Damariscotta, watercolor and gouache, 5 x 8" (13 x 20 cm)

The Baptist church rises above one end of Main Street in Damariscotta. A scene like this presents far more detail than is possible to capture in a couple of hours, so I try to focus on conveying the overall impression. I group the areas of tone into: 1. a light, warm sky; 2. a light, cool street; and 3. a relatively dark central area of the trees, poles and building fronts. Once that foundation is established, I can freely improvise strokes in perspective to suggest more detail than I’m actually delineating. I’m using raw sienna, terra rosa, peacock blue, Rowney blue, titanium white and a touch of cadmium red.