Category: Watercolors
This watercolor was inspired by the lighting inside a church in Venice, Italy. All the colors stem from beams of colored light that were shining through a round stained glass window and setting the tiled floor aglow.
Santorini, Greece is one of my most favorite places in the entire world. In fact, every time I leave the Greek Islands, I immediately want to come right back. It was difficult to capture the impossible beauty of this volcanic island in the Cyclades. In fact, this quick study really doesn’t do it justice. I’ll have to circle back around to this subject in the near future—my mind is brimming with blue and white island scenes already.
One of the most striking things about Patagonia are the vibrant contrasts of colors out in the middle of nowhere. In a sea of golden grasses with nothing as far as the eye can see, you’ll suddenly come across a bright turquoise body of water. This is inevitable in Patagonia. And I must mention how blue the sky is down there, it’s blinding blue and often filled with huge fluffy clouds. With such a restrained color palate, you are always caught off guard when the landscape suddenly explodes into color.
Parque Nacional Los Glaciares is stunning. This enormous park is filled with glaciers, mountain peaks that hug the clouds, and short trees with scraggly branches. I loved how the landscape tended to change dramatically: one minute you would be hiking along a cliff overlooking a river, the next you’d be immersed deep in a bright green forest. Further along would be a beach with windswept trees, then a plateau, then a corridor of funny little trees peppered with wildflowers and adorned with bulbous bunches of hairy fluorescent green moss balls (a form of mistletoe). I can’t begin to describe how incredibly wonderful the landscapes are in Patagonia.
This watercolor was done at a mirador viewpoint overlooking the Fitz Roy mountain range. Glaciers tumbled down from between the peaks and an endless expanse of short scraggly trees stretched out toward the mountains.
“Il Due”
by Gayle Wheatley
Watercolor on Paper
5 x 8 inches
“Varenna Sunset”
by Gayle Wheatley
Watercolor on Paper
5 x 8 inches
This piece was painted on location in Varenna, Italy. My hotel room had a balcony that opened right onto Lake Como, with spectacular views over the water! This watercolor was inspired by the subtle ways the light danced across the water at sunset.
Prints, cards, and more featuring this piece are available in my online store!
“Sottosopra”
by Gayle Wheatley
Watercolor on Paper
5 x 8 inches
Another desert watercolor featuring Zabriskie Point near Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park.
“Lemon Twilight”
by Gayle Wheatley
Watercolor on Paper
2012
Finally made it to Death Valley National Park. What a magical place! There is something irresistibly inspirational about the desert. Maybe it’s the way the mountain tops burn pink at sunset or the way the desert palette appears refined one minute then comes alive bursting with color the next.
Amazing.
“Artists Drive”
by Gayle Wheatley
Watercolor on Paper
2012
“Lotus Petals”
by Gayle Wheatley
Watercolor on Paper
12 x 9 inches
