Weather Drill

Last but not least I just finished this painting at the end of March. My goal this year is for three blog posts per month, so here is one more to make it three. The name 'Weather Drill' was more politically correct than the original title of the painting that I was thinking of: 'Screw the Weather'. (there is literally a drill surrounded by bad weather). Anyways, just for revenge it actually snowed today.

As an artist you pick up little ideas and techniques from other artists (living and dead) along the journey. I learned a lot from Joy and Starkey, two Canadian watercolour painters, and also Van Gogh, who of course was a famous oil painter from Holland. I also learned a thing or two from Darlington- in this case I was inspired by Atmosfear a painting I made awhile back that was full of pink sky and bad weather. I guess by the time you are being inspired by yourself as an artist it also means you are out of ideas, or a little mad, or both !?

5 x7 " hot press, Watercolour, March 2019

Design Element

Just like I saw it on TV, here is an imaginary plan for a house in the woods. Actually, what I saw (on Netflix) was a show about amazing houses, architectural projects in remote locations. I don't think this house could ever really be made, not to mention banana's wouldn't rain from the sky, but you never know. As I scanned these for the web, I realized that the windows of the building here, are the same as the window of the last painting I just posted (Colourful Ideas). That means my imaginary home in the wilderness has a laboratory on the top floor. Shorter commute at least!

To depict bright colours in a painting it is tempting to dive into the palette and get some pure yellow or red or green, maybe just take it straight from the tube. The results will be better if the composition includes two things, complementary colours, and a near-neutral background. Contrasts are easily understood- if you put red and green next to each other they amplify the visual. Here, I put purple in the background to bring out the yellows, and used a green outline to contrast the reds. The concept of near-neutral is a bit different, that is where you put a neutral version of near the colour that you are trying to amplify. In this painting, the grassy lawn in front of the building contains a mix of the bright yellow, the brick red, and the green, then a bit of water to make it pale. Now, when someone looks at the painting the yellow banana-peel shapes really pop because of the neutral that surrounds it.

5 x 7" cold press. Watercolour 2019

Colourful Ideas

Good ideas are bright ideas, so great ideas are colourful ideas? I was thinking about all the different graduate students I have supervised over the years or from when I was a graduate student and had this vision of colourful, living sculptures in the laboratory. The background of this painting is a surreal laboratory environment, finished in neutral pastel tones. The three objects are kind of like warped cell phones, with bright, contrasting colours inside of them. It is the people who make the discoveries after all, not the lab equipment.

Making blended washes is a good technique to use in watercolour. I have read a book called 'Everything you Need to Know About Watercolor", and one chapter was on colour chickens. The exercise had you mixing two pigments and letting them naturally blend together on the paper to create an interface, resulting in a chicken-like shape. The trick is getting the moisture right, too much and the colours just merge into one wash, too little, and the colours dry without mixing. I used the colour-chicken concept in several places, the obvious being within the three main figures. I also used the technique in the floor by blending red, yellow, and a neutral grey, and blue. Each pigment has its own temperament that will affect how it blends, so it is worth practicing a lot to get the feel for it. Now I am tempted to do a new painting called colour chickens.

5 x 7" cold press. Watercolour. March 2019