When you mimic a style...

Today, I decided to attempt to paint a mechanical subject, for two reasons: One, I liked the reference photo and thought it would be a fun experiment, and two, I wanted to try to do it the way Marc Holmes does his scooter demo.

He starts out by outlining certain areas with his brush, just to get their basic shapes, and then immediately goes in and paints those shapes; but he doesn't slather in the paint, he really watches out for the tiny highlights and edges and leaves those to shine. Watching it come together from nothing is a real experience in seeing a particular method in action. Here is an example, from paint sketch to finished object:

SCOOTER DEMO BY MARC TARO HOLMES

And here it is, with a background:

So first of all,  I picked a subject that was larger and more complicated; second, I quit looking at small shapes and also forgot halfway through to adhere to the "leave light" rule; and third, I put in a matt background, which doesn't work at all with this kind of painting! Also, the tractor got away from me and grew about a foot too long, meaning that the most important part—the dumper—was mostly off the page! (Hint: When your paper is square and your subject is a rectangle...um...duh?)

So...this is one of those paintings where you have to go in and pick out the few spots where you were happy with it, memorize those, and try again later. I felt like I captured Marc's method briefly with the roof and the seat and the figure; but then I lost the round shape of the tire while focusing on all the tiny shapes, and after that it became a whole lot of unrelieved red that should have been broken up much more definitively (and shortened in the body, as previously noted). I managed to sneak in a bit of the dumper, but a lot of that was lost to miscalculation. And the background? Nope.

But...having spent more than two hours on it, I'm posting it anyway!

DAY 11: TRISTE'S TRACTOR

#30x30DirectWatercolor2019.