This week I have been exploring the awe-inspiring landscape of Alaska through art and on day one, I started my adventure at Juneau.
Juneau is the capital of Alaska and is situated in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle.
The traditional custodians of Southeast Alaska are the Tlingit ( pronounced ‘clink-it’), Haida (‘high-da’), and Tsimshian (‘sim-shee-an’). Researchers believe that these groups have occupied the region for more than 10,000 years. I pay respect to these custodians.
Tourists are often attracted to serene natural places, such as Auke Lake, as well as Mendenhall Glacier. It is also a wonderful place to observe wildlife, such as the otter.
Painting Douglas Island
On this first day of my adventure, I had only a short amount of time to create.
For this session, I utilised the beautiful photo taken at Douglas Island by Kayti Coonjohn in 2019.
The intention of my session was just to chill out, and practice. It wasn’t to create a perfect masterpiece, but instead attempt to capture the essence of the landscape. Playing just like this is so important in the creative process for many reasons. For example, it helps you work out potential problems and this avoids frustration and disappointment later when you start to create a final illustration.
I painted a small landscape on Fabriano 300gsm watercolour paper and used Windsor & Newtons Prussian Blue, Indian Red, Sepia, Hooker’s Light Green, Cerulean Blue and Purple Lake.
If you have any questions about my adventure at Juneau, please drop them in the comment section below.
Meanwhile, Ancient Explorers, if you would like to learn and play with watercolours, don’t forget that I am offering a free online class next Monday. The details are in our Facebook Events page
Image by Kayti Coonjohn on Unsplash
