Today was my 8^th painting lesson. We learned how to paint in the traditional Chinese style. This is a painting based on an image with was originally painted hundreds of years ago. It’s now located in Taiwan. We looked at a calendar that showed the image. It was a very large painting with a bunch of apples on the branches and a bird on one branch. We each painted what portion we were drawn to. I liked the bit with all the overlapping leaves and 2 apples. We figured out how to mix the colors so the undersides of the leaves are lighter than the tops of the leaves that face the sky. It was a good challenge. She taught us to use indigo to do an underpainting to create the shadows/tones in the painting, then we did the greens on top of that once the underpainting was dry. It worked really well. I noticed that the painting really came to life when I increased the contrast between the darkest and lightest greens. I’m pleased with how it came out. But it doesn’t feel much like me. I also did this painting on the professional watercolor paper. I need to practice on this paper because the way the water interacts with the paper is very different than what I’m used to. I do like the paper. I just need time to learn to use it well.

Here’s the painting of the apples on the branch and the leaves.