Today’s watercolor experiment: My two previous foray’s into earth-tone paintings were a bit drab and monotonous; I’m not even going to provide links to them. If you really want to see them they both were posted within the past couple of days. Today, I started with my usual soaked paper and laid down some of the […]
Today was a busy day. But, I planned for that. It so happens that I was looking through some of my old sketch books in the garage, in a renewed attempt to straighten up. I am not even up to the point of de-cluttering, having back-slid since my first attempt in what seems like years. In […]
For the past couple of days I have been trying to emulate paintings that contain atmospheric conditions such as clouds (Copy) and fire (Orange Sky, Fire- Final). The key to these pictures is, at least in part, formlessness. It makes sense. In drawing or painting clouds, one must somehow define its boundaries. This is difficult to […]
Today’s watercolor experiment: I was very happy with yesterday’s experiment, thanks to inspiration by Maurice Sapiro’s Flash Point. So happy in fact, that I tried again today. Repetition When I become interested in something, or inspired, I tend to obsess. Perhaps this trait developed when I was a child learning to play the violin. Practice, practice, […]
I was very impressed by Maurice Sapiro’s latest work called Flash Point. It is a wonderful Turneresque scene. I’ve often wondered how Turner created his color transitions to infuse his work with such drama. Sapiro also suffuses his painting with atmosphere. Today’s watercolor experiment: Although Flash Point and many of Turner’s works are oil on canvas, I […]
Today’s watercolor experiment: I began painting today with a number 20 round brush loaded with ultramarine blue. I drew a freehand arc that didn’t quite soak in. I never understood the term ‘dry brush’ until now. It doesn’t mean ‘dry’ as in, absence of water, it means relatively dry. The brush is not so wet with […]
Sometimes the process is more important than the results. I was down to my last sheet of paper on my watercolor block. For those of you who have never used watercolor blocks before, they are really useful. All four sides of a pad of paper are attached to the ones below it, except for one place […]
Today’s watercolor experiment: As in yesterday’s experiment, my approach to today’s painting was exploring the use of my new brush. It is a 3/4″ oval wash brush. I really like it. Whereas yesterday I used it to create a facial profile on completely soaked paper, today I created a couple of contours on dry paper. […]
I am more aware of how I think when I paint these days. For yesterday’s experiment, I began with a premise as a starting point. Months ago I used a different method: I would randomly brush or splatter paint or latex resist, sit back and wonder what to do next with what I saw on the paper. Today’s […]
I want to be a better writer. I dusted of some of the writing books I bought years ago and reacquainted myself with the basics. The first one I looked at was Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. Even though the book is 30 years old, the advice is still fresh. She recommends that the […]
