DEMOS

The first painting posted here was created this week during a demo for the Western Ohio Watercolor Society, and it's on YUPO, painted with FLUID ACRYLICS. The second painting is on 140# rough Arches, with nearly the same scene from Venice and painted with Transparent Watercolors only. It was painted as a demo the day before for one of the weekly classes I teach.

The result was two totally different moods just because the paper surfaces were so different. The quiet serenity of the Arches painting looks more like Venice looked when we were there last year. But, the YUPO painting feels more like I FELT when we were in Venice last year. Hope that makes some sort of sense.

Each person will have reasons for liking one over the other. I'd love to know what you think.

"GRAND CANAL GONDOLIERS" Fluid Acrylics on Heavy Weight YUPO 21 x 15"
and
"GRAND CANAL GONDOLAS" Transparent Watercolor on 140#R Arches 21 x 13" COLLECTED

This is the painting before changes were made to unify it more - see comments for details of what was changed. THANKS to Kathy's good eye!

CHOP AND CROP

Tomorrow evening I'll be doing a demo at the Springfield Museum of Art in Springfield, Ohio for the Western Ohio Watercolor Society. YUPO and FLUID ACRYLICS are on the menu, and this post shows a recent YUPO painting after an extreme makeover.

This painting was warm and cozy - see below - but changed now to be cool with hot accents in the focal areas. Lots of cropping was also involved. Using fluid acrylics on YUPO allows for an infinite number of changes and a million possibilities. Tomorrow evening should be lots of fun - and challenging, too.

"EVENING RIDE" Fluid Acrylics on YUPO 12 x 17"


Original look of painting
before adjustments,
as shown above

MORE WORKSHOP WORK

Last week's workshop allowed very little painting time. Each day, Uruguay artist, Alvaro Castagnet, painted two demos while we watched, all the while wishing we would be able to paint with as much exuberance and liveliness as he did.

My first painting here shows a gondola repair shop that we passed by last year in Venice. It's just a little bluer on my screen than it should be, and although my photo is way darker than the painting, I like the way it turned out overall.

The second painting posted here started off really good, but the composition didn't hold together. I'll recycle the paper by gesso-ing over the surface someday and then eventually create a new painting on the gesso-ed paper. There's a good chance, though, that I'll also redo this same subject soon, developing a better composition before picking up the brush again.

That's one problem with workshops. It takes me some time to hatch a painting, and though I put thought into this composition, I was too locked into what the photograph showed. It's a do-over for sure.

Gondola Painting - "REPAIRS NEEDED" Transparent Watercolor on 140#R Arches 22 x 15"

MORE YUPO

I recklessly painted the right hand side of this piece, then set it aside for several months. After deciding it was worth pursuing, I tried to capture that same reckless abandon as I worked on the other two thirds of the painting. Of course, as soon as you try, on purpose, to paint recklessly, you become immensely aware of each movement, therefore not painting recklessly.

Can you see the difference in the left and right hand sides? The left side still looks more calculated, timid, careful. The right hand side has a vitality to it that happened because I was just playing, not caring as much about the result as the joy of doing the painting. I was focused on the shapes, colors, textures, darks and light, edges...

I really really worked at getting the two sides to work ok together in the same painting. This fall, I'll be painting in Venice and the northern lakes area of Italy with several of my friends from Wednesday's morning class, so I may give this another try then.

"CITY OF LIGHT" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 36 x 22"