Singing Medium

Wednesday August 5th, 2009 HELPING A MEDIUM SING This summer more folks are asking me why I paint in so many different mediums. This pointed question has made me articulate an intuited tendency. Just as with my children, I work to bring out the best qualities and characteristics in a medium.This means learning and exploring what is unique about a given medium and helping it achieve its greatest potential. The past several weeks I have returned to watercolor which for a while, I must confess, has bored me. But giving up control and becoming the guide of the water has released unimaginable potential.

While drawing, composing and knowledge of color nuances of the pigments create a foundation, letting go and allowing the water engender organic movement is a thrill! The water is capable of moving the pigment in a way the human hand and brain just can not do. SOMETHING TO TRY: Beginning with 3 basic colors, Rose Madder, Cobalt Blue and Aurelion Yellow try mixing beautiful grays.

These colors - in watercolor- are transparent and non staining. Also from them one can make any color except a luminous orange. Since Rose Madder and Aureolin yellow both have a bluish cast which is the complement of orange, using these pigments create a grayed orange instead of a shining one. These colors are also perfect for painting mist because they do not occlude the paper. While playing with these colors, be sure to try starting with one color then adding another.

Try, for example, starting with Cobalt Blue, add Rose Madder. Then try beginning with Rose Madder and adding Cobalt Blue! The colors are different. Now create white places which break the page up into interesting shapes (this usually means shapes which are not geometric, do not fit into a geometric area and are interlocking). Keep these areas dry for where there is no water no color will go! Use mask if you want to be able to be truly free with water. Pour on color and watch what the water does to the pigment. Mix colors on the palette and pour that mixture or pour each color.

Tilt your paper in all directions watch whether the colors mix or tend to move over each other. If you try this, e mail me your pictures or post them on the forum on my web site www.whopaints.com. I would very much like to see what you create!