WHY

Normally I keep my blogs short. With most of us isolated due to the virus, I am going to do an extended blog over several entries explaining not how to paint, but why I paint the way I do in a more detailed manner.

Those of you who are familiar with my work know that my favorite subject is rocks and water. My second favorite subject is —nothing! By nothing I am referring to subjects that have little positive space. Positive space is anything that has shape and form, i.e cylinder, cone, sphere, cube or ribbon shape. The Dutch watercolorists were masters at this. The subtle differences in value, temperature and intensity are the key to making these paintings work.

The subject for this painting is a view from an overlook we captured during a drive my wife and I took to Galena, Illinois. 

I will be using a full sheet of watercolor paper. The standard size paper is 22" x 30".

Every watercolor painting I do demands a different approach. Generally, the method I feel is best is painting the entire composition in a single wash, working from light to dark. 

For this kind of composition I will use what I call the "paint by number" approach. This approach consists of painting sections of the painting. The problem with this approach is that you will be judging color, value, etc. next to the white of the paper, and that you will be painting hard edges. Because of that, you need to have a good idea how it will change once you paint the next section.

I also like to keep the composition "open", in that as the painting progresses, I want the option of making adjustments. That is the creative part of painting.

I have a few sections done and will post each section and explain my thinking on a daily basis.

​Below is the subject and the adjustments that I made to the composition which I will explain in my next blog. To be continued!