Having control over watercolour medium can be a chore, it may feel sometimes like the medium has more control over you! Through experimentation I discovered the backwash technique where you let a wash dry almost completely, then drop in some water which causes a blossoming effect. In this painting, done in May 1996, I used that technique to create the bushes next to the pine tree. The scene is from the south side of the Bolton Valley. The other trick I used was the 'blue fade' where you make the hills in the distance get lighter and bluer towards the horizon. I had read about that in a book 'Everything you need to know about watercolor'.
Another painting from summer 1996, this one shows the Bolton cemetery looking north. The cemetery is located on the North part of the valley and provides some great views of the town, and it is generally very quiet! This one was labelled 1996 in pencil on the back, but looking at it, I feel like the technique was too good for 1996, but the palette is right (all transparents). So maybe I did do this in 1996. I seem to remember the name on the stone was 'Crowley' but I didn't want to use the full name for some reason, like to not disturb the dead?
5 x 7" cold press, watercolour, 1996 (?)
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