World Inspired Landscapes: Croatia

 

Located on the Adriatic sea opposite to Italy, Croatia is a mountainous coastal country with a large inland region. Beaches run up and down the sea side interspersed by rocky cliffs and steep rocky hills dotted with trees. Where possible, villages have been built near the water and around the old fortifications. Croatia historically has been conquered many times which lead to a very diverse people and culture. In recent decades it grew to be a prosperous and unified country partly due to the effort to create a common 'Croatian' language that all their people could speak together. 

The painting was all about colour, value and composition. The rocky hills were a neutral red made with pyrol red (PR254), carbon black (PBk6), and just enough water to bring it to a warm neutral gray. The trees were a very dark olive green I made with perylene green (PBk31), a touch of indo yellow (PY110) and a touch of carbon black (PBk6). The beach-to-sea transition was made with a raw sienna for the sand (PY43 and PR102), greenish yellow ochre (PY43 and a touch of PG36), emerald green (PG36 some PBk31), then turquoise (PB60, PG36, PB28), and navy blue (PB60, PV19, PB28). I painted the sea colours fast so they blended together, but still maintained some clear depth lines, and a slight sparkle-effect near the top where the sun might be reflecting. 

With respect to composition, the painting is based on a meandering line that bisects the painting into land/sea. In the preliminary sketches I included a sky, but felt the composition was stronger if the whole picture area was just land and sea, as if you were flying over the scene looking down. The paper is 9 x 12", however the painting itself is confined to a 7.5 x 9.5" area since I am planning to put this one in an 8 x 10" mat opening. I am sharing a lot of technical details today, just to document my notes on the format and in case I want to repeat the neat sea colours (or if any other water painters want to try!).

World Inspired Landscapes: Croatia, watercolour 9 x 12" cold press, January 2022 (No. 2985)