I am not at all inspired to do photography and I am hoping this project – which so far seems pretty sad – might motivate me. The nice thing is that both my Fuji X100V and my cell phone connect to the Instax SP3 printer via bluetooth or whatever. As a result, I am now more inclined to take a camera with me when out and about, which is not much these days in the Land of Pandemia.
I’m in hiding these days – lurking at the window, hoping not to be seen . . .
I’ve been doing a bit of reading . . . the gist of which is work light to dark, then general to detailed, and the last is more important than the first. It is from Tom Hoffman’s excellent book on watercolor, should you wish to know.
Anyhoooo, following this advice, I made a foray into a rather abstract painting. The corner of my house has two windows, set perpendicular to one another, and are furnished with plantation shutters – wooden shutters with wide slats. This is from a photo I took. I tried to catch the graphic lines of the shutters in contrast to the curves of the fig tree and its autumnal leaves outside, next to the sidewalk and street.
The other day I was trying to paint a something-or-other, and realized I had no idea how to paint something to suggest it, rather than give all the gory details. It may have been yesterday’s rocky cliffs. In particular, I started to think about buildings and windows. Stucco – brick – stone – how to express it without excess?
I decided lets start with just windows. Here is one set deep into a stucco building. I had to look at the shutters, the shadows, the casement, the small details such as hinges and cracks in the wood, as well as the shadows between the louvers.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 