Today I started working with blue pigments. I’ve always liked Prussian blue. It is a bit on the green side, and it stains – at least it stays on my brushes forever. I began with my backward ‘S’. I was hoping for a bit of a dry-brush look, but my brush was too wet. I […]
As with yesterday’s painting, I also made today’s painting a day before the US election. Its colors are on the red end of the spectrum. I suspect that most of my paintings in the foreseeable future will be more toward the cooler blue end. Not for any political reasons, but rather to portray the emotional imbalance I feel. I […]
I painted this (and named it) before the election. At this point, I don’t know the final outcome, but the fact that the race is so close just breaks my heart, not to mention the unimaginable prospects for the future.
I began with French ultramarine, one of the pigments I used in yesterday’s composition. Ultimately, these two brushstrokes were overlaid with ultramarine violet, another grainy pigment, and relegated to minor figures at the center-left of the study. I painted the upper part of the paper with ultramarine violet and, after drying, rewet the area with red iron […]
I used some of the same colors that I used yesterday: terra rosa, transparent red and yellow iron oxides. lemon yellow and cadmium red light. I added French ultramarine blue to the composition. One reason I like this particular blue, is its tendency to settle down into the valleys established by the grain of the […]
Today I worked with the pigment terra rosa again. I love this color and how smoothly it applies to the paper. It comes from M. Graham, a company which uses honey as one of the ingredients in its watercolors. Maybe that explains its texture. When I plan a composition, I like to think about how I […]
I painted my desk again. Rather, I re-painted a picture of the array of brushes, paint dishes, plastic and ceramic palettes and boxes on my desk, that I painted yesterday. Today’s design is more simple. I outlined the shapes of the ceramic bowls, boxes and other containers. I haven’t broken up the space in any […]
Now and then I run out of ideas or subjects to paint. When that happens, I look to my environment for interesting designs. Today was one of those days. I looked around the studio for a situation to render. All I saw was a mess, which is what I painted. I did not take pains to […]
When I was a teenager, or maybe it was when I had my first crisis of identity, my father shared one of his metaphors for life. “Life is a tight rope,” he said. I think he was trying to make me feel better by telling me about the first time he slipped off. At this time […]
Before I introduce today’s watercolor, I must comment on yesterday’s. The title of yesterday’s study is ‘Reverting’. I thought that my child-like scrawling of a cat was a trip down fantasy lane to childhood (unclear if it was mine). I joked that the book I was reading, Psychoanalytic Explorations in Art, might explain repressed memories. Boy is […]
