Flowering tree and grass

I walk past this tree every time I head from my office, across the street to the laboratory at the PERFORM Centre. Today I stopped and made a painting after work in the sweltering heat. After spending most of the day in the over-air conditioned office it was kind of relief to feel some heat! The painting was an exercise in textures and value control. I started with the highlight colours, for example the white clover flowers and yellow buttercup flowers growing in the grass, and applied the neutral coral blobs for the tree flowers. As it dried, I applied several textural layers by pushing the semi-moist brush directly down on the paper, which is bad for the brush but good for the textural effect. With progressively darker applications the painting gained volume and a realistic look. Doing such a painting in watercolour is especially difficult because there is no white paint to apply the highlights. Instead, the paper has to be showing through wherever there is light. In the night painting from last night, the artificial light was just the paper, surrounded by visual elements that made the scene appear to be night time. In this painting, I knew the surroundings just had to be a middle grey in order to make the flower elements seemingly glow. Or 'melt' would be a better word for today! 

Flowering tree and grass, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2023 (No. 3484b)