2021 watercolor/collage 13 at the end of my painting day
2:33 PM: i did more work on 2021 watercolor 13, and am calling it a day. we’re still not fully recovered from the side effects after our 2nd covid vaccination 4 days ago. mikela had a much rougher time than me, and neither of us are able to do a full days work. in addition, it’s getting progressively darker as the snow storm approaches, and i always prefer natural to artificial light.
the collaged area of pen-scribbles i refer to in my comments
as you may be able to discern, i played around with her hand quite a bit, collaging over it twice. the submersion of the figure into the creek-scape continues to interest me. despite what i’ve said on many occasions about the irrelevance of realism,” i can’t deny that the human presence offers something that simply can’t be equaled in a pure abstraction. as well, i have such a rich history of painting the figure in a variety of settings and mediums, that it would be foolish not to employ the skills i’ve accumulated over decades. so, once again, i consider this moment to be a coming together of all that i’ve done in my life as an artist. that bit of collage just under her head is an example of what i’m talking about. it’s a piece of paper i used last week to test out a new fountain pen. i wouldn’t have done that a year ago, let alone a decade. i feel it adds an important element to the composition, providing more of a dream-space for the viewer. just as the transitions from creek-scape to human figure and back expand and enrich our sense of the reality of reality, or unreality.
2021 watercolor/collage 13 at 1pm today
1:12 PM: started out as a sunny morning; as predicted, it’s now clouding over and, as the afternoon progresses, snow will begin falling in a few hours. it will continue on and off all night, with sunday morning temperatures dropping to 10°F.
i resumed work on 2021 watercolor/collage 13, adding a few collaged bits over the hand and neck of the female figure in the foreground and doing more work on her intricately patterned blouse.
BELOW: a comparative view of the watercolor on the first day of work, 2 days ago, and just now.
4:40 PM: upon returning to the house, i placed the new watercolor in the entryway and looked at it critically next to a couple of other new ones. it holds up, and may even shine more brightly than the other two. but my point here is that my comments in my 2:33pm post re: the importance of the human figure in an abstracted composition seem to hold true.
one of my motion series paintings hanging on our stairway