The Watercolor Paintings of Don Gore

church, originally uploaded by dgdraws.

If you haven't seen the work of artist (and fellow Missourian) Don Gore, I would like to introduce you to his exceptional watercolor paintings. I found Don on Flickr (he and I are Contacts), and I was amazed as I first poked around and perused his Flickr photostream. The two major themes of Don's work that really stand out to me are his crisp landscapes of churches and one-room schoolhouses, and his photorealistic renderings of architectural detail.

Churches and One-room Schoolhouses
Don renders these buildings simply, depicting them in the gleaming beauty of strong midday light. The crisp detailed lines and shadows are juxtaposed with simplified renderings of distant and and foreground trees. I love Don's palette (probably because he seems to use many of the same pigments I use in my own landscapes) and his liberal application of what looks to be gamboge and ultramarine blue. I also really like how Don renders the trees; they look to be done wet-in-wet with, again, touches of gamboge and ultramarine for highlights and shadows.



Photorealistic Architectural Details
Don achieves in watercolor what some believe only possible in oil or acrylic: exceptional detail and photorealism without looking tight and overworked. Painting convincing detail in watercolor is a challenge, and Don pulls it off beautifully, achieving an easy professional look. I've included an example here, which speak volumes; need I say more? (1 picture = 1k words).

After you've picked your jaw up off the floor, be sure to check out Don's renderings of his Manhattan cityscapes, along with some great sketches on Don's Flickr photostream.

Don is represented by Primary Colors Gallery.