Week #4

From another one of Robin Thompson's photo collection from the late 50s.

Week #3

I was really inspired by some beautiful photos taken by Colin Thompson's father, Robin, while traveling through the Far East during the late fifties. Colin spent many hours during the Christmas Holidays converting the fragile slides into digital images and the results were terrific.  The graphic colors of these boats in India were already composed for me in Robin's lovely photograph.

A Watercolor a Week- #2

Week #1

This is very typical of how I approach things. I start how being quite precise and representational. Watch: as the weeks roll forward I'll go through periods where I'm looser.
(to see this image more closely just click on it)

Inspiration

The simplicity yet great control of Mark Adams has had me in awe for many years now. How does he get those smooth gradations over large areas?

2013 New Year's Resolution

Why create a blog? This year I hope to do a watercolor a week. That means a year from now I'll have a collection of 52 paintings, and hopefully a handful of them will be decent. This blog keeps me honest. I'll have to post each one and that'll help me remain committed to my endeavor.
So, here we go!

Step 1: 

My first step is to draw up a list of different things that seem like they might become good watercolor images.

-gates

-backlight

-iceland poppies

-light green grapes

-ornaments (a nod to Athena Xenakis)

-mason jars

-small jars with simple plain flowers

-padlocks

-a roll of twine

-persimmons

-eggplant

-clothespins (wood w/ coil)

-candy

NO strawberries

-a long visit to the Berkeley Bowl produce section

-an onion

-hanging laundry: wet, transparent

-old doors, architecture, peeling paint

-tea

and, of course, more ideas as they come along. I'll now keep an eye out for these things. Some will be painted from real life and others I'll photograph or look for preexisting photos here.

Onward!

Testing 1 2 3

Hopefully the first of many paintings to come. This one is in oils on plain old cardboard.