Georgia is a small country towards eastern Europe that is rich in landscapes including mountains and beaches. Unfortunately about one third of the country has been invaded and occupied by an adjacent country including coastal and interior mountain land. Instead of depicting the most obvious scene which would have been a collage of angular green mountains and a river-valley, I went for a cave scene which is also common in Georgia. Several caves are tourist destinations, so the locals have set up a series of board walks and coloured flood lamps within the caves to make for better selfies. The combination of coloured lights stalactites and stalagmites made for an abstract scene that none the less still resembled a cave, complete with an illuminated pool of water in the bottom right.
To paint the cave I had to establish a convincing outline that gave the geological features along with the general structure of a cave. Then the value contrasts created an illusion of flood lights in an otherwise pitch black cave. Adding the green section in the background helped to bring out the red section and give the sense of depth and gloom. Finally the water was a kaleidoscope of reflecting colours.
World Inspired Landscapes: Georgia, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2022 (No. 3128b)
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