This is my sunset painting for this month's Project Media project! I will be honest with you, painting and watercolor is NOT my strongest suit. In fact, this is one of the only two painted pieces I've ever liked! But that's beside the point. How did this piece come together?
I started with the general concept and theme, of course. Personally, I prefer purple and pink sunsets to orange ones, so I wanted to incorporate those two colors! I also knew I wanted to put some clouds in there because clouds are part of what makes sunsets so pretty in my eyes. The tree canopy at the bottom was originally empty space because I wanted to paint a field of flowers (I absolutely LOVE flowers), but that turned out to be too challenging for me for now. So I started looking up visual references online and I got my materials out. I gathered all the watercolor, acrylic paints, and paintbrushes I owned, then I cut a plastic bottle in half so I could put water in it. I also took two of my Dad's large shirts to use as smocks for the table and my own clothes (thanks Dad!). Oh, and then there's the canvas of course. It was a really old one I had tried to use before, so please ignore the pencil markings in the middle of it haha.
Why did I choose to use paints and watercolor when I said they aren't my strongest suit? Why not colored pencils, something I'm actually decent with? Well, there were two reasons. The first was that I thought the color blending for the sky would be easier, and the second was that I wanted to improve my painting skills! After all, the main focus of this project is progress with different media. It's funny that I brought out my watercolor because I spent a good while trying to reassemble it. Below is the picture of my attempt:
The funnier part is that I never used the watercolors! So I reassembled it for nothing. Oh well, maybe next month.
For the sky, I started off with pink, purple, and blue acrylic on my canvas:
After I smeared it with my fan-like paintbrush, it was off to a good start! I had some decently blended colors!
At this point, I realized that pinks and purples are usually closer to the sun and lower on the horizon than blue, so I flipped my canvas around. I added more paint to blend, and I moved my brush in waves to give my paint a bit more texture. While trying to blend better, I ended up making two big, pink blobs, and I did my best to convert them into clouds.
I actually really liked how textured they were here! On the other hand, I didn't like how they were floating at the same height, because it made the painting look flatter. So I added a few more clouds to give the painting more depth. That was where I left off for the night.
In the morning, I did some touch-ups on the colors. I tried to fix shadows and thicken the acrylic because, in some spots, the paint was showing the canvas underneath it. It proved to be a bit problematic, and I spent a good chunk of time trying to make the blended colors and textures match up again. I managed to fix it eventually, though.
After that, I began to fill in the bottom space with a mixture of green and black. I wanted the colors to be dark so they would fit with the environment and not distract from the sky. I also intended to add some lighter leaves with bright green, but that didn't work out. I also tried to add pink carnations, but the paint was once again showing the colors underneath it, so I gave up and settled for making plain greenery. I meant for them to be bushes, but my brother thought they were hills and my boyfriend thought they were trees, and I thought a tree canopy sounded more interesting than bushes, so I went with that instead. I'm proud of how I shaded them, but it's difficult to capture with a camera. I think I need to add more contrasting paints next time.
I liked how the painting looked and I was about ready to throw in the towel, but it still looked too plain to me. I thought about adding the sun, since the theme is sunsets, but I didn't have white paint and I had no idea how to properly blend the sun into this scene. Instead, I settled for drawing stars with my white gel pens. I drew them in the bluish space because hypothetically, that's where it would be dark enough to see stars if you could see them during sunset. I also drew them in the style I'm used to seeing in space aesthetic drawings, if that makes any sense. Regardless, I liked the way they turned out. They looked very cute to me!
So there we have it! My sunset painting! I think it captured more of a twilight vibe than a sunset vibe, but that's the nature of art I suppose. It takes you places you don't expect to go! I had fun trying to figure out how acrylic works, and I liked that I used gel pens to turn this into somewhat mixed-media. While the piece isn't very realistic, it's pretty in its own way! Considering my past failures with paints, I'm surprised that this painting turned out so well. I hope to continue improving in the future, and maybe one day I'll understand how paintbrushes work XD
Thank you for reading to the end of this post! I hope you enjoyed it! If you thought it was interesting, perhaps check out the rest of the Project Media: Sunset collection released this month. Last week was a poem, the week before that was a photography mood board,
and next week will be a free crochet pattern! Also, consider checking out my future Project Media themes when they come out! :D
Have a splendiferous day!
- Jonalie <3
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