Monday People

Teaching in NYC last week, I got a few photos of these people. The safety vests and everyone else in black made for a dazzling, out of my series, painting subject.
But never one to leave a fine painting alone I tipped the people by cutting the paper cockeyed and making a few leaning marks in the figures. A more dynamic painting.

Monday People

Watercolor Clean and Simple

Here is my latest watercolor version of one of my favorite acrylic paintings. Watercolor looks so pure and refreshing after layers of acrylics. "No Chile Left Inside, II."

Tendinitis and Orchids

When you move to the Blue Ridge Mountains, you begin to feel the need to fiddle or pick. Three months after you give into that urge, you get a roaring case of fiddler's tendinitis. And you need to return to watercolor where you can paint for a week and never open a jar. Here is the result of that week.

TWSA Mini Paintings and Mine

The Transparent Watercolor Society of America posted the mini paintings that it asked several of its signature members to do. Mine ("Eat Your Heart out Milton Bradley" above stands out like a sore thumb. Check them out. http://www.watercolors.org/special/2011/

Paint BOLDLY

Painting BOLDLY

I got a long letter from Linda in Nova Scotia yesterday thanking me for my book,Master Disaster(amazon.com. She said that it gave her permission to paint BOLDLY. I guess up there watercolor is "supposed to be" soft. Thank you, Linda, for your letter. Email me! I'd love to "talk."

A Watercolor!

I have always loved watercolor for it's smoothness, and my acrylics for their texture. This watercolor breaks up space instead of creating texture. It's an old look that I used for years, but this is the first time with my new series.

This piece is only 6" x 6," I was asked to contribute one this size for the TWSA (Transparent Watercolor Society of America) auction. But I won't know if I even got into the show until March.

The Painting Career

Friends and I have been discussing our various goals in art and life. Then Ken sent me this. Cut out the third paragraph and pin it on your bulletin boards.

The Great Wave, by Hokusai

Hokusai (1760-1849)
Katsushika Hokusai, Japan's best known artist, is ironically Japan's least Japanese artist. Japan's best known woodblock print, The Great Wave, is very un-Japanese. Welcome to the artist often known as Hokusai.

Hokusai (1760-1849) lived during the Tokugawa period (1600 to 1867). In a Japan of traditional Confucian values and feudal regimentation, Hokusai was a thoroughly Bohemian artist: cocky, quarrelsome, restless, aggressive, and sensational. He fought with his teachers and was often thrown out of art schools. As a stubborn artistic genius, he was single-mindedly obsessed with art. Hokusai left over 30,000 works, including silk paintings, woodblock prints, picture books, manga, travel illustrations, erotic illustrations, paintings, and sketches. Some of his paintings were public spectacles which measured over 200 sq. meters (2,000 sq. feet.) He didn't care much for being sensible or social respect; he signed one of his last works as "The Art-Crazy Old Man". In his 89 years, Hokusai changed his name some thirty times (Hokusai wasn't his real name) and lived in at least ninety homes. We laugh and recognize him as an artist, but wait, that's because we see him as a Western artist, long before the West arrived in Japan.

"From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was fifty I had published a universe of designs. but all I have done before the the age of seventy is not worth bothering with. At seventy five I'll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am eighty you will see real progress. At ninety I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At a hundred I shall be a marvelous artist. At a hundred and ten everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokosai, but today I sign my self 'The Old Man Mad About Drawing." -- Hokusai

The Rabbit Hole

I've been thinking about a comment I heard last week. Why just look down that rabbit hole and dream of what might be possible. Jump down the rabbit hole and experience being an artist, Alice. (Is there a rabbit hole painting in my near future?)

With the down economy, take advantage of these months to explore ourselves as painters. This is a unique time (hopefully). We need not spend time painting for someone else's decor. Paint for ourselves. Explore that rabbit hole.

Escher and Me

"Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible." M. C. Escher This quote that really reflects my passion for painting.

Making the impossible possible is the thrust of my style, my book, Master Disaster, my DVD and my workshops. Developed from notes on how I managed to finish dozens of paintings, I review my book when finishing each and every painting. And I do make the impossible possible!

Watercolor Rules

I wish the title of this post meant that watercolor RULES! But I'm afraid that this is just another rant on the rules and restrictions that some organizations feel are necessary to maintain the status quo.

I read that there were 613 commandments in the Old Testament, and about one third of them were "thou shalt nots." So I counted up the commandments in the TWSA prospectus that I was about to throw out and there are 29 commandments, 14 of them are "thou shalt nots." They actually do have a ways to go. :-)Just give them time.