Oneword illustration: Balloon

This was my final project in Color Theory class. The assignment was to portray the illusions of space, transparency, and "color transformation." From a color theory standpoint, the darker green I used in the shadows wasn't actually dark enough- it needed to match the value of the darker purple in order to make the transformation of the shadows occur. The black trim of the butterfly wings should have gotten lighter as they receded in space, and I was told that the forest floor should have also done something as it got further back, but I forget what. Also, the trees were supposed to be approaching the value of the background as they got farther, but adding yellow to them really just ended up making them pinker instead of yellower.

This was done in gouache, on a large sheet of watercolor paper. I don't remember the exact measurements, but it was too large for the scanner, so that's why the borders aren't exactly spot-on: I couldn't get directly above the piece to photograph it properly.

In case the title didn't make it clear, this piece is an illustration of my Oneword prompt, Balloon. [link]
(Maybe I should have re-read it before painting; I got the dead leaves and the twenty feet outside the clearing wrong)