Before I joined the watercolor class in the fall of 1989 I was doing things like these. They were markers on typing paper 9x9"
So this is the same thing only it is watercolors and 18x24" and the triangles and rectangles are studies in how different paints mix. but also I hope that they are attractive little designs in themselves and that the whole thing is pleasing to the eye. There is a little more work to be done on in but this is substantially what it will look like when I am done.
Back to your roots, eh? Your old ones look more like tiles; the first one especially reminds me of Mexican or Spanish Gaudi tiles. Your new piece has more of a quilt feeling. It's softer and feels more like a crazy quilt for everyday use. The patterning seems stronger in your earlier ones, too. I can't decide if your soft watercolor technique works as well in this style as your earlier, crisper style. I'll have to wait to see it finished.
ReplyDeleteThese are not the same at all, other than they’re both works on paper. The top two are very rigid designs where the motifs repeat in a certain pattern. The watercolor doesn’t have that structure at all, but it has this diamond pattern repeating in different sizes. It is interesting to look at, but the boxes with the lines don’t seem to fit, although I like how they’re painted. The triangles /diamonds have a translucent stained glass look, but the boxes with the lines are more opaque and less watercolory. They belong in a different painting imo…
ReplyDeleteI understand the first one. Is the second also markers? Or markers with a top wash of water? So much vaguer than the first. As if it’s been washed and dried many times.
ReplyDeleteLove the first 2. Should use better materials than typing paper. I find the watercolor to be muddy and lacking any white space which made the first two so sharp ( term from the 60’s).
ReplyDeleteThe typing paper has held up very well for 35 years, and so have the markers except for a few left out in the sun which faded immediately. White space is my bugaboo. I know white space sparkles and every painting I begin with the intention of leaving white space (there is still some white space along the diagonals) but I have a tendency to paint over and over a space (one coat is never enough for me) and the more you paint the less white remains.
DeleteBut I am going to paint another along the lines of this one, and taking stock of my errors in this one I hope it comes out better. And as God is my witness I swear this time I will be leaving more white space. No really, I mean it.
Excellent!
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