finishing this one up, framing it, and presenting it to her very soon.

Doing this painting gave me a chance to work on my watercolor techniques, and it also showed me how important it is to make notes and jot down information about the colors and techniques we feel good about. I have a feeling I’ll be taking a lot more notes in the future.