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Art Day Revived

If you've been around blogville for a while, or if you've at least been stopping by here for a while, you may remember Art Day. It was the day I posted pictures of things I made—experiments in watercolor or acrylic, earrings, knitted things, stuff like that. Well, yesterday with all the snow falling around me and with my engagements canceled, I took out the portable easel No. 1 gave me for Christmas, broke out the cheap watercolor paints I got from the class I took on a cruise, and got to work.

I have no idea what I'm doing, which is apparent, but as I sat by the window with the winter scene playing out—people doing their best to make it up the hill in front of my house, people shoveling their driveways, the cats being completely puzzled by the cold stuff falling from up above—I didn't care if I was clueless. I was happy to set the brush to the paper.

This is the first one I created. I saturated a piece of 140 lb. paper and let black paint make its way down at will.

This second one was on thinner and cheaper paper, but I worked the same with black paint and a soaked brush on a saturated surface. I like the water here, but I'm not wild about the trees. Yes, those are trees, in case you were wondering.

This last one was a complete experiment. I started with the roots and the ground line and then turned the paper upside down to work on the tree. I discovered that if you create pathways with a light brush and then drop on black watery paint again, the drops will follow the paths you've created until they stop on a dryer surface. Interesting. The flecks were created by thumping a drinking straw loaded with paint. I don't care for this tree at all, but I'll humble myself by showing it to you in the interest of the learning exercise.

Note: my big Mac is having fits, so instead of scanning these things, I took pictures and tried to adjust them in iPhoto. The actual paintings are much brighter and less dramatic.

Comments

kyle@sift said…
I think your paintings are beautiful. Art is not about knowing what you are doing. It is just doing. And you have done well.
9:01 AM
Scout said…
Thank you, Kyle. Coming for you, that means a lot!
10:34 AM
MmeBenaut said…
I adore water colours and the skill required to produce a stunning effect. I'm glad that you're experimenting Robyn. You have a great look there. I did some water colours when I was an architectural graphics student and I know how difficult it can be.
5:53 AM
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