Preliminary Sketch
Posted in Uncategorized on October 31st, 2006
Creating these small thumbnail watercolors has been very liberating. I’m just getting back to watercolors after a break, so painting them has allowed me to reassess where I am with the medium. I’m glad I’ve had the break – doing anything too long makes me repetitive. Now I can approach the process of watercolor without the baggage of my previous direction. Sure, I’m still applying what I’ve already learned, but the distance has refreshed me enough to tinker and add. I am also considering some things I learned with silkscreen and oils since I made watercolors.
I think I’m going to keep doodling for a while, but I’m starting to feel a little restless with them. Time for something with more tread.
I’m considering two directions from these doodles. One is the transfer of the spontaneous attack to a larger format, specifically elephant dimensions. I’ve already ordered the paper ($24 per 555lb sheet; OUCH!), so I’ll update on that later.
The other option is working the abstract qualities into a representational direction. I have all the materials for that now, so I will begin this process.
I love the street that runs in front of my house. It’s always busy with traffic. On most days, I leave the window up and listen to the woosh of the cars passing by. Much better to work by than music. Rainy days are particularly magical. Two blocks down, a poor man’s shopping district begins. Old, cheap business strips filled with privately owned shops line the street. Stereo shops, cosmetics, take-outs and diners, pool halls, boutiques, Laundromats, thrift stores, a florist, a bakery, VFW, and lots of auto-related shops. This will be my next subject to plunder. The buildings themselves are void of decorative embellishment. What little traffic draw they give is mostly given factually. Black Helvetica on white board reads “Seafood and Grocery,” or “1-Stop Television Repair.” Colors are cheaply applied. With subject matter like this, how can I go wrong? It’s so easy to look past this area, yet seems so universal in America. Two signs of a good start.
I want to keep the final image loose, so I will need to plan the framework in advance. That will take some of the guesswork out later. I think I already know some basic design directions I want to go. In my Kansas watercolors, I basically worked in the color field design of Mark Rothko. I started moving into more structural elements like Franz Kline before I put the brushes down for a while. Compositionally, I’d like to pick back up there. The sketch I have posted today is a structural plan for the final piece, deciding on values and shapes. It’s a little bleached from the light source, but you can see the basic structure. A little cartoon-ish at this point, so I may work a few more.
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