Jenny Dolfen

Sunset tryouts

Added 2019-02-24 13:35:52 +0000 UTC

I've always scoffed at colour studies. I used to do them digitally, which of course was okay for contrast-planning, but you can't plan watercolour digitally. For years now, I never planned them at all. I've got a good grasp of my paints, and usually know what I want (more or less), but as you know, my last few pieces all took a few failures before they worked out. So I actually started doing some colour studies in my sketchbook, to see how I could do the sky and clouds.

Spectacular as the sunset on the left looks, I'm not going that route, I think - on its own, it's fine, but as soon as Tuor comes in, the contrast will be all over the place. Plus, I'm very wary of the kitsch trap. I'll do a subtler effect, with a bit of yellow just across the horizon, and the clouds lighter, not darker than the sky, so that Tuor and the foreground can be the darkest bits in the piece.