This series of musical instruments began years ago. The previous paintings were done in acrylic collage, which included saturated pigments and texture. I love the shapes and challenged myself to continue this series in watercolor.

I began with sketches and compositional designs, overlapping shapes and thinking about colors to use. I wanted to use a limited palette for unity and harmony in the design elements. Narrowing down pigments is difficult for me, as I usually have many pigments on my palette. I bought a tube of Dan Smith Lavender and wanted to experiment with it.

The basic shapes are the classical guitar and violin with a couple horns to repeat the curving lines of the broken strings. The design overlaps and creates nice abstract shapes, creating depth within the elements. Linear design of the sheet music blends with the instruments to create additional interest and movement within the painting. Colors were limited to blues, sienna, and naples yellow. Aquapasto was used to blend and lighten areas to contrast with the dark blues.