There really is a story behind this one!
First of all, we did see an abandoned gate like this during a walk through Vila Nova de Gaia, in Portugal. At that moment I asked my husband to take a picture for me, if only to remember the scene but I never used that picture as a reference.
The memory of that gate remained and the plan to use the scene for a painting also kept lingering on the background of my to-do list.
A few days ago my daughter was talking to me and used the word 'gates' to explain something and all of a sudden I saw the picture I wanted to paint! Of course I made my apologies for not listening very well and got my sketchbook out and started composing my painting.
When I started doing that, I planned a charcoal drawing but as I continued sketching it 'became' a watercolour and while thinking over which colour scheme would be the best for this painting I decided on the Twilight colours.
I am still not as comfortable with that set of colours as I am with the others on my palette so this was also a nice exercise for me.
That scene keeps calling out to me, so I expect to paint more gates - with different colour schemes, maybe also a charcoal drawing and certainly with some variations compared to the first sketch I made.
More information about this watercolour (size, colours used, etc.) can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr
That kind of gate, sometimes it belongs to small graveyards.
ReplyDeleteThank you for you reply! We looked through the gate and there was no graveyard, just a lot of weeds. We think there once was a building that has been demolished.
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