How Can I Push The Color?

Watercolor is a superb way to play with color and light. That is what it does best. Master that and you have it nailed. Since I have no interest in merely reproducing what is in front of me, I do a little homework in the beginning. Some color and light analysis. Find out how much fun I can have playing with the physics of art. After all, it is there to serve my spirit.

Huh? Physics, art, analysis? Yep. What set my wheels into motion was not the chocolate. Oh, that's a lie. It was the chocolate too. But those truffles, face it, are little balls of brown. Or are they? Well, that's where context comes in. And my ever loving fascination with light and those places in between. If you take a look at any of my large paintings they do have a subject, but for me what they have is that space in between.

If you look at that painting plan that is roughly drawn on the graph paper you will see me setting up relationships, looking for interactions of the major forms. While the major forms may be a box, a bon bon, a wall, or a table....what I am seeing is what connects them. How we move from one to another. And I see a river of light and color that practically shouts at me. Paint this!

And I know to listen. As I look for key players in shadows and reflections, and for complimentary color interactions, I find myself uncovering the spirit of the piece. And what I discovered surprised me. Then made me laugh at myself. No not saying, it will become clearer as we go along. And why spoil your discovery? Today is for nosing around a little bit more, and putting the grid on the heavy weight paper, get the real drawing done. And test some more glazes that now must speak to the heartbeat of what I found.

What do YOU look for when you are looking at a painting? Or making one yourself?