A Look Into My Process

The initial sketch and first washes. I'm working on hot press watercolor paper which is not something I've yet to become comfortable with. The pools of wet paint can dry with very distinct outer lines which I can find distracting. 

Very frequently I fall in love with a piece at this stage. I have always loved to see an artist's sketch under a painting. The test is to maintain this loose feel and not overwork the painting.

The first washes have dried and I added washes to the trees and far mountains.

Everything dried once again and I went in to add detail. At this stage I see some things happening that I don't care for. The lower left corner is off and the drying pattern below the island is distracting.

After waiting (again) for the drying process to finish, I added more darks and softened the foreground. Oddly, while I didn't prefer the drying marks in the lake before, I think I will leave the large mark near the center.

Here is the scanned final. All of the previous images were iPhone photos so the contrast and color was a bit off. You can see that I added a little shadow to the clouds and a few brush strokes to the foreground. The last image is such a great example of how important it is to wait until a watercolor dries to make any additions or changes. Things can soften and merge in ways you wouldn't be able to predict.