Landscapes? Really?

I was talking to my art student teacher person about stuff, like movies.
I was telling her that I was really amazed by the consistency of cartoons- I had been watching a lot of Miyazaki recently (obviously...) and she cringed at the thought of the anime eyes (Which I don't think are that bad.)

She mentioned to me how beautiful the landscapes were, and I realized that I never really had payed much attention to them. I then went back and watched like... 3 movies. And EVERY scene is gorgeous! All of the backgrounds painted to be viewed as a backdrop for 2-10 seconds. But they were beautiful, and henceforth I was set on a new project: landscapes! and stuff...

My first idea was to recreate the submarine from Ponyo (it looks so beautiful in the movie) but I didn't have much success.

And... I really was too lazy to add any detail. It was a first attempt, and I didn't want to strain myself...

Then, I decided to try something with more visible detail (the submarine picture was low resolution and really difficult to copy.) I found a beautiful scene from Castle in the Sky (Laputa) and as I began painting, I noticed that every bush, flower, tree, lilypad, or pool was so detailed that I could not possibly recreate it on a 9x12 piece of watercolor paper. The originals are done on large canvases. But I tried (and spent an unreasonable amount of time on it.)

So here it is!

(Unfinished really. But I was exhausted and decided that a cloud and a big splotch green field would be okay.)

I am actually so happy with it. It's my new desktop background.

Now, for my lit class about Genesis, we have to have a creative final project. I was thinking a Miyazaki inspired Garden of Eden, but we'll see. This blog will definitely be the first to see what comes of this...