Lab Book #11: The Legendary Isle of Sixe

The lab Book series has progressed from relatively flat (2D) imagery in Lab Book 4, Finding Space, towards more of a 3D illusion as seen in the latest addition lab Book 11, The legendary Isle of Sixe. In the foreground there are trees and beasts and sharp colour contrasts, the middle to backgrounds are populated with buildings and totems and rolling hills that fade to blue in th distance. At the top of the picture are the treetops, alive with birds and primates, which also draw your eye back down to the foreground completing the illusion of depth. Creating depth in a picture can be done in several ways. One way is to make colours are always brighter in the foreground, as seen in this work there are many bright primary reds yellows and blues, while in the distance (the top of the painting) these colours are less intense. In some cases I put very bright colours in the distance (find the eye on the coast near the top right of the picture) just to make things pop out and surprise you. I also used the birds tail in the treetops as a contrast element: the tail has one very bright red feather that makes the surrounding blue look very dull, which makes the depth illusion all the better. 

Lab Book #11: The Legendary Isle of Sixe, watercolour 22 x 30" cold press paper, 2008 (No. 1999)