Mossy Cottage...first two washes

The architectural painting of Mossy Cottage continues today...These are first two washes (ala Judi Betts style). It's always a stretch to move from what you are used to and try something a tad different. My first wash was, as she recommended, very watery and light and was mostly cobalt blues and rose madder genuine with a little auroleon yellow to gray up a few places. The first wash avoided some of the light areas but not totally. The idea being that it was SO light that even though it was a color wash, it would appear almost white as time goes on.

The second was was exactly the same colors only a tad darker and in the second wash I began finding more edges and focusing on "warming" the shadows. Not my usual style. I have always thought of shadows as cool. But not Judi. She lives in Louisiana. It is HOT there and even the shadows are warm. I live in Florida. The same rule should apply. I have to stop painting Wisconsin's cool shadows.

Now one thing Judi does is GO SLOWLY. She is a much more patient painter than I am. Two or three or maybe four layers and I am ready to lay in the details. Judi layers and layers and layers and lets each layer dry while she "thinks" about what she wants. She is so deliberate with her color mixing...thinking each step through and thinking about balance. She did a very complete colored value sketch before she did her final half sheet painting. I could not bring myself to do that. This is a quarter sheet, by the way.

She also leaves little patches of white paper as she paints. Now that is actually not totally new to my style. But with these first two washes being so very light I decided not to do that. She is not actually too concerned with "local color" either. And because this not a commissioned piece where I have to true to the house colors, I am free to think of the house as warmer (even though it is in actuality a nice blue-ish gray in real life as you can see in a previous post. Never mind.

The porch is, I think, called a pergola.

ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: fromItalian, from Latin pergula ‘projecting roof,’from pergere ‘come or go forward.’

I looked up Judi's most recent book A Quest toward Xtraordinary (1999) and in the used book section of Barnes and Noble the cheapest copy of it was $75!!! YIKES! So if you ever come upon this book in a used book sale or library sale GRAB it!!!