First thoughts on patterns were patterns in nature, such as snowflakes, basalt rocks, fields as seen from the air, kaleidoscopes. Nope . . . didn’t feel right.
And then it hit me – sewing patterns. My studio is used for painting, photography, and sewing for the most part. All my sewing stuff is in another room or scattered into another dimension as we finish the repairs from a water leak.
Thus, for #WorldWatercolorMonth2019, patterns of a different sort.
Where I live, a building is a house surrounded by the rest of suburbia. I don’t live in a city. I don’t live in the country. Sometimes I wish I could transport myself to someplace so very different than where I live now. That said, one can travel in one’s imagination, and that is what I have chosen to do here – a street in the early evening somewhere in a gracious part of an old city.
While this is not a perfect painting, I did have some goals in mind while painting “buildings” for the #WorldWatercolorMonth2019 prompt. One was to really work on perspective. It’s pretty well nailed here. Another was negative painting – keep some paper white. Here, the chimneys up in the sun. I wanted details to show perspective – the closer to the viewer, the more details, as can be seen the closer to the right the buildings become. A lack of detail to show there is distance. Finally, I wanted to use light glazes to designate where the sun is on the upper buildings, and not on the lower part. Here, light quinacridone gold on top, light cobalt on the bottom. I rather like the way the street is striped in shades from dark to light, but as to whether it is realistic is not a question I care to answer. In general, I think the sketchy elements of the watercolor work well with the colors and lines to convey feeling and mood.
For “buildings” I knew I wanted a loose, light painting. This one is on a small sheet of paper, and I expect the final image is about 6×8 inches (could measure, don’t feel like it!). I used both small and large brushes, a bit of imagination, a bi of memory of previous reads on perspective. I found the most interesting thing I did was to do the sky last! I really think it works well with most o the painting.
Later!
During Days 13 – 19 of #WorldWatercolorMonth2019, I got really busy! So with no further ado, paintings.
13. Glassy
I wanted to catch the reflections of the clouds in the smooth water of the lake. Not sure if it worked – the photo showed perfect sky-clouds in the foreground.
14. Furry Things
When I was a kid, furry caterpillars were our friends. Cats, too. Furry enough for all.
This kitten is from a YouTube study / practice by Maria Raczynska that I followed. It was a lot of fun!
15. Monochromatic
In the heat of summer, it seemed a monochromatic scene had to be a cold winter’s day in the mountains.
16. Relaxing
I thought a lot about this prompt. Many things came to mind that I enjoy, but I realized that the beach, in all forms of weather, is one of my favorite places to relax. Not being especially good at blending sand colors, I referred to a book by Geoff Kersey called Watercolour Seascapes. His book is a series of studies that demonstrate specific watercolor techniques and employ a limited palette. The first painting is from the study I did from his book and the rest are varied places. The last painting is one I did from a photo I took several years ago of a beach here on the Central Coast of California, either Refugio or El Capitan beach. Smooth sand and sunny days or a rocky shore and a cold, rainy day – both great ways to relax along the seaside.
17. Music
Balalaika and Blue Tit.
18. Clouds
California is an endless blue sky at times. Other times, the high clouds of the rainy season and the sun are blocked by low-lying coastal fog. When the two compete, the sky is endlessly changing and fascinating.
19. Splashes of Color
As we move through #WorldWatercolorMonth2019, I am alternating watercolor with gouache. Both need different techniques. Gouache, being opaque, opens a new world as layers of paint can be built up and one color can be covered by another whether it is light or dark. Mistakes can be hidden! Watercolor requires more forethought and has more happy – and unhappy! – accidents. Here, the opacity of gouache allows for splashes of color and a more impasto and impressionistic use of paint.
World Watercolor Month 2019 is proving to be very rewarding. I am focused on painting, which is one of my retirement goals. Learning and developing my skills and knowledge of water media is expanding, and though I produce a lot of dreck, I see improvement in many ways. To me, the biggest one is that I am beginning to anticipate my approaches to varied areas of a painting, thinking ahead as to how I can accomplish what I want to see. That’s good news. I know what I want to produce – that is, the kind of paintings I like, and which I think are expressive of my thoughts – and while I am a long way from it, I can also see myself moving forward to accomplishing my “artistic vision” as it were.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 