Angel’s Trumpet value study, San Antonio Riverwalk, Texas –12 x 16 inches Tombo pen wash on 140 lb. WC paper.

The Tombo pen is a two-in-one water-soluble marker available in colors as well as black. One tip is medium-fine and the other looks and behaves like a Chinese paintbrush, where thickness of lines can be controlled. What’s more difficult to control is that black once it’s on the page! It’s something to pay attention to when painting the colored version.

Preliminary studies are useful with watercolors because if, in trying to correct and re-work areas, the integrity of the paper is easily lost, especially on inexpensive papers. Still, on a traditional watercolor a lot can be done by adding water  to pull out the dark where it’s not wanted, and push out areas of paint with dry brushes. Some places in this study have built-up 3D edges created by the paper bits because I pushed them around so much with a stiff brush to correct things, but traditionally this is not acceptable.

Actually, come to think of it, that might be interesting to deliberately sculpt the paper in strategic areas – like objects in the foreground – by saturating it with too much water, then while painting, brush the resulting paper bits into piles and mold them with a stiff  brush. I may try that in the final colored painting of this scene. This proves once more that every single painting is an experiment to find ways to turn disadvantages and  limitations into advantage and innovation.

Even though WC and Acrylics are water-friendly and watered-down acrylics is the method I use to start most canvas paintings, I’m noticing a few outstanding differences : 1) an off-balance composition seems to be more noticeable with WC, definitely not as correctable 2) improved attention to drawing, details and ultra-conscious 3) requires pre-planning and foresight to keep the work fresh and clean 4) commands enough confidence to swish the paint on quickly as if it was not planned.

The title of a work of art can help sell it, and captions can complete our understanding of a picture, but the most successful works of Art manage well without an explanation. Our visual senses – sight and insight – have a language of their own. Upon viewing anything, multitudes of information are presented and understood simultaneously, almost instantly. With or without color, images are powerful, possibly even more than words, because with the development of human communication, pictures came first. It’s now widely accepted that symbols marked the origins of written language across the world.

It takes much less time to perceive than it does to write about it. For a hands-on illustration of this, draw a simple Smiley Face, and note the time that it takes to draw it. Afterward write down everything that comes to mind about that icon; what it means, other general impressions and associations. Although this is a familiar icon with clear connotations, possibly something we see every day now, plus almost all of us have drawn it at some point, within seconds of describing it you will realize how much longer it takes to interpret as quickly into words. Harvey Ball, the original artist of the Smiley Face icon must be flabbergasted that succeeding generations would come to coin the term, “emoticons”, based on an indefinite number of facial expressions that spawned from the first, including animated ones that wink and cry, and more.

Essentially, full comprehension in any language relies on those aspects of our mind’s eye: memories and imagination in order to be fully effective. Pictures appeal to our abstract, multidimensional experiences and through the emotions, allowing for individual’s interpretations. There are higher expectations for words. We assume that they alone are qualified when we’re talking on the phone and participating in online computer groups, for instance, but it actually takes extra effort for our intent to be clear when we don’t have access to the visual side of our statements. Even if we speak the same language, the words we choose and their meaning can be misinterpreted and misunderstood.

Relying on the visual aspects of learning, subjects in school are traditionally taught using chalkboards and eraser-boards, stimulating audio and visual senses. Likewise, motivational speakers often use diagrams to help get the point across. The use of imagery is rampant everywhere now. It’s extremely effective in all forms of advertising, and despite all attempts to hold on to all copyrights, if the art is relatable it spreads like wildfire on the internet. Artists of every kind are more vulnerable than ever to fraud.

Harvey Ball’s Smiley Face is a perfect example of how artists are not really in control of what they create. Generally though, any exposure is good exposure, because most people who borrow other people’s graphics or ideas still want to know who the source is. As artists it’s beneficial and constructive for us to continue moving on to the next best project and keep progressing with a lifetime of work. We have to learn to let go of the strong bond we have with the art we create. It’s personal, to be sure, but a good motto is, “There’s more where that came from”.

Along with the resources available to us now, in our progressive age of high technology and wireless everything, it’s still the Human factor that needs refining. We only need to trust intuition as much as logic, with as much emphasis on communicating our emotions as openly and explicitly as we do words and speech. Fortunately there are infinite forms of expression, and inevitably it’s a good thing that creativity is available to everyone, not just artists. Creativity thrives on challenges to communicate effectively; it always has and it always will.

More about Artists and history in the article, The Influence of History.
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Credits: Above cartoon by Saul Steinberg (1914 – 1999) was a Romanian-born American cartoonist, best known for his work in the New Yorker magazine. Harvey Ball, Wikipedia, Smiley Face

 

Buildings, San Antonio, Texas, 22H x 15W inches watercolors on 140 lb. acid free, cold pressed premium paper, white mat

Thumbnails: 1) Value sketch using Payne’s Gray 2) Oct 21st  in progress 3) finished, left detail. This is the 2nd week of the watercolor course offered by Jo Williams.

The Campsite, Maine, USA – 15 x 22 inches Watercolors on 140 lb. acid free cold press premium paper, 22H x 28W” professionally framed, dark cherry wood with brass title plate.

“I’ve got my eye on you!”

See the other years Halloween posts  on October 28th, 2008  and October 30th, 2007

Simple beauty, McKinney Ave. sidewalk, Uptown Dallas, Texas

Red peppers and pear study 02, 14H x 11W inches watercolors on 120 lb premium, white mat
I just started watercolors classes today with Jo Williams in Denton, TX.  Watercolors are in a league of their own…that’s what I learned today. Acrylics are my favorite medium because of their versatility, and I always start out covering the canvas using watercolor techniques, but even though both have similar properties at the wateriest level, they are nothing alike. Brushing up on watercolors skills though, will positively add to confidence in using acrylics.  I haven’t worked alongside others for a while either, so class critique will be really helpful too.

The Sound of Silence, 36H x 24W x 2D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted, narrow frame – finished today. After a second application of mask medium only on the snowflakes this time, some unbleached titanium and yellow ochre brought color back to the trunks. Snowflake mask was then removed.
 

 Oct 13th, above: Phase 01 and 02

Oct 14th, Phase 03 and 04: Mask medium removal, then highlighting snowflakes.

Red peppers and pear study 01, 11H x 14W inches watercolors on 120 lb premium

Saint Catherine’s Sunset, Ontario, Canada – 11H x 11W x 3D acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted, showingOctober 1 0 – 31st, 2009   500X Gallery  Open Show: Landscape, 500 Exposition Ave. Dallas, TX. Opening Reception Saturday, October 10th, 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. 

Oxide Gallery 1st Year Anniversary celebration today, Tuesday October 6th,  6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Happy Anniversary Oxide Gallery!

I’ll be giving a demo on the use of Masking Fluid in acrylics paintings, so come and reveal one painting by helping to peel off the rubberized mask – I don’t even know what it looks like underneath, so it will be a surprise for all of us. Techniques on applying the fluid will be demonstrated on another painting already in progress. Three pieces accepted in the current show at Oxide Gallery are: