The watercolour painting titled “Deer Dreams” is subject matter that was gathered during boat travel in Ontario. The glimpse of a graceful doe coming to the shoreline for water was combined with the layering of forest trees in my preliminary pencil sketch. A colourful, dream-like, enchanting quality was what I planned for this composition.
I started with mixing some bold, warm colours and laid down a “juicy” underpainting. Using a water-colour technique called wet-into-wet which refers to water-colour paper saturated with water and paint applied to run and blend.
After the underpainting dried, I shaped the forest trees using a technique called negative painting. This refers to painting around and behind an object to define it. An interesting variety of shapes are established. Large , medium, and small shapes make visual images more engaging than all the same size or shape.
I preserved the white paper and added dark contrast near the elegant deer to bring attention to the focal point.
The final result suggests bright summer sun and deep shadows along with the transparent layers that make watercolour such an exciting and unpredictable medium.