POWER SURGE

My nephew, Jonathan, stayed with a group of Masai a couple of years ago, taking some wonderful photos while he was there. Trying to capture the elegance and beauty of these Masai women with a paint brush was very challenging. Glazes of transparent watercolor have been painted over layers of pieces of masking tape, which was finally removed. I was really pleased with the looks of the red checked cloth on the second woman from the left as well as the plaid on the back of the woman looking away from us. I'm posting my first attempt here with the finished painting below it --- with a darkened and simplified background.


"POWER SURGE" - as it was completed in Novemebr of '06

I think the freshness in the painting got lost in the painting below. What do you think? It's so easy for me to over-tweak a painting and suddenly loose the vitality and energy that makes a painting really sing. I'll have to try this one again and remember to put the brush down before I loose my emotional connection to the work.

"POWER SURGE" on Arches HP 140# 30 x 22" and Detail of Power Surge - below showing the textural effects the taping process allows.
COLLECTED

WATERCOLOR SOCIETY OF INDIANA SHOW

This painting will hang the month of October at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in the Watercolor Society of Indiana's annual juried show. Received the WSI Member's Award. too:-) The show hangs just down the hall from a Rodin exhibit, so we're in good company. However, his sculptures are all from his 'Gates of Hell' series ..... pass through the 'Gates of Hell' to get to the art show. Hmmm...

After I painted the first Pescatorri painting (previous post), I wanted to zoom in on the people. This is only one of the three I've done of the very same subject with some compositional modifications each time. One's on YUPO and the third one was created using the Good White Shape process. I'll post them later. The painting here employs lots of layers of masking tape (eventually peeled off) along with transparent watercolor glazing techniques. I sure love making cool textures.

If you're in the area, make time to visit the Indianapolis Museum of Art - WORLD CLASS facility and grounds. I was SO impressed!
"PESCATORRI MORNING" on Arches 140# CP 18 x 24" *** WSI Members Award 2007

YUPO & 2 PAINTINGS - LONDON, ITALY & USA

This first painting, done with traditional, transparent watercolor glazing techniques, started with the 'good white shape' process (taught by John Salminen,) which helped to unify the diverse parts of the painting.

My photo reference was taken from the upper level of a London tour bus. This corner in London is comparable to Times Square in NY and is called Oxford Circus. The huge faces in the building's windows certainly caught my eye and added to the excitement of a great city!

"OXFORD CIRCUS" on Arches HP 140# 29" x 21" SOLD

The ancient fishing village shown below is on a small island in one of the northern lakes in Italy. There were paintings ready to be painted everywhere I looked. The textures were incredible. Lots of masking tape as well as transparent watercolor helped create the textured look I wanted."PESCATORRI" on Arches 140# CP 18 x 30"

Around here, crows scour the corn fields right after harvest. West Nile Virus also has scoured some of our crow population, hence the title of this painting. Transparent watercolor.

"CAWS FOR ALARM" on YUPO 40 x 26" SOLD