You will see a lot of I love to… posts on my pages. In this case, I LOVE TO PAINT IN WATERCOLOR! See my Watercolor Portfolio here.
I often liken watercolor painting to downhill skiing. While precision is intrinsic to the process, for me it is all about the experience! the thrill, the excitement. Yeah, sometimes I paint for the message… but that isn’t usually in watercolor! That would be oil, or acrylic, or even pencil/graphite.
To me there is really nothing like watching how the colors blend and create those nifty sharp edges! And for this experience I usually prefer something – mostly abstract.
By mostly I mean that nearly the entire painting is conflagration of color and movement without precise meaning, but somewhere anchored in the viewer might find a bit of beach or a palm tree or a stone wall to give them a touch of reality. Because truth be told, most people like the feel of something solid they can grab on to. To give them a feeling of security in the viewing process.
When working in watercolor some artist love precision and plan every stroke. But for me, IT IS ALL about the color exchanges, and patterns they create in the wild exploration of strokes, water, and drying times, where all the magic is revealed. For this I use excellent quality watercolor, watercolor crayons, watercolor pens. watercolor markers. Each of these media have their own intrinsic behavioral characteristics. Like the painting above. In “The Onslaught”, I use vivid – extremely fluid colors and crayon marks. Yes, crayon marks because this entire painting is done in Watercolor crayon. It is the opposite process to watercolor painting as you put the color down first and then add the water, whereas in watercolor painting you generally put the water down first and drop your colors in. How do I decide which one I will do on any given day? I don’t know. Just moody I guess!
