The weather in August finally turned nice, (July BTW was a disaster), so I headed out to the fields. I had purchased a new light weight field easel – for which I had constructed a small painting tray. I was anxious to test out my new rig. I had remembered experiencing a breath-taking mid-afternoon-light view of a very Belgian chapel somewhere out side of Brugge. But where? So, it took me awhile to find it and then to determine the best spot for a drawing/watercolour. 

I concentrated the first session on getting down an accurate drawing. Weighing the accents of the composition and adjusting to their placement on the page. Feeling the light that I wanted to capture. Took about two hours. I had already determined that I wanted to add in a few cows later, so I snapped a few photos of those meandering munchers.

At home I placed carefully cut pieces of masking tape to save the whites for those creatures before the next session. The second foray consisted of laying in washes of the colour relationships: red tile roofs contrasted to waving trees of green, the organic yet gentle shock of complements to be seen everywhere in Belgium in the summer. Add to that blue skies and long horizontal slashes of yellow corn fields, accented by pops of whitewashed farm buildings. Belgium, what a delight. After another two hours I had the chromatic start that I wanted, but since dinner called, I packed up and went home.

That second session was a nice start but my values were still too light (defo a weakness of mine). In watercolour, the eloquence of the paper needs to be reserved for the highlights and quarter tones. So of course it’s important to preserve them, but their impact only truly resonates by their contrast to well placed shadows. So I headed out for the third and final session – to intensify the saturation of my hues as well as to darken the values in the shadows. Later, back home, I removed my masking tape and drew in those sweet cows, touching them up with watercolour washes. 

I’m happy with this one and feel like I am finally finding my groove(!). Less is always more: saying whatever you want to say with a minimum of means, allowing light, colour, lines, shapes and form to speak for themselves.

In this case, “moo”…