McCloud Falls

After living in Zambia for three months, most of my artwork has been focused on that area. Today, my friends, I started to feel nostalgic for a trip we took last summer to Shasta, CA, especially for a hike we took to see all three of the McCloud Falls.

I pulled out my drawing pad and started sketching. Recently, I've been creating my drawings on a brown Strathmore pad with Micron pens and ink. Today, I wanted to try something different, so I got out the watercolors!

Since I was planning to use watercolors, I chose to create a loose sketch and allow the color to tell the story.

Now I don't feel completely at ease with watercolor, I relied on a bit of a crutch: ink washes. First, I applied a wash of golden brown over the entire sheet of paper. After allowing that to dry, I searched for all the shadows in the piece, brought out the ink wash, and got to work. This resulted in some wonderful things.

1. It allowed me to get a better idea of how the piece was going to look.
2. I got a better idea of where the colors would go
3. It forced me to slow down. I often overwork my piece when I use watercolors.

The result is the piece you see here, which I call McCloud Falls. That's a pretty original title, right?