I have the opposite of writer’s block. I’ve been doing one painting after another. I experiment with merging of different pigments and try to vary the strokes of my brush to effect different designs.

I don’t remember the precise order of events for the painting below except for the beginning check-mark of a brush loaded with purple. I added cadmium red and sat back to watch the interface between the two pigments bloom.

I drew a pthalo/Prussian blue orb at the bottom right and sponged out the middle to leave a hollow outline. I had the idea of creating a face, but I couldn’t quite see how to integrate it with the rest of the painting.

A few more zigs and zags of purple and cadmium red to outline them did not achieve the balance I wanted, so I used terra rosa in the upper left corner to mirror the blue orb at the lower right. A few brush strokes of dark pigment to emphasize the angled brush marks, and I was done.

Abstract 112316
16″x12″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block

I line the range of tonal values in this painting and the rhythm of the brush strokes. There is dynamic motion in this piece.