Programmed to Paint

"Programmed to Paint" is a recent doodleism-style painting made from the doodles done in my notes taken during work, but I swear I was paying attention at the meetings!The title describes one reason why I paint, because I am programmed to paint. If I do not paint for a few days I feel a kind of sadness or the sense of missing something. Perhaps it is better described as an addiction, when you are missing it you feel bad, when you are having it you are feeling normal. Many people say that art is relaxing, a peaceful hobby, but in fact it is quite agitating at times, like feeding a compulsion. When I finish a painting it is more like, ahhh, okay I am good for a few days now.

The technical idea behind this painting was to use a lot of red. Every component except for the tree tops contains red in the colour mixture. Most of it is done as a single layer of paint with accents on top, except for the shadow on the mountain and the honeycomb-like structure on the bottom right, which are done using glazing techniques that I learned from the great book Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Watercolour edited by Appellof. Most watercolour artists have been more traditional in their subjects, my work uses very traditional methods but with surrealist themes. I also paint landscapes when opportunity presents.

15 x 22 " cold press, watercolour, 2015