I Sea You

Landscope: which way is up?

I enjoyed painting this piece. I bought myself a large tube of bright, white acrylic paint. Typically, in watercolor, one uses the white of the paper. White can be part of a watercolor palette, but it doesn't cover well. In this piece, I used the white acrylic extensively, dabbing it on undiluted and very thick.
I also used a very limited palette of colors to set the tone as quiet and having a bit of mystery. 
Once again, I played with looking at it from different angles and settled on the upside down version, below. Comments are welcome. I'm interested in feedback.

Landscope-- Dwellings

I've never intentionally made a series of pictures, but have found that I've used a similar composition several times now. I'm enjoying the challenge of making variations on a theme. I don't necessarily have a result in mind. I start with a light simple sketch to help me see where things go on the page. As the paint dries, I look for shapes to appear, then add definition by building up layers with colored washes. Varying the type of brush and the brush stroke keeps me interested. I also like painting to music, according to my mood. The colors are very important. I find that colors can affect me almost like a tuning fork; they help to align me.

My brush with feelings

In our mindfulness art group this week, the prompt had to do with 'feeling'. We could choose a feeling and illustrate it however we liked.

I chose this paintbrush and painted it several ways. My intention was to imbue the paintbrush with emotions and use the drawing, colors, backgrounds and paper to show how it felt. An interesting part of this process, for me, was that I painted the pictures first; based on impulse. Afterwards, I assessed the mood of each picture, sometimes surprised at what I had painted spontaneously.

In this piece, the paintbrush had beautiful colors as mementoes of all it's experiences. The background had similar colors and brush strokes. Overall, the paintbrush looked comfortable and confident in these surroundings.

Turn it Around

This pic turned out to be a practice piece, so I grabbed the cray-pas and gave it more color. It still wasn't quite right, so I did the 'ol turn it upside down thing. Suddenly, it looked different, and better. It looked like the bottom was water and it was reflecting the top. Do you see that, too?

Well, it pleased me more, then, so I decided to post it on the blog afterall.

Funny, isn't it?

BTW- here's a topic I will write more about sometime: staying disciplined with creative work. My sister and niece are visiting this week and I've been out and about much more than my usual recluse-like behavior. Well, there is just so much energy to go 'round, and so many hours in the day. I have not painted much in days. So how to get back to it? How to stay on track? Hmmm
Click the pick to see it bigger

Landscope or Still Life?

What do spheres have to do with this series of 'Landscopes'?

I started off sketching in pencil. They were horizontal lines that I would use to divide the page. That's pretty much all I planned. I then had horizontal sections to lay in some color washes in each.

I continued to add various brush strokes and colors, then the spheres rolled in. I just saw them in the picture, kind of sitting on the shelf. That made me chuckle 'cause it reminded me of a still life. The whole lower half of the page seems dark and moody to me. What does it all mean? It's just something that I created as part of my almost daily creative practice. Click to enlarge

Circularville

I've been painting circles in between working on Landscopes and Trees. I find it helpful to paint a variety of subjects and styles. Keeps me engaged and experimenting.

What's interesting to me about these circles is that they're
orderly. I'm enjoying the grid and the circles all stationed in their place.

Usually my circles are flying all over, off the page.

Landscope: Blue Trees

Another pic in my Landscope Series. I decided to explore this theme of above and below land. Perhaps I will expand to include other subjects or objects. I've done 5 so far.

I've been using the same watercolor paint pans, same size and type of paper; Arches 140lb cold pressed, 11"x14", for each one. I'm usually trying new materials and different sizes of paper.
I'm going to create some parameters and structure to continue this project. I've been getting some encouragement from friends on these pieces, so I'm excited to do more and see what developes.

Landscape or Landfill?

I'm very excited about the series of paintings I'm calling "Land Scopes".  Naturally, there's an occasional 'practice' piece. Watercolor is not forgiving; it's easy to make mud. I always try to salvage the picture by adding another medium, so I applied oil pastels. The colors were vibrant, but it still didn't do it for me. I was getting ready to pick up the scissors and make a collage out of it when I turned it upside down to look at. I liked it. Ha

What do you think? Do you like one? Which one? What do you like about it? Should it just become 'Land Fill?'

This is the original