Today’s watercolor experiment:

Today, I continued working on my splatter and rivulet technique. I call it ‘splat and drip’. My kidney stone recovery still provides the baseline for my inspiration, as I am not nearly at 100%. Another doctor visit is to come before I know the exact percentage.

I began today with my 1″ flat brush, laying in some brickwork with burnt sienna.  I had a memory in the back of my mind of a mysterious outdoor structure I saw once in Antwerp. I peeked behind what looked like the entrance and just saw a wall. It didn’t take me long to figure out the purpose of that wall. I was impressed and delighted (my mindset being what it was at the time).

I drew the first ‘splat’ in today’s composition, with india ink, intending to color it on the yellow side, to contrast with the brick color.

I added other colors (permanent mauve and cobalt turquoise) to a less-than-saturated paper and added water to cause them to drip.

After drying I outlined the star splats with permanent mauve for contrast and more burnt sienna and burnt umber to restore the overall brownish look to the composition.

My final touch was to outline some of the bricks and the splats with neutral tint.

Comment:

I do like the patina that the turquoise suggests. The blackish outlines add to the lower end of the tonal range, maintaining the overall balance.

Even though I didn’t stay too long in that structure in Antwerp, today’s composition augments my memory of that snippet of my adolescence in adulthood.