3:41 PM: i did more work on the two watercolors. i think today’s is Ok, but yesterday’s is better. i’ll know better when i bring them to the house. did you catch the two small ano kato figures at the bottom left of 3.22.21 watercolor/collage?
BELOW: left: 3/22/21 watercolor/collage right: 3/23/21 watercolor/collage
why i’m proud of these two watercolor/collages
if you could pay a visit to my studio, you’d see how chaotic it is. but i pretty much know where everything is. there’s a pile of recent watercolor/collages on top of my flat files that i keep going through. i find ones i had under-appreciated and, for a while, put them up against the wall so i can glance at them during the day, and review what it is i love about each one.
there’s definitely an evolution, which i’ve spoke about in these posts. lately it involves the integration of a few directions over the past decade or so. actually i say decade because it’s convenient; i have no idea whether it was 10 or 15 or maybe 20 years ago i took a particular direction.
what i see in these two watercolor/collages is something that simply could not have occured 3, 5, 10, 20 years ago. take those two little figures at the bottom of 3/22/21 watercolor collage. it’s subtle, but how they integrate into the space, into the composition, is kind of magical. the actual creek-scape that inspired these two pieces was photographed just a few days ago, at the start of our walk up to the stupa. i’ve made quite a few plein air paintings of the creek at a spot just opposite this one, so it’s familair territory. but never this particular view, with the big horizontal trunk upon which late afternoon shadows fall.
the way i’ve been able to take what we saw a few days ago and transform it into a dance of form, color and movement is admirable, if i do say so myself!! there are references here to many of the great artists i admire. but what i’ve created is entirely my own vision.
11:38 AM: a series of storms are approaching crestone/baca and should arrive about 7pm. i photographed the eastern sky about 10am.
i’m about to continue work on yesterdays 3/22/21 watercolor/collage, adding a sister piece: 3/23/21 watercolor/collage
1:13 PM BELOW: how they looked moments ago
