I thought it would be fun to paint a snail. I found the photo on Paint My Photo. I like the colors and design of the photo and then tried to paint it. The watercolor was more challenging then I thougt it would be. The leaf really gave me grief. Part of the leaf I really like and couldn't get the other part to look right, so after a number of trials this is what you get. The snail was interesting too. The original photo the snail was flatter, but my drawing made it more

I painted the painting on the right first. I got the idea from my niece who took this picture while in her cabin in Northern Wisconsin. I liked the picture and asked to paint it, so I did. I used Winsor and Newton paints and Canson 140 pound watercolor paper. The first thing I did was mask the paper in the lightest areas of the water then I would paint the trees etc first prior to removing the mask. Since the paper is only fair quality, when the mask was removed it rippe

Overall I like this painting. The colors are dramatic and the waterfall is nice. The building is OK, but a little lopsided and the mill wheel is too small. I still have trouble with leaves. I tried a difference technique this time by painting yellow first and adding blues and greens to it. The colores still got too dark, so then I try to lift color.