More painting

Painting kit ready. Always good to have it right there, so you can seize the impulse.

A couple more small works from this morning.

Alla prima watercolor

Ink and wash

 After being reintroduced to nature journaling the other day by a presentation of John Muir Laws on Zoom, I thought it would be an idea to do that again. Not like botanical illustration, but my own watercolor style.

What the camera saw, quite different from what I saw.

I took a workshop years ago, a daylong botanical illustration event, just as a personal challenge, since I don't work that way. Wonderful teacher. It felt several years long, but I emerged with this

The main part I did in class, spent five hours on it. The added life and movement around that solid flower, I added in a few minutes when the teacher wasn't looking. She would have disapproved!

I did a few more flower studies that summer, before deciding I needed to get back to my normal speed-of-light approach to drawing and painting.

 It was valuable to visit another way of working, like another planet, just for the experience. But there was no joy in it, no happy discoveries. For me, that is. So that was good to know.

Anyway I thought I'd do a continuing series of small paintings based on the patio. There's enough material there for a lifetime, and each time I approach it I can decide what to focus on and how.

 It will probably become an artist's book, more about the artist than the subject. This is usually true, no matter who the artist or what the subject.

The size, height precedes width in describing painting size, is 5 x 3 and 8 x 5 inches. Astute viewers will note these are the size of index cards. They're also golden rectangles, a great shape for an artist to work in. You can go bigger, following the Fibonacci series, adding as you go.

 If you aren't familiar with Fibonacci, the Other Leonardo, check him out. The universe is built on the Fibonacci series, well, the other way around. I'm thinking in these terms because of the comet, not visible to me, sigh, rain, clouds.

Using the golden ratio, the balance is already there before you even start work. This ratio, 1:1.6, feels natural to humans, since we're pretty much built on those lines.

So, one problem solved ahead of time. There are plenty more as you work, each stroke foreclosing on future choices, without getting too technical.

 But you can't do better than get a bunch of index cards if you fancy drawing a bit. They're your friends.

Debris after today's work

Good morning's work and experience. This afternoon it's stitching some straight side seams in my summer top.

It's all go. Art will save us all.