From the cutting room floor...

So, I needed to create a dozen small, 5 inch x 5 inch original watercolors as gifts for an upcoming event.  I decided to do some VERY rough layouts from my sketchbook images to find a sketch that might work well in such a small format.  The first test run was based a sketch I'd made of a temple in Cambodia in 2006.

It's a fun image, and the color adds a lot of energy, but looked a little flat to me.  Also, I wanted to use the red "chop" of my name that I bought in China in the corner, but as you can see it didn't work very well on rough watercolor paper.  So, I tried a pelican's eye view of the top of the bell tower at LSU, looking out to the Mississippi River and the horizon beyond:

Again, a fun image even in this rough version, but that one didn't do it for me either.  Next I tried using a sketch of Brandenburg Gate from a trip to Berlin in 2008.  Not that everyone needs a sketch of this icon, but I thought the strong composition and exaggerated perspective made for something more visually interesting than the first two:

This one showed potential!  I decided to use it as the basis for the dozen little watercolors.  Check back in tomorrow to see how the "finished" version turned out.