No. 157: Untitled

UNTITLED NO. 157, June 2012, watercolor.

I finished "Untitled No. 157" at 7 p.m. on a rainy and chilly June 5, 2012, and it shall remain untitled.  It took nearly four days, and I'm surprised that it didn't take much longer. 

Click on all photos to enlarge.

 

I am not a painter.  This is more of a watercolor drawing.  I drew it with colored paints. There were just eight colors: Brown, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red and black. I also used a white tint.  The trick here was blending the colors together to create the various greens, browns, blues and grays.  More water, less water, clean water, dirty water.  The color purple never got wet.

There were several moments of panic.  I splashed a little paint.  Colors ran together alongside the road.  The trees were too yellow, then too green, then too blue.  A few bold outlines were too bold.  The sky looked stormy.  All of these hiccups had to be worked over, and over.

The painting needs about eight hours to really dry.  It's clamped to the drawing table to keep the paper from curling.  The flatter it dries, the better it'll frame.  But it can't be completely weighted down;  air also has to flow under it.

The painting, in the final analysis, is primitive and even a little sloppy. It's certainly not spot-on accurate.  But it has a simplistic charm that, as I write this, I've come to like and accept.  It's an original and was a learning experience.  If you followed along, I hope it was fun.

 

Here's how it unfolded:
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I think, by this point, there is no turning back on this road. The grasses are nearly done.  The road needs resurfaced, and I'm going to bring out more detail in the trees.  And, the sky is now blue.

DAY THREE: p.m.

We're still on the road. I have no idea how our journey will end.  I guess we're just gonna roll with it and see what happens along the way.
Watch this space every day, all week. A new image or two will appear each afternoon.
So far I've kept up my end.

Click on each photo to enlarge!

Just add water -- makes it's own sauce!

DAY THREE: Lunch!  Now we are going somewhere.

 

DAY THREE: a.m.  Sunrise!

Occasionally an image will catch me off guard.  This one is from a photo my brother snapped while motorcycling the rural roads of Michigan. It looked so serene, like the perfect place on the perfect day. I want to be there.

The real deal. Meech Road, Dansville, MI

Beginning to see the forest for the trees.

My tools are ridiculously simple: Crayola watercolors, house paint brushes, plastic Dixie cups, water, light and music.

Blues music, baby.

DAY TWO: p.m.

Every journey has a beginning. When you put one foot in front of the other, you are on the road. Where you go is up to you. 

DAY TWO: a.m.

DAY ONE: 6/3/12