IMG_2134 Long Slide Falls

Long Slide Falls is an impressionistic watercolor begun as a demonstration of my techniques in painting during the 2025 Covered Bridge Studio Tour Event in Ozaukee County.  It is an ala prima approach, without any prior sketching, masking or other preparation.  The demonstration consisted of wetting the back and front of my 300lb. Arches hot press watercolor paper, then squeezing the excess water out of it by rolling it with a terry cloth towel roll, followed by a re-wetting of areas I applied my underpainting washes to, such as the sky, the banks of the falls and some of the colored fall foliage.  As the paper dried, I layered additional washes over the underpainting, creating the relationships inside of and between the areas, varying the techniques of brushwork on all of the edges.  This spontaneous approach is done quickly in order to block out the composition and value pattern of the entire scene from the start,  instead of a piecemeal section -by- section process.  I believe this encourages integration and harmony from the beginning as the water in the paper blends together the colors and shapes organically.

Long Slide Falls will be mounted and double matted in a custom frame, or bonded to a wood cradle, varnished and waxed, according to the preferences  of a patron. It is available through Alice Struck Watercolors or in the Holiday Art Fair at the Cedarburg Community Center on December 5,6 and 7 at W63N641 Washington Avenue.