Braided Stream



Braided Stream (c) 2011 Susan Bertke

 Here's the completed version of "Braided Stream." (If you look at my previous post, you'll see the underpainting.)

The background hills gave me the most grief in this painting. I vowed I was going to keep them a bit out of focus so the center of interest would stay in the foreground. But I went back to make "just a few corrections," and the next thing I knew I was painting individual branches on trees! So then I had to go back and paint over most of that detail. :-)

I'm happy with the texture I got in the foreground, especially all the gravel and stones. And the bark of the trees came out nice, too. The really tricky part was the water, or rather showing the mud and stones under the surface of the water.

The painting is done in acrylic on Arches 140-lb. watercolor paper, 14"x20".

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.