Autumn Walk on Benton Road

In this watercolor painting we are once again on a family walk. The composition and the hazy view of the landscape in the distance appealed to me. I also liked the play of the shadows across the road and the colorful foliage scattered about. The figures are enjoying the beauty of the day and each other's company. This painting was started and about 80% completed in a workshop where we were told to look at our photo reference and then put it away and paint from memory. I believe we did a quick pencil sketch prior to the memory painting but honestly I don't remember. It was an interesting exercise and I found it quite liberating since I was basically relying on my memory and my knowledge of landscape painting to guide me through it. Also, this was done on print making paper which has different qualities than the watercolor paper I am used to. I enjoyed this new paper and actually ended up ordering some to use in future paintings. I did refer to my photo for the finishing touches but learned a great deal from the exercise. It forced me to paint in a looser style because there was no photo to refer to for finer details.