Congressional Art Competition 2021

Mark Wanek
Radiant Royalty

Hi! My name is Mark Wanek, and I am a junior in high school. I am currently enrolled in Ceramics and Mixed Media as well as Drawing and Painting. Throughout these classes, I have created a decent amount of artwork. The piece that I am submitting for this contest is one of my favorites. Right as the pandemic was starting, I traveled to Germany and Austria. On the trip, I visited an awesome castle outside of Vienna. I wanted to recreate the castle using watercolor. I focused on the tower and included the other walls and rooms that are attached. I used a variety of colors to accurately recreate the picture thatI took on my trip. I enjoyed recreating the bricks that make up the walls of the castle. That technique involved layering paint and using small brushstrokes to create the bricks. Throughout the piece, I tried to create different textures by using a multitude of colors, thinner and thicker lines, and applying paint over a span of about a week to darken certain parts.