For a change of pace, painted a quick, loose, watercolor of Arnolds Park in Okoboji, Iowa.

Usually I start with a sketch on the paper, but this time I just begun by laying down water and dropping on layers of paint.

The fun and often and scary thing about watercolor is not exactly knowing what the paint will do at times.  Sometimes you have to just let. go.  After adding some shadows, I decided to go back and add a layer of cadmium orange to the trees and shoreline.  I like how it brightened up those areas, so I figured, what the heck, let’s see what it does to the water, and then proceeded to lay down a layer over that.  It added a depth to it that wasn’t previously there.

Watercolor painting is about learning, having fun and experimenting sometimes.  Couldn’t think of a better thing to do on this subject matter, where having fun, learning and letting go is what you do at Arnolds Park!

Overall image size is 5 1/2″ by 12″