Window at Montego Bay

"Window at Montego Bay"
Watercolor and Gouache

Sometimes I need the inspiration of others as a jumping off point to my own creativity. A good creative writing friend of mine just got back from Montego Bay. Originally, he was supposed to go to Amsterdam, but a certain volcano got in the way of his plans. But he settled for Jamaica (not a bad second choice) and took some wonderful photos. He was kind enough to share a few with me and the window photo just blew me away.
Initially, I got out my watercolors and started painting onto a long strip of paper. The vertical dimension seemed to suit the window just fine. I noticed in the photo some interesting touches of white and decided to add some white gouache to mimic that effect on the image above. I also experimented with some other gouache colors, liking their opaque effect. It's a little darker and more colorful than the original photo, but that's okay. I could only follow where my brush was leading me.

I had fun experimenting with the two mediums. And I've always been attracted to doors and windows anyway. I've been tapping into my inner self lately, opening up some entrances that have been hiding, dusty with disuse. So there's much personal symbolism going on too!

Have a wonderful happy, creative day!