Try Something New

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. This is a painting I did in my Denver Botanic Gardens Workshop last summer and it was fun photographing it among some of the flowers that I painted. Even in a place as spectacular as the Botanic Gardens, I still find myself moving a few things around to make what I think is a more interesting composition. For example, the yellow flowers were a little off to the right and I moved them into the composition because I wanted that yellow shape in that location. I didn't see them as individual flowers but rather a warm intrusion into a predominately cool color scheme.

I have painted so many times in Botanic Gardens that I feel a real sense of freedom where I can enjoy the process without worrying to much about the end results. The idea is to try different things and have each painting be a learning experience. I do admit that some days I see exactly what I want in some area of the gardens and then painting is still a challenge because I can never really match the beauty I see. When I am finished I only ask myself one question, "is that the best I can do today," and if the answer is yes, then I'm happy.

\

The yellow flowers are a combination of lemon yellow, transparent yellow, and yellow ochre and the other flowers were painted with cobalt violet, cerulean blue, and mineral violet. The green leaves are a combination of olive green, cerulean blue, lemon yellow and perylene green.

Never be afraid to try something that you think may improve your painting. Even if it doesn't work, you will learn something and there is always the next painting. Learning something new doesn't necessarily make painting easier but it does make painting more enjoyable. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton