Splashing Around!

Sometimes you end up with a painting 
that surprises you, and hopefully
in a good way!
I'd taken a quick shot of some kids having 
fun in the water last summer, and it was the sunlit scene behind them that caught my eye - not so much the action going on in the foreground!
Looking for something to paint recently, I 
picked out this photo again and ended up
cropping out the background because I 
thought it was too busy.  I began to look again at the action of the boys, and I loved the way the little girl was so still and apart.

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I edited out some of the original figures and then 
masked the ones which I wanted in my painting.
Not knowing what to do with the background, I decided to let the paint decide!
I painted a big wet wash of prussian blue over the entire page and then, while it was still wet, dropped big blobs of clean water on top....
 A few drops of  alizaron crimson and cadmium yellow and let it dry.

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After removing the masking fluid I painted in the figures.
Finally, just tamed the background a little by glazing over
the background above the water line with crimson and
yellow to set it apart a little from the water.

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