O, watercolors, how I have avoided thee! I really enjoyed making this painting. I learned a couple of things about activating and layering watercolor paints. I also used my new brush pen for the first time. It takes a light hand. It was touch and go…I suspect that without looking at hundreds and thousands of watercolor paintings in museums, galleries, videos and books, I will only be able to progress so far. After all, that is how I got to where I am with acrylics, oil paintsticks and such. I devoured images with my eye and mind for a handful of years. I studied the surfaces of my favorite paintings—the texture, line, shape, color, contrast and dynamics—and questioned how everything was done/might be done. I learned techniques from friends who were artists, read artist interviews, questioned everything my eye took in. I tried to replicate the technique of work I admired. How was this texture created? What were the effects of these lines, these marks, these shapes? What traits made each painting interesting? I took a 2D foundations class at the local community college. Maybe I am about to venture off into an extended study. I haven’t been to the MSU Fine Arts Library to load up with art books in some time. Maybe I will just keep painting, keep watching short tutorials and reels which outline materials and techniques. Maybe a protracted, in depth study—a close reading of watercolors—is just what I need. I don’t know.

Who are your favorite watercolor painters?

*Thanks to Stephanie Dawe Horton for letting me use her vacation photos as my source material. She took some nice shots.

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