Looking at the series unfold, I often consider how the pieces fit together. The last sequence of paintings were very warm coloured and it was time to plan out a cool colour composition. With Iraq up next, that was a tough order! Most of Iraq is arid, baked desert and rock formations, with sparse areas and occasional lush oasis-like green areas near the Tigris river. To find a cool composition, temperature wise, I made a painting of the Iraq desert at night, under the stars. Only two paints were used to make this painting, indo blue (PB60) and pyrol orange (PO73) taken from old tin tubes that I cut open to get the last of the paint out. Indo blue, a kind of dark navy blue, was a new one for me in 2020, since then, its become the backbone of my palette. It is good for dark blue sky, to make grey with earth pigments, and for turquoise and purples. Pyrol orange is a fiery red-orange great for pylons and dark night skies when mixed with Indo blue. I like how the rolling sand dunes almost look like water until you see the orange-ish highlights indicative of sand. To paint the stars on a cloudy dark night sky, I just left the paper showing through, and painted around the star shapes with careful brushwork.
World Inspired Landscapes: Iraq, watercolour 9 x 12" watercolour paper, May 2023 (No. 3636a)
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