Anybody else just fall in love with a cute little local farmers market! This little gem is tucked away on my drive to work. They have the absolute BEST produce and homemade meals! There quiches are too die for and their strawberries are also my weakness.
This sweet little market has such a fairytale feel to me and makes me happy just to look at it. It looks like a place from a Hallmark movie where the small town gathers and chats together. This, of course, got it put on my list of places to paint!
As usual, I started with a sketch. I like to use my sketching to work out any tricky angles and spacing of a larger composition. Perspective and depth in paintings and compositions is always a source of anxiety for me. I do like to turn that anxiety into a challenge though. I challenge myself to create the perfect angles and take lots of chances to step back and check it from further back.
I learned 2 tricks in college for perspective. The first is to use a pencil to hold up to the line you are drawing, line it up, and slowly lower it to your paper to visualize the line and angle. This is an amazing trick that's very hard to put into words. The second is that I mentioned above, stepping back and looking further away. I get so wrapped up in my drawing or painting that all I see are every little pencil stroke or brush stroke. Backing up and looking at the work as a whole helps tremendously! Step back, step away, glance at it walking by, and get a better view of it as a spectator not the close up artist.
I try to sketch the same size as my finished painting, if doable. This helps me make sure I have the relative sizes and composition correct. This isn't very practical with my oil paintings because I do them in a larger scale. This is however, doable with my gouache paintings right now because I paint into a 8.5 x 11 watercolor sketchbook.
I need to get better about taking progress pictures! I only have pictures of this painting before and after adding my metallic watercolor details. I enjoy working through these gouache paintings. They are a challenge of learning a new medium which helps with my patience's when painting.
I am fairly happy with how this painting turned out! I am very happy with the actual market and how it shows goo depth. I am not as happy with the leaves of the large oak tree. Its such a beautiful old oak and don't know that I captured it correctly. That's ok though! I will continue practicing with these beautiful trees and get them right eventually.
To finish this painting, I added details and highlights with metallic watercolors in specific spots. I love the "spice" it adds to the finished painting and I feel like it gives the painting a special-ness.
Find peace in yourself. Create peace around you.
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