Watercolor on Winsor Newton #140 Cold Press paper, 4"h x 11"w, 2013 #60
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Today is a good day at the studio in terms of actual work that's been done: I have laid out different maker's different surface-finish of paper, tried all of them out by starting a new landscape wet-in-wet on them. So... There were a lot of messy starts -- not one of them finished since a quarter-sheet soaking wet requires some time to dry naturally, hence I was running between projects. For wet starts like this I also stand up and paint, which means at the end of the day, my legs are about to give out. But it was exhilarating, since I can see a few possible good paintings start to emerge, and I have also discovered some good techniques for certain makes of paper that I did not know how to paint on before.
But I did not forget about the challenge! I developed one of the sheets (ok, only part of it) into this little study of texture of field and shapes of dark conifers. It was painted more abstractly than normal, since my focus was to test out how different texture-creating procedures would work on this particular type of paper when it is gradually drying. Of course, only textured, undefined large span of field requires some smaller, more defined areas with hard edges to contrast with it so that the whole picture could work, hence the conifers, which were painted first as abstract combinations of shapes made by deliberately varied brush strokes. The whole painting process is very brain-intensive, and I felt totally exhausted coming out of it, but also filled with sense of pride and joy, because I have challenged myself and learned something again.
It is Glasworthy who said, "The beginning and endings of all human undertakings are untidy: the building of a house, the writing of a novel, the demolition of a bridge and eminently, the finish of a voyage." So true.
These new starts I made today would become finished paintings in the next few days. I am so excited and could not wait until tomorrow to work on them again!...
But I did not forget about the challenge! I developed one of the sheets (ok, only part of it) into this little study of texture of field and shapes of dark conifers. It was painted more abstractly than normal, since my focus was to test out how different texture-creating procedures would work on this particular type of paper when it is gradually drying. Of course, only textured, undefined large span of field requires some smaller, more defined areas with hard edges to contrast with it so that the whole picture could work, hence the conifers, which were painted first as abstract combinations of shapes made by deliberately varied brush strokes. The whole painting process is very brain-intensive, and I felt totally exhausted coming out of it, but also filled with sense of pride and joy, because I have challenged myself and learned something again.
It is Glasworthy who said, "The beginning and endings of all human undertakings are untidy: the building of a house, the writing of a novel, the demolition of a bridge and eminently, the finish of a voyage." So true.
These new starts I made today would become finished paintings in the next few days. I am so excited and could not wait until tomorrow to work on them again!...
You can now buy high quality Giclee prints of many of my sold paintings, both on paper and canvas, as well as some note cards with my paintings here:
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Thank you so much for taking time visiting and commenting on my blog! Your feedback and encouragements are things that keep me going with I am feeling down or frustrated... I will try my best to reply to every comment ASAP but sometimes life gets in the way and I am a bit slow in my response. I would like to apologize if that happens...