Spring Crab Apple Blossoms

As the sun began to descend to the rooftops I did a quick painting of what appears to be a crab apple tree with pink blossoms. A few days ago the snow and cold came resulting in some wilting of the blossoms, but they rebounded and looked bright pink today, well I may have embellished a little. I am better able to capture bright colours due to a lot of new paints I got last year, and a new mixing strategy. In the old days I mixed a lot of colours together, now I try to colour-match with one or two paints maximum. For example the brick wall on the left was just burnt sienna unmixed. The blossoms were yellow ochre with quinacridone magenta, then overlaid with more of the magenta (PR122). The sky, just phthalo blue sapphire (PB15:0). Thus, I pick a colour that is very close to what is needed, then just tweak it as needed. This painting is perhaps one of the first one where the method really shows its strength, the blossoms really convey the feeling of spring and the bright colours starting to emerge, even though the weather is usually more dour at this time of year.

Spring Crab Apple Blossoms 4 x 6" cold press, watercolour, April 2021 (No. 2632)