What a curious winter/spring morning. Awakened well before dawn. Before 4 a.m, actually. I HAD
TO crawl out of bed. There are colors
swimming in my head! I shuffled off with
my first cup of steamy-hot coffee into the studio to put pigment to paper.
 |
| My latest travel palette & some color mixing |
I’m working on a beach-y watercolor for a dear friend, and hues
of the ocean froth as it meets the beach are really captivating and enchanting
me lately. Blues, greens, sandy browns,
and white foam. But how, exactly, to mix
them??? I left plenty of white paper
when I started this painting, but the more closely I examine the reference
photo, the more I realize just how many different shadows and lights there
really are in the foreground. I know a
glaze is required, but where? how?
 |
| Fuzzy detail...work in progress |
Spritzing my palette, I muddle around, splashing a test with
all the blues I can use, until I can SEE the individual colors and where they need
to appear on the painting. I stop and
walk away deliberately, to let the paint dry and fade before I make the
commitment. Besides, I need another cup
of coffee!
 |
| Testing some sea-water washes |
So I warm up the car and trek out in my fleece warm-ups for
some smokes and a drive-thru breakfast—something I very rarely do. Ever.
By now, there are gentle little strokes of that funny, pre-dawn blue-ish
gray and soft peachy color peeking out from beneath the usual dirty grey clouds
in the Eastern sky. (More color
awareness flooding my brain!)
Back in my warmish kitchen, I pack hubby off to work, flip
on the internet, and surf thru some of my favorite meditation and art posts
while I munch on my breakfast sandwich.
Not as good as home-made, but warm.
And it doesn’t require any dish washing!
Splashing on a test page is almost as much fun as really
being there on the beach. Not as warm,
even in my studio. But then, nothing
beats the heat of the sun on silky-soft sand between the toes, or the sounds of
the waves and sea birds. I think I’ll turn on my little space heater to
trick my feet into believing that they are THERE while I lay on some thin, ocean-colored
glazes.
Maybe, the “almost being there” will satisfy me for today. In the meantime, I will continue to plot how
to turn my living room into an “almost beach-y” retreat. More color needed to compensate for the
winter greys. (Just a shade different
from “the blues”!)
