A WORLD OF TEXTURE

Visiting northern Italy caused my love of textured surfaces to go absolutely bonkers. The walls, the rocks, the stones, the streets, the roofs, the shutters, the doors, the windows, the boats ....... incredible textures everywhere. I was on overload trying to absorb it all and record it on my camera. I would have crawled inside one of those walls and become part of the texture if I could have.

Using what some people say is my 'signature' style, I painted this picture from light to dark, saving each area of lighter value with torn and cut pieces of masking tape, before painting in the next darkest values everywhere. I love the unpredictableness of watermedia, and the taping process adds to the excitement of not knowing what will happen next. Pulling off all that tape when the painting's done is tedious, but the surprises underneath it are wonderful textures that I could not create any other way.

When my artist friend saw the painting hanging in our house, she declared that it needed a red tricycle by the door. Aha! We have one now. Grazie infinite, Betsy!

"A SPECIAL TRIP" Transparent Watercolor with some Gouache on Arches 140# CP 22 x 30" COLLECTED