I like to experiment using different styles when creating images: oil paints, pastels, chalk, pencil sketch. But the most elusive style, the holy grail that continues to elude me, is water color painting. Sometimes I feel like I’m getting closer, while at other times it seems like I’m no closer than when I began my quest.

Every now and then I’ll make another run at trying to recreate the translucent colors and free flowing shapes of a water color painting. This year I focused my efforts on the collection I’m calling Rock and Sky, combining scenes from Arizona, Colorado, and Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park.

Sections of some of the images in this collection start to approach my vision. The challenges I still need to overcome are my tendency to include too much detail, too much digital paint (not enough white space), and colors that aren’t translucent enough. For example, in the image included with this post, I like what’s happening with the clouds, but I not really happy with the sky overall. Likewise, the mountains and rock formations have too much structure and detail, as does the foreground. Although I like the overall image, it didn’t really achieve the goal of looking like a water color.

Every time I try, I learn a little more, although at times it seems like one step forward and two back. No doubt I’ll try again next year. I already have some ideas for new methods that might bring me closer to my goal.