Thursday, June 18, 2009

Whitewater rafting in Peru




Urubamba River Rafting
Watercolour, crayon and ink
©2009 Charlene Brown

This painting is based on a photo of a wonderfully calm stretch of the river. The waves are totally a product of my Masquepen-fueled imagination. But they did happen. Three times!

I used a surprising amount of masking fluid on my paintings of Peru. This one, where it was used to preserve the white in whitewater, and the painting of the Potato Farmers, in which masking was used to bring out backlighting effects, were painted since I returned from my trip. But the 30ml applicator bottle of Masquepen – that I didn’t know I had with me, but found in my painting purse – turned out to be just what I needed to paint the overlay design of the Incan cross and quipu, later used in the overlay painting I posted June 12.