2/21/21 2021 watercolor/collage 16 after my final intervention of the day
5:43 PM: and, true to form, i made yet another change to 2021 watercolor/collage 16 moments before leaving the studio for the house. i added some grey oil pastel in the upper portion. but it was too much, so i collaged over it with light white paper, cut roughly to the outline of the area covered by the grey. since the surface i’m using for this one is an off white grey-ish, the collaged white paper makes a subtle new shape, adding a new richness to the composition. i think it made a huge difference. these things regularly come to me the minute i’m ready to walk out the door at the end of my painting day.
what’s going on in this rather unusual piece is new…ish. creek inspired marks are married to calligraphic play, and sexual innuendoes abound. that yellow clipping form a london map at the bottom lifts the entire composition to new levels, compositionally as well as on an emotional note. in the future, we hope, art historials writing about my current work will point out the clear evoution of my marks, my colors, my compositions.
2:46 PM: i added one more collaged bit on the left
2021 watercolor/collage 16 at 2:45 pm
2021 watercolor/collage 16 at 2:15 pm
2021 watercolor/collage 16 flipped 180°
2:22 PM: it started by me just fooling around with a few of my fountain pens, testing out the flexibility of the nibs by making swirling, calligraphic strokes. i cut one of those sheets of notebook paper up, rearranged them on a piece of board, then began collaging until i reached this point in the process.. it’s smaller than the others: just
7 1/4x 15 1/2”, and i haven’t yet decided which side is up. right now i’m thinking i prefer the one you see on the right.
11:15 AM: today i did quite a bit of work on the new 2021 watercolor 15, employing collage more extensively than yesterday. BELOW on the left: yesterdays version, and on the right, todays. the boys head was bugging me so i collaged over it with a piece of paper oil palette from 2018, which i’ve saved, knowing i’d use it in the future. the cactus thorns on the left now repeart on the right and the hand i drew in on the bottom is not from the boy but from a photo i shot at a space gallery opening in denver a few years back. imay continue work on this one or perhaps start a new one & go back & forth between the two, as i love doing, so as not to get stuck on one or the other, if you know what i mean.
