Ease on down that road...to here.
Last week I traveled back in time to the beginnings of my painting journey. Today walk with me along the next part of this path to my present day.
The next steps took me into my acrylic studies.
Wow! What a difference in handling this medium. Totally different from watercolors. A brush stroke had body and stayed where my markings landed on the surface. I could work over areas of color or form, radically changing them leaving the underpainting undisturbed...and I felt like an amateur again!
I had gotten away from my drawing skills. I was forming shapes with papers and colors were used abstractly, not to inform atmosphere, perspective or image. I missed my landscapes. Two years later, I had a handle on it... but something was missing. I felt a lack of connection to the land.
A road trip ensued! Cross country in a wild ride through 23 states, me riding shotgun, taking it all in, mountains to sea, farmland to towns...and the paintings changed again. I thought all was right in my world. My paintings were shaping into a fine body of work body of work.
Then it happened, actually a perfect storm. First I saw a painting an artist was working on in the back of a tiny gallery. I could just barely see it over his shoulder. A liquid yellow in the sky, a glow that I have never forgotten and have chased. This was followed by a casual conversation with another artist, who listened to my description of my struggle to get my acrylics to create this tone, only to hear her state "but acrylics absorb light and oil reflects light." This ah-ha was followed by a serendipitous gift of water mixable oils. Another medium, another risk, more study and of course, two years later, bumpy roads with twist and turns I am .....here.
So next Sunday when I check in and all the following Sundays join me as I share with you the ups and downs, the questions, the mistakes and surprises in the daily process of a working artist.
The next steps took me into my acrylic studies.Wow! What a difference in handling this medium. Totally different from watercolors. A brush stroke had body and stayed where my markings landed on the surface. I could work over areas of color or form, radically changing them leaving the underpainting undisturbed...and I felt like an amateur again!
I had gotten away from my drawing skills. I was forming shapes with papers and colors were used abstractly, not to inform atmosphere, perspective or image. I missed my landscapes. Two years later, I had a handle on it... but something was missing. I felt a lack of connection to the land.
A road trip ensued! Cross country in a wild ride through 23 states, me riding shotgun, taking it all in, mountains to sea, farmland to towns...and the paintings changed again. I thought all was right in my world. My paintings were shaping into a fine body of work body of work.
Then it happened, actually a perfect storm. First I saw a painting an artist was working on in the back of a tiny gallery. I could just barely see it over his shoulder. A liquid yellow in the sky, a glow that I have never forgotten and have chased. This was followed by a casual conversation with another artist, who listened to my description of my struggle to get my acrylics to create this tone, only to hear her state "but acrylics absorb light and oil reflects light." This ah-ha was followed by a serendipitous gift of water mixable oils. Another medium, another risk, more study and of course, two years later, bumpy roads with twist and turns I am .....here.So next Sunday when I check in and all the following Sundays join me as I share with you the ups and downs, the questions, the mistakes and surprises in the daily process of a working artist.
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