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Kalaloch Sunset scans

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Kalaloch Sunset scans


This is the second draft of Kalaloch Sunset, completed 02/2010. I painted the first draft on 300# watercolor board that had been sitting in a plastic wrapper in my studio for over a decade. Unfortunately, when I did the first wash I discovered that the paper had a flaw in one corner. It looked horrible when the paper was wet, and I start most pieces really wet. But, when it dried, the flaw was nearly imperceptible. While the first wash was still wet on Kalaloch I pulled out a quarter sheet of 140# Arches cold pressed paper and started to work on Kalaloch II. I suspect I’ll always be an Arches guy, but, given my choice I would always paint on 300# rough board. Sorry, I digress… The small defect in the 300# board turned out to be a “happy accident”. Now I have two good studies of the subject.

These paintings are based on a number of photos taken at the end of a wonderful day while we were camping at the Kalaloch Campground in the Olympic National Park. I don’t think that a photo can ever match the magic of a watercolor, but there are a lot of wonderful things that you can do with digital photography and someday, I would like to learn how to do them. For me, most of photography is about composition, light and opportunity.

Because watercolors are mostly about light, it is really difficult to capture one in a photo. That’s why I opt for high quality flatbed digital scans of the artwork that I upload. Right now I’m waiting for the local 60-inch flatbed color scanner to be repaired so I can upload some half sheet and full sheet pieces. But, yester day I took eight quarter sheets and one 10 x 6 sketch to my local printer and had all of them scanned. On a whim I had a single print of Kalaloch II made before we headed back to the country. It knocked my socks off!

My favorite scan was the one of the Kalaloch Sunset Sketch. I will replace the photo of that on the website when slow upload times permit. I hope someone will be watching out for it.

Thank you very much.