Watercolour, 1997.

From a photo in an old National Geographic magazine.

The ruggedness of the rock face caught my attention in the original photograph. Capturing that ruggedness requires a great attention to detail, which is not always easy with watercolour, since the wet medium tends to diffuse sharp details. Further, it is difficult to get the dynamic range of light and dark because of the medium's inherent transparency and the fact that, what initially appears dark dries as a lighter tone.

Ultimately, this work fell short of what I had visualized in my mind. Had I tried several more attempts at this subject, I would probably have come closer to my intention, but I don't like to repeat a subject since my interest in it is usually exhausted in the one attempt.