IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE

These two paintings were done as demos and completed within a day of each other. The first giraffe was painted on 140# Cold Press Fabriano Artistico cotton paper using traditional watercolor methods. I was given 50 minutes to complete it at The Cincinnati Women's Club Painting Class, but I did draw it ahead of time.

The more contemporary giraffe painting was created on YUPO paper where I'd drawn a curved grid with a watercolor pencil, then roughed in a sketch I could follow. The focus of this painting was to emphasis my response to the drama and exqusiteness of this animal, rather than create a photo likeness, and time to paint and draw was less than 30 minutes.

The YUPO painting was done impromptu in one of my classes one day after the realistic giraffe was painted and was certainly the most playful to paint. I used a one inch flat brush to apply paint to both papers, but the paint on the YUPO paper was moved around a lot by foam rollers and a window washing squeegee.

It's a strange thing that the amount of time it takes to create a painting really doesn't weigh into the factor of how good a painting is. We're so conditioned to think that 'time is money', but in creating art, it's just not so.

I'll redo the YUPO giraffe with more planning in mind, but it's my favorite. What do you think?

COLLECTED