Boy, I do need to clean up my desk! Pens, crumpled paper, all pushed up to the side so that I can drink coffee and read the news. As a morning sketch or painting seems to be emerging as part of the daily routine, I looked around. There they were . . . and here they are.
I’m not always a slob, but from Monday to Thursday, working 10-hour days, who has time to do much cleaning?
Direct watercolor, paint what’s in front of me, no lines. Those were my morning thoughts. What is always in front of me in the morning is my messy desk, full of different debris, depending on the day and whether or not I’ve done any tidying. As I pondered, oh so profoundly, I looked at the cell phone on my desk and really liked the reflections from my monitors . . . and here is today’s subject.
I worked to think more consciously and conscientiously about what I was doing. First, the outline of the phone, on my rather ochre-colored desk, then the darks of the phone itself, followed by reflections and shadows. I tried to be selective of where to touch different colors for bleeds. Finally, I went back in and did some shadows and contrasts to make a bit stronger image. In between, I worked carefully to avoid blooms and hard edges from backwash.
Instead of just sketching in the morning, like a flower or something, I thought about just painting things. The most prominent and important thing on my desk at 6 a.m. is my coffee cup! This is one of my favorites, too, even though it is quite chipped and so on. I’ll keep it until it dies. Now it is immortalized in a “direct watercolor” – no lines – and in a rather disproportionate manner, but here you go.
Today, Marc Taro Homes announced a 30-day direct painting challenge, and started a Facebook group dedicated to it. I’ve also been reviewing the work of an artist I admire, and who paints everything, from weird objects to seascapes to people. It made me think about watercolor painting in general. It becomes something of a sacred cow – so sacred you never experience it! So, just do it and do it and do it. Morning sketches are helpful, and so will the days of direct painting.
Outside my studio window is a small redbud tree. The leaves are heart-shaped and vary in color from pale green-yellow to a rusty red, depending on the way the light hits. This is my homage to starting direct watercoloring. I didn’t catch the transparency of the leaves this morning, but I did paint. Maybe I will paint it again tomorrow morning.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 