A Winter’s Fire

Every winter when the world goes dark,
All we need is a little spark.
From a fire burning steady hot,
I watch it from my favorite spot.

After making countless amounts of fires this winter, it continues to amaze me. There is just something so mesmerizing about a flickering flame. It’s effects relaxes me in a trance-like way. I’m no pyromaniac, but a pleasant controlled fire will probably always be something I’ll cherish.

Now a bit about the painting and the process; I started with some A4 watercolor paper. Hotpressed for a smoother result. In the beginning I chose to mainly focus on the firewood and the rocks around the bonfire. Slowly layer by layer, the piece was building up. It’s usually always hard at the start of a project, but it’s important to just trust the process.

The very first few layers.

As I proceed to add more and stronger colors, there is a lot to keep in mind; mixing of colors, the thickness of the paint, negative spaces, how the paint lightens when it dries, drying time, other methods for drying – a hairdryer, not over-working the paper and so much more.

Darkening the background.

If you want to work with watercolors you have to be prepared for a long and slow process. Not letting the different layers completely dry or throwing on too much color can completely ruin the painting. Of course a lot of mistakes can be saved with several helpful techniques, but avoiding them in the first place is always ideal.

The finished framed piece.

I added a larger black frame with some white space to enhance the artwork. The contrast between light and dark does a very good job at just that.

It was my first time proceeding to paint a fire. As much as a challenge that it was, I definitely also learnt a good amount of new things. Especially when it comes to creating something this dark in watercolors. Now I’m just looking forward to the next one!