Cell Phone Reflections

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.

Coffee Cup

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.

Redbud in the Morning, and I’ve Been Thinking

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.

English Lavender

I guess I’m a hippie – you know, “flower power” and all that stuff.

The fact is, I love flowers and want to have a flower garden again.  And a vegetable garden.  As retirement approaches, it look more of a reality than before.  And as our backyard gets cleared out, too, that will help.

So, today’s sketch is really last night’s sketch.  I went out with my tablet of tan paper and took a look.  Almost all green except for the lavender plant.  I used ink for the initial drawing and then Derwent’s InkTense colors.  Then, for the ones on the left, I just painted to see which looked better – pen and color, or just plain color.