Experimenting!

These are 2 pictures I did recently. The first one was done from some sketches of cottages in the mountains. I have signed up for qa few water colour classes and this was how the tutor felt I should do the picture. I had to remember and imagine the colours, decide which side the sun was coming from and put in shadows accordingly!!! It was a really good exercise. However I am not happy with the picture, especially the 2 huts, they are a little too defined a little too stylised! I have also realised that I prefer to work a more loose style, so this picture doesn't really turn me on too much!

The next one is of boats on the river. This is from reference pictures I took during our visit to Arun's farm. It was early morning and there was a thick mist on the river. The fishing boats were all  moored on the river bank, almost ghostly in the mist. The sun was just beginning to rise so there were tiny glints of ochre on the boats, otherwise everything was in shades of grey, all shadowy colours! I did this picture as a practice really, as I want to do a series on boats, and wanted to experiment with making and painting with shades of greys and also to try to catch early morning light. Not sure I have got it quite as I want, but its a beginning.