Central Park

I actually painted this painting twice. The first one I sold about a year ago. In this version I tried some new things.

First of all I did it on hot pressed paper. I usually work on cold pressed paper. Hot pressed paper is very smooth and does not absorb the paint as much. There are more back runs or blossoms and the paint dries faster. But it gives a smooth surface that I wanted to achieve for the ice cold water.

The next thing I did was limit my color pallette to only three colors, paynes grey, davy's grey and burnt umber to achieve the feeling of the cold temperature.

Over the last two weeks I taught my "Tricks" class in beginning watercolors. In this class I demonstrate different ways of creating textures and effects often with non-painting substances. For example after laying in a wash of color you sprinkle a little salt and little star shapes appear in the paint. It is always a fun class and people usually choose some tricks to enter into their repertoire of tools for painting.

In Central Park I have used three tricks. If you are one of the first two people who can guess what they are, I will give you a print of the painting. You need to write the three tricks used in the comments section below. You are not elligible if I have already told you the answer. This is for people in the continental United States only.

So good luck with this little contest and hope to hear from you soon.