World Inspired Landscapes: Brazil

 

Brazil was a tough one because I have been there and it is the country Cilei and her family are from there, so it had to be profound! I ran the green options by Cilei liked the orange-greens. The Amazon river is seen here from satellite view (google earth), it is flowing from the west to the northeast. One of its major tributaries (River Madeira) flowing from the south. Upstream to the west there is another major tributary (Rio Negro, not seen) that has black-appearing water which mixes with the brownish water of the amazon to create a pekoe tea colour. The south tributary is whitish, and it further mixes at the confluence resulting in beige. I used umber and neutral tint for black water, goethite for brown water, and titanium buff for the white water. The trees are phthalo green (PG36) with yellow (PY154) and orange (PO36) done in a wash, then with brush stippling. All the cleared parts you see in the rain forest represent the farms that are taking over the region due to deforestation and agriculture. Manaus is just up stream to the west of this scene a city of over 2 million people.

 World Inspired Landscapes: Brazil version iii 8 x 10" cold press, watercolour, April 2021

 

Here was the second try, I used phthalo green yellow shade (PG36) and felsite which is a natural yellow sandy/ochre. I dissolved the entire felsite cube in water and used for this painting and the Brunei painting. Unfortunately the felsite was thick and greyish which made the green underwhelming. I switched to a brighter yellow in version iii. 

 World Inspired Landscapes: Brazil version ii 8 x 10" cold press, watercolour, April 2021

 

This was a preliminary test, the river is pure felsite here for the rivers. The trees were a different shade of green, but not earthy enough. I may do a third version on a larger piece of paper, would tweak a few things to make it perfect.

World Inspired Landscapes: Brazil version i 4 x 6" cold press, watercolour, April 2021