Walking home there was just a sliver of orange sky showing as the sun set. A heavy purple cloud hung over top, and some trees in the middle ground provided contrast. To the left is one of the campus buildings, with a snow-covered parking lot in the foreground. When I was painting, the cloud in the sky looked quite dark, it was similar to the very dark pine tree you see in the painting. From experience I knew the dark cloud would lighten up significantly upon drying, or at least that's what I hoped would happen. Just now as I look at the scan, it worked perfectly. The cloud is a middle grey, the tree is a near black, while the tangerine sunset is a light, high chroma hue, like a tequila sunset. As a watercolour painter one has to guess sometimes as to how the painting will look when it dries because wet paint will always look brighter and darker. It took me several years to appreciate that, and even more years to master it. There was a long time that I would not even attempt to paint such a scene, especially in the bitter cold, but now I know its possible so I try. Every so often a student or a colleague sees me painting, its always interesting. By the way, I got a new computer, nothing fancy but its working great so far, it makes a lot of LED colours.
Orange sky Campus, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, January 2025
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