Rainfall Passage

Rainfall Passage painting is a representation of the Surface of a Still Pond.

Rainfall Passage painting captures the surface of a quiet pond, lit by the soft glow of a rainy day, with foliage suspended both above and beneath the water. This is the kind of place where a troubled mind might rest — a calm, uninterrupted space to absorb the quiet beauty of nature. Rainfall Passage brings that stillness indoors, offering a place of retreat on the wall of a home.

MEDIUM: Digital Painting | STYLE: Painterly Realism | SIZES: 8×10 — 11×14 — 16×20 — Custom size may be available. CLICK HERE  to inquire. | ORIENTATION: Landscape | TOOLS: Procreate, 13″ iPad Pro, Apple Pencil Pro, Giclée Fine Art Archival paper and ink | AVAILABILITY: Prints available | CONTACT SHADOWMYST ART FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

ARTIST’S PROCESS:

Rainfall Passage was painted in Procreate on a 13″ iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil Pro. The process commenced with a detailed sketch layer that established the pond’s surface and the foliage above and below the water’s surface. Subsequently, color blocking was applied to the entire canvas as a base for the pond, which is the entire focus of this piece. Additional color blocking followed for each leaf in the water, on the surface, and in the live foliage and branches above the water’s surface. With the pond’s base layer in place, additional layers were created with several passes of watercolor wash using shades of blue, green, and white. Highlights in selected areas of the pond surface were placed to create depth, shadow, and light. Each layer was blended into the other.

CHALLENGE:

Rainfall Passage painting provided the challenge of creating the surface of a shallow pond with a dark surface reflecting the light of a cloudy day with a gentle rain.

Despite the cloudy day, bright light filtering through the foliage above creates a soft white sheen on the pond. This challenge was to achieve the desired surface effect.

The process began with a muted medium blue-green layer as the water base. Several layers were created above, each with different size and shape blotches of color. These were spread using the Procreate medium soft watercolor brush set at 50% opacity, with varying sizes following the intended pattern of color.

To create water color changes, the Procreate Smudge tool was set to soft airbrush at 65% opacity and 10-15% size. Certain blotches were spread in directions consistent with the planned water color changes, and the same intent was applied to the lighter layers representing the sky’s reflection.

Once the colors were satisfactory, the Procreate Gaussian Blur tool was used in varying levels to adjust each layer based on its impact on the overall group.

Additional layers were created to add leaf impressions beneath the water. The leaf shapes were painted on the layers per the sketch. Each layer was adjusted by moving the layer below one of the previously created water surface layers to give those leaves depth beneath the water, or the Gaussian Blur was used to soften and distort the leaf shape, giving them a distortion appearance through a semi-transparent medium. Several leaf layers received both treatments for variety.

Two additional characteristics were introduced to the pond surface on distinct layers. The first was the blurred and distorted shadows cast by the foliage above the water. Applied using the soft watercolor brush at 2-3% size and full opacity, followed by the Gaussian Blur tool at 5%, these shadows retained the form of the leaves and stems while being diffused by the water and light.

The second feature was stippling applied to sections where small raindrops reached the surface through the forest canopy. Three stippled layers, each with a different color pass (pale cream, green, purple-blue), were set to blend mode “overlay” to maintain the impression of solid raindrops while creating the illusion of softness and color reflections.

Finally, a watercolor wash was painted over and around the brightest reflection from the sky on the water’s surface. Multiple bright white passes with subtle hints of blue, green, or yellow were executed using the Procreate Soft Airbrush at 1% opacity and 5% size management, controlled by pressure.

SUBJECTS AND THEMES:

Pond Surface — Light Reflections on Water — Water Movement — Nature Study — CONTACT SHADOWMYST ART FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.