Ladies in Waiting

"Lady in Waiting"--four drafts
8X10"
Pen, ink, and watercolor

My husband and I went out to a little shopping area near our town recently. It is a beautiful place that is full of inspiration for paintings and drawings. We didn't realize, however, that a huge festival taking place there during the very weekend we decided to go.

The place was packed, and there were so many people milling about that I couldn't even find a spot to sit and sketch. As we were walking around, though, a woman sitting on a bench caught my eye. She had a parasol and the way she was seated created an interesting shape in my mind. So when I got home, I drew a pen-and-ink sketch of what I could remember. Then I added a tree and added some decoration to her parasol. I wanted to add some watercolor, but I wasn't sure which colors to use.

Thank goodness for the marvels of modern technology. I made some copies of the sketch onto recycled paper, so I could experiment with some color combinations before I made the final painting. Above are the four ideas I came up with--it was so much fun! #1 was actually the last one I painted, but I think it comes from another painting idea of mine. #3 was interesting and left me with a lot of green paint, so I splashed the extra paint onto #2. I was going to come back and add more to #2, but I liked the minimalist effect of the color. #4 came from just trying something different. I have my favorites, and I think I know what I'm going to do now. But it might be interesting to see if anyone else has an opinion first.