Answering The Call




This is a new start from yesterday. Instead of drawing with pencil, I used a staining pigment and paintbrush to rough in the shapes of Van Gogh's Olive trees.







Here, I put a heavy line to work to accomplish two things; 1. to establish movement and rhythm accross the page and, 2. emphasize the bottom of the trees to hold the eye in that part of the image.







This is the progress of shading and bringing a little olive color to the trees and making some calligraphy in the clouds to repeat the same rhythm as in the trees. The rest is more calligraphy of lines of different widths and colors to show shadow, texture and more rhythm in the piece. It took some thought, but it was fun to do!








"Homage to Vincent"
watercolor, 22" x 30"



This morning at 2:30 AM my eyes sprang open unexplainably. This happens now and then, so it isn’t a big deal because, usually, I go right back to sleep . . . . .unless something is nagging and nagging and nagging at me. Then it is simply absurd!

Well, maybe not so absurd after all. It is noon time and I have been up since 3:30AM answering the call of the ‘nag.’ (No, I am not speaking of my beloved wife!)

Every winter, I teach a class called “Watercolor Beyond The Obvious.” (Otherwise known as WBTO). Around this time of year, I begin rethinking how and what I teach in that course. It is ten weeks long and focuses on several art aspects at once; learning design and how to use it, painting in series, opening one’s self to making breakthroughs, clearing away those famous ‘yips’ that artists suffer from. Mind you, learning of design in ten weeks is far from completed in that amount of time, but the participants get a good solid introduction to it with much new experience (painting practice).

Yesterday, in the shower, which is where most of my sudden shocks of creative clarity come to life, I got another shock about what to do in this coming WBTO. My post yesterday was part of that inspiration.

But in the wee hours of this morning, I was awakened by this revisiting of my idea for a painting series that I began yesterday. Yesterday’s painting was supposed to be a tribute to Van Gogh . . . with some use of line and texture, but I got sidetracked with a yellow sky and yellow color statement . . . .rather than line and texture. So, the ‘nag’ awakened me with a constant review of what I had painted and what needed to be done instead. For an hour I laid there attempting sleep. Finally, I gave up and went to the studio. . . . . .and painted something else (that’ll show that mean old nag! I’ll do what I please!) . . . .when that was done, I laid down for a nap at around 5:30 AM.

You guessed it. She was still shaking me awake to go do it! So I did. I am tired, but I have a smirk on my face. I actually had fun. Maybe that was the point of it. Ya think?

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