Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Roof Tops



I am new to watercolor and find myself wanting to wander into other mediums. Perhaps another medium might feel more natural?

A year ago I had a conversation with my artist friend Sara, who is a phenomenal watercolor artist. She was telling me how she loves water, everything about water. Swimming, bathing, painting, the movement, the freedom etc. At the time I was trying to transition out of chalk and into watercolor. I remember telling her that I don't like water. I do not like to swim or shower. (I do shower though.) I don't like the movement, and it doesn't feel like freedom. It feels uncertain.

I love chalk. I love dirt. I love stability and thickness. I don't want to give up on watercolor, but I keep dreaming about think paint. Acrylic? Gouache? Oil? The possibilities are overwhelming! The nice thing about watercolor is that it is neat and tidy, and my paintings fit in a scanner.

This is an experimental watercolor. I tried rough coldpress paper instead of my normal smooth hotpress. I used gouache around the edges of the buildings just to see what it felt like to paint with (its gray though it looks greenish on the scan.) I was going to paint the entire background with the gouache, but stopped here, not sure what I should do.