More than 15 years ago I made a commitment to myself to enter artwork in every exhibit sponsored by the St Michaels Art League. For the most part, I have kept that commitment, even entering shows that we not my usual medium. (I began with watercolor, branched out to charcoal, graphite, pastel and then acrylics.) In December each year, SMAL's exhibit is in memory of Martha Hudson, a local watercolorist. It's our annual "Martha Hudson Excellence in Watercolor" exhibit.
It was time to put aside my acrylic paint pouring for a bit and work with watercolor again. I had no energy for this, but pushed myself to do something. I had done some watercolor on Yupo paper (see last blog) for the November show and had been working on a Christmas card using that same technique (my next blog - in another week or so).
I decided to just 'play' with color...maybe that would get me to a happier place. I love bold, bright color! I wet the Yupo and began splashing color all around. I wanted to balance the bold reds with the blues and greens and then added some yellows. The wetness of the paper allowed the colors to flow - where they wanted to go - with little help from me. (I'm encouraging myself to 'let go' more!) Well, not entirely...there were a few puddles of color that I blew around with a straw.
I let it dry and went back to look at it later. I wanted to play some more. I love this paper! I took a wet toothpick and a ruler, drew three lines across the yellow blob at the top of the paper and blotted them. Liking that, I did it again. I thought the second set of lines were too narrow so I used a wet Q-tip and did it again. The Q-tip made the line thicker and also with a softer edge. I liked the look of the hard and soft edges, so I began making all the lines hard and soft. At this point I wanted something round so I found a small plate, put it down on the paper and drew around it twice with the toothpick and then softened one of the lines with the Q-tip!
I liked that and wanted to keep going... I looked around for other things to trace and saw a pair of scissors! I traced the inside of the thumbhole in three different places - connecting them to each other. I also added a couple of blots of very wet color and blew the color around with my straw. Now I knew I was 'on a roll' and had better stop! Sometimes I get too carried away and really make a mess! Fortunately, I walked away.
It's always better for me to go do something else... I came back to this the next day. I liked what was going on but felt it needed something more in the lower right corner. Those three little ovals needed to be connected to the rest of the painting. I got out my scissors and began to make a chain of ovals. I didn't want to intrude on the large round, but decided to subtly connect to the three thinner lines...sort of weaving in and out of the paint. One more blast of dark color in that corner and it was finished.
The whole painting felt like fun with a mix of control and letting go.
I was so surprised to win an Honorable Mention ribbon!
The show will be hanging at the library gallery for the month of December. Stop by and see an amazing collection of artwork.
No comments:
Post a Comment