A Second Chance

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. On Friday I painted in Washington Park Denver with an artist friend. I wasn't quite satisfied with my painting and the next day I painted in the same location with two other artists friends and, this time, I was happy with my results. The first day I did as good as I could that day and it took a second attempt, using what I learned the first day, to get the painting I wanted. One of my mentors Chen Chi said "only ask yourself if you did the best that you could do that day and if the answer is yes then you should be happy." With that simple quote in mind I was O.K. with my first attempt and happy to be taking another stab at it the next day. I try to remember to think of each painting as a learning experience irregardless of the results. It was a beautiful day in the park and the reflections in the water were just what I was hoping for. I drew the reflections in early knowing that a slight change in the light could cause them to disappear. The little bridge across "Smith's Ditch" is a wonderful landmark in the park and that is where I started painting. Cerulean blue, cobalt violet, and yellow ocher were mixed for the different grays and burnt sienna with ultramarine blue made the black for the railing. Before starting to apply the different greens, I painted cerulean blue in the sky area so that it could show through the leaves. Taking advantage of color temperature, I used a slightly different green for each tree and the colors I used for the different mixtures were cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, olive green, lemon yellow, and cadmium yellow light. The classic bent tree on the left in front of the bridge is a mixture of burnt sienna and perylene green. The water reflections were still there when I got around to painting them and I made sure they had little twists and turns that showed their was a gentle breeze. The weather and sunlight were perfect and the fellowship of other artists made it a fun day in the park. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton This painting is 7 x 1o inches painted on 100 % rag paper and the price is $400. Contact pendletonstudio@gmail.com