Watercolor Sketches on a Lake

Over the weekend, my husband and I rented a pontoon boat at the Raccoon Creek State Park Boat Rental.  The weather was gorgeous and sunny.  

As we motored slowly around the lake, I made slapdash sketches of the scenery.  Above is the boat rental seen from the water, with colorful kayaks stacked up along the shore.

The sunlight and cloud shadows created beautiful effects on the trees and forests surrounding the lake.  The distant hillside was in a cloud shadow, while sunlight shot through the near trees on the left.  Days when the lighting is dramatic like this, I love to create art that zooms in on these high contrast areas.  

In artworks, areas of contrast attract the viewer's eye and create visual interest.  You can capture boldly contrasting values and colors to create a more dramatic composition.  

For instance, greens and yellows dominate this painting of the boat rental.  The red & blue-violet kayaks along the shore catch the eye because they contrast with the colors around them.

When I started painting these two scenes, my only goal was to play with my paints for the joy of it. I simply was present in the moment, exploring with my brush.

Trusting the process and going out to sketch, you make discoveries, try experiments, and find new ideas to explore.

As messy as these sketches are, I love them.  They represent a snapshot of the afternoon -- an escape to the lake with David on a gorgeous afternoon.

 Sketching in this way can foil the inner critic's voice -- you know, that voice within us that demands we make masterpieces.  

Our job in sketching is simply to "take notes" on the scene before us.  We are focusing on ways to represent what we find fascinating in the world.  We are not bound by reality.   As artists, we are not cameras!  We can omit parts of the scene, change colors, remove trees, or whatever we want!

Remember: When you are sketching, your job is to explore what you find fascinating.  If you do that, you have succeeded, no matter what your sketchbook looks like to anyone else.  

I hope you'll take lots of opportunities to make sketches this autumn!

Happy Creating!