hello ~
I took a voyage to the Diſtrict of Columbia and made a few plein air paintings. And as this is another poſt about my trip to Waſhington, D.C., I muſt continue to uſe the medial s.
Above are all my pieces! I painted at the National Gallery of Art, Georgetown Univerſity, the Library of Congreſs, and the National Muſeum of American Hiſtory. For ſome reaſon the ſpread did not get painted chronologically; I painted the bookcaſe on the far left firſt, the arch ſecond, the bathroom third, and the univerſity laſt.
The above deſk and bookcaſe is probably my leaſt favorite out of the four paintings. It does not have a ſense of depth, and the ſubject is not as viſually intereſting as the reſt of the pieces. Howbeit, I love the glaſs pattern and the bright blue color of the glaſs. Below, you can see the embelliſhments at the top of the bookcaſe are not blue, but I decided to make them blue for two reaſons: the firſt is that the blue is more intereſting, and the ſecond is that as I finiſhed painting the piece, I did not have acceſs to a photo and therefore my painting was inaccurate.
Georgetown Univerſity is in the gothic architecture ſtyle. The building has quite a bit of little details, ſo it was very fun to sketch and then paint. I did not capture even half of all the details on the univeriſity, but I think the lack of detail ſuits the ſtyle I painted it in. The whole building is kind of just gray, ſo I tried to uſe warm grays and cool grays along with brown and blue to make ſure the painting does not look too monochromatic. If you are intereſted, you can ſee my reference photo below, though I did finiſh painting the entire thing while I was there in perſon and I did not uſe my photo.
This is moſt definitely my favorite painting. Leſs importantly, I like how it cuts off at the edge and how it makes the painting aſsymetrical. But, more importantly, I like how the inadequately executed depth leads you down the tunnel into a mysterious ſomething. The porte-cochère (which is a doorway through which vehicles can go through) is very lovely; each of the trapezoids ſeems to be pointing down the tunnel and I like the way I painted them. I do not like the ovals at the top baniſter very much, for they look a little rough and miſshapen. Similar to Georgetown Univerſity, the entire arch was gray, ſo I tried to uſe different values and layering techniques to make sure it does not look flat. I made the car at the end of the tunnel red inſtead of gray ſo that it would pop rather than blend in, though I think I did not wait until the gray watercolor was dry before I painted the car.
I attached my reference photo below; I took it in the morning ſo the light in the air was very blue.
There was this aſtounding dollhouſe at the National Muſeum of American Hiſtory and I juſt had to draw a room. Eventually, I ſettled on painting the bathroom; this may be an odd option for ſome, but I find bathrooms to be quite faſcinating. I did not capture the depth as well as I wanted to, but I think the painting is ſtill charming. The colors are superb in this painting, I think, though I ſuppose the colors are good in the painting becauſe they are fantastic in the actual dollhouſe. However, I added quite a bit of pink and red that did not exiſt in the actual house; I think this was a fitting choice as the colors would have been a little bit too monochromatic in my painting if I followed the dollhouſe’s colors.
Below is my reference, which I uſed to paint in with watercolor but not ſketch it.
I hope my plein air paintings were charming to look at. Which was your favorite painting? I alſo hope that the medial s was enjoyable; I fancied uſing it yet again. Thank you for reading and happy plein air painting.
Whimsical Watercolor 