Rolling Hills
Rolling Hills Collection / Yao Cheng Design
My Rolling Hills collection has been roaming around in my head for years now…It first planted its seed when I was gathering visual references for my Creativebug Intermediate watercolor class. There was one image where I fell madly in love with its seemingly endless rolling hills of prairies and pastures. From there, I’ve come back to these verdant hills-like imagery again and again. Each time, I’ve created a different version of this same idea.
Intermediate Watercolor / Creativebug
istock / Creativebug / Yao Cheng Design
For my Creativebug class, I was teaching a simple way to paint landscapes. This visual reference charmed me with its complexity of textures and shapes, all within a monochromatic color scheme! The curves and bends felt so dynamic, and I also loved that the greens faded in saturation as it receded into the background. I’ve often thought back to this image when I sit down to create a new scenic painting…
Wither Hills / Yao Cheng Design
Green Rolling Hills was an early approach to green hillsides. The focus here was on the undulating curves of the hills. Playing with this idea was also the usage of painted white with masking fluid.
Interestingly, this artwork has since been reinterpreted as a wine bottle branding for Wither Hills in New Zealand. Read more about this wine label project here!
Landscape of Grass No. 1 brings together the greenery with the playful strokes in Green Rolling Hills. I am always trying to demonstrate movement in my work, and this is a painting where I really tried to highlight that. Here, the strokes represent the blades of grass swaying in a gentle wind. This is also an example of how Van Gogh influences a lot of my work!
Beach No. 1 was also an important inspiration that preceded Rolling Hills. It was in that Waves collection that I first figured out a process to create this layering effect. There, I figured out a successful way for me to portray movement, whether with water or with hillsides!
Blue and Green Field and Sky
Here, I was exploring the undulating hills in a more abstract way. Also an early curiosity with layering.
Rolling Hills No. 1 / Yao Cheng Design
Rolling Hills No. 1:
One of the first successful, finished paintings in the Hills Collection. In this painting, my approach built upon those earlier attempts, but now it also needed to feel both abstract and scenic.
I love the challenge of combining two opposite ideas. Watching them collide and form something new is endlessly fascinating!
Here, I wanted the hills to be abstract to accentuate the billowing hills. In tandem, I wanted the painting to be recognizable so that it could remind you of a familiar place and memory. For me, this painting reminds me of both my beloved trips to Tuscany and photographs that I’ve coveted of Ireland’s grasslands.
“By being both abstract and scenic, a painting will mean something special to each of us.”
But to achieve a painting that encapsulates all of this was challenging. And if you were in the studio while I was creating this collection, you would have seen me zipping back and forth between 10 or so paintings. This was necessary as some of the layers would work but rarely all at once. What you see in this collection are only about 10% of what was painted.
Rolling Hills No. 1 / In Progress / Yao Cheng
Rolling Hills Set 1 / Yao Cheng Design
Rolling Hills No. 4:
After Rolling Hills No. 1, I wanted to create a companion piece that would deliver a continuation of the billowing hills. This painting was intentionally painted to have a daytime sky (versus a sunrise sky in Hills No. 1) so that when viewed together, they reveal different moments of the day.
On its’ own, Rolling Hills No. 4 is just as intricate in its countless hilly mounds as it recedes into the blue. This was a direct inspiration from that early visual from my Creativebug class. I wanted to push my ability with watercolor to see how translucent I could paint the layers to really have that effect of fading until it almost entirely disappears.
The trickiest part with every piece in this collection was layering on the very last hills towards the bottom. By then, the watercolor paper has been through many coverings of wet and dry. So I have to be very intentional and precise about where and how much color to lay down. There is no margin for hesitation or error, so what is seen at the bottom is like the period at the end of a sentence.
Tuscan Sunset / Yao Cheng Design
tuscan sunset:
This painting was actually just a sketch in the midst of bringing this collection to life! But I loved the warm violet undertones of a sunset scene and the simplicity of this artwork. In recalling my own memories of walking through Florence in Italy, the golden light that colors the whole city at sunset is something that I see when I look at this artwork.
Tuscan Sunset / In Progress / Yao Cheng
Mist Range / Yao Cheng Design
mist range:
For this painting, I was thinking back again to my Waves collection, specifically of Ocean No. 3. I loved the indigo tones that dramatically shifts from the lightest to the darkest of blues. I brought that same element into Mist Range, but with sharper shapes to illustrate the angular nature of mountain ranges.
“While creating this, this would be the view for someone who had just hiked to the top and was now in awe of what lies beyond in the horizon.”
For me, this painting takes me back to the poetic mountains of China, but also reminds me of the Adirondack mountains in New York. The memories of hiking Yellow Mountain in China brought the element of thick mist, and the Adirondack mountains inspired the feeling of endless mountaintops.
I wonder what this reminds you of?
Forest in Indigo
Similar to Mist Range, this painting was a previous attempt to capture mist and mountain ranges.
Rolling Hills Pair 2 / Yao Cheng Design
Rolling Hills pair 2:
Similar to Rolling Hills Pair 1, this set also provides an expansive view of green pastures. The difference is that it’s a bit simpler and therefore more straightforward. Their unapologetic color hues speak to the depth of my fascination with nature and its beauty. I wanted these 2 prints to convey the livelihood of our environment and countryside.
Pair them together to create a horizontal framing layout or purchase them as standalone splendors!
Rolling Hills Collection / Yao Cheng Design
