Bodnant azaleas

I’m rather pleased with this watercolour especially as I have not used the medium for a while.  But being able to paint more regularly at the moment has paid dividends.  For once, I’ve taken it slowly, working forward layer by layer using increased detail to enhance the perspective.  Watercolour can be such a quick medium that I sometimes feel that if the painting is not completed in half an hour or less, and at one sitting, then it isn’t a proper watercolour.  Where I picked up this misconception, I have no idea.

This painting is loose as well as detailed.  The cool blues and lemons of the distant hillside give way the the shadowed slope of the valley and the great shout of colour in the foreground.  The dark evergreens on either side are a good foil for the sunlit tree trunks.  I like the zigzag tracing the land forward through the scene.

Incidentally, the painting reads well even in monochrome, so the tonal values must be right!