Feeling motivated by the research point on landscape depictions, I decided to make a second version of the Cuban landscape. I wanted to improve the colours and the shapes. Again I was undecided between trying the same approach again, or applying a more experimental technique. I chose the standard way again because I thought that’s what I wanted to improve.

Midway through the painting I found that I had produced an almost identical version, some aspects better, some less successful than the first, and I asked myself what would have been the reason for painting a second version if there was no real step forward in what I did.

I took a step back, compared the actual painting to the first one and looked at my photo source, and tried to identify what made these paintings weak and how I might improve.

One problem was again the colours, which had become dark and muddy not by mixing, but by my choice of hue. Another problem was that I generally wasn’t very close to depicting the shapes I saw, rather trying to create a rough resemblance. This did not work very well.

So I first reworked the sky and this time tried to paint the actual white cloud contour on the right top using a fairly intense sky blue. This looked much better than before. I then mixed a very yellowish green and went over the agave plants. This considerably improved the overall impression and also made the plants appear closer. Then I reworked the foreground by adding more darker colours, which increased the contrasts and made the lighter colours come out better.

At that point I found that the paper would not permit more overworking and decided to stop. I’m looking at this painting with mixed feelings. I know I made some tiny bits of progress, although the overall image is still much too dull and muddy in colours for my taste.

   Version 1 (left), Version 2 (right) of the Cuban landscape

The dull colours may have to do with the photo source I used, which depicts the landscape on a slightly foggy day and the colours are indeed subdued. I worked from the computer screen and depending on the angle of the screen, the photo appeared lighter or quite dark. Interestingly, the dark version had much more appeal to me because the plant shapes against the sky came out much more clearly and in greater light-dark-contrast.

So one idea would be to make another version of the landscape, based on the much darker view on the screen. This might help me focus on the shapes and would also change the entire colour selection. And of course the other idea is to proceed to the more experimental technique which I had in mind, with oil pastels and maybe collage or stencils for the stone fence.

Third version of the Cuban landscape

I set out to make a more experimental version, using oil pastels… but then, while planning the painting, changed my mind and decided to go for watercolours again. I chose a slightly larger format this time, 45 x 61 cm. I wanted to achieve better colours and contrasts. After painting a while, I realized that I was simply repeating what I had tried already, and then came a shift to a somewhat looser approach. The problem was mainly that I got stuck with the same old detail problems again, which I then threw over board in favour of painting “wrong things in the wrong colour, much too quickly”. But somehow I like the resulting painting. It’s less overworked than the earlier versions.

On the one hand, it might seem repetitive to do multiple versions of the same photo, but on the other, I actually felt this is beneficial for me because I get to the point where I consciously try out different approaches and techniques.