Watercolor: Raining in Kyoto (and some life updates!)

Hey friends! I know I just up and disappeared from Steemit for awhile. My day job got really crazy busy (yay, more responsibilities! boo, no free time!) and I was suffering a terrible case of the dreaded art block, but I'm back now, and I even have some art to show you guys :0

I've said before that music is one of my biggest inspirations, and I will KEEP SAYING IT — this painting is inspired by the new album by my favorite band, The Wonder Years. The album is called Sister Cities, and I would highly recommend it, if you want to be EMO and SAD (in a good way. getting your emotions out is healthy). Their lyrics are some of the best I've ever heard, and I think this guy is one of my favorite singers. Honestly, I could write an entire blog about this band, but I'm gonna stop right there.

I unfortunately forgot to take process photos for this piece, but I'll talk a little about how I did it. Here's the reference I used — as this song references Kyoto, I tried to find a photo that had a sense of place.

The process went like this:

• Draw buildings
• [SCREAMING]
• Draw more buildings
• [EVEN LOUDER SCREAMING]

Okay, in all seriousness. The process was actually pretty standard, tape out the area, sketch, then build up washes until voilà, painting. What I did have to consider was that my reference photo was a nice sunny day and I wanted the opposite of that — raining so hard the streets are surreally flooded. So that's something with making the colors more grey and the atmosphere less clear. I'm not sure I quite achieved the rainy-day look, but I'm gonna ask my teacher about it the next time I go to class.

Oh yeah, I started a weekly watercolor class and it's amazing, and it's helped me push my boundaries and draw things I would have never drawn before. For example, cityscapes like this one. They're the bane of my existence because there are too many DETAILS and COLORS and holy shit PERSPECTIVE and I do NOT have the patience for any of that, but the teacher of this class is really motivational and it makes me want to improve, especially because I know I can get guidance and critique from some place other than like, watching Youtube videos and asking my mom how she likes my art.

I'm also doing portraits (may post a few later), which I've never managed before, and I'm trying to stop relying on heavy inking as a safety blanket to cover up my mistakes. I feel like I've been stuck in a rut with my painting for the past few months so all this has been really refreshing. Apparently stepping out of your comfort zone is the way to improve, folks! Who knew!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this, there will definitely be more to come!

(AND LISTEN TO THE WONDER YEARS THEY ARE ★★★★★)