Weekly Photo Challenge: Details
These close ups of my watercolour palette become
unique pieces of abstract art.
Palette de Jour 16.7.16
palettes de jour encore
Month: July 2016
the wrong road
After yesterday’s right road all I can feel today is an overwhelming sense of sadness and despair as we remember beautiful little five year old Taliyah Marsman, whose body was found by the road yesterday, and her mother both murdered in Calgary this week, together with all of the other children murdered with their parents in Nice yesterday, including eleven year old Brodie Copeland and his father Sean from Texas, mown down with so many others on the Promenade des Anglais. We remember them all with a heavy heart, and once again express our sympathy and solidarity with the people of France together with all of the families around the world who may be grieving today .
There are no more words except,
Je suis…un homme qui pleure aujourd’hui.
the right road
This week’s Discover Challenge from WordPress “brings out the positive: tell us about a piece of advice you’ve received — and would like to share with others.”
Tony suggests making small loose drawings and washes as notes, and not to worry about the consequences. Some are very abstract but some became quite specific and more detailed as they developed, as you can see. Each was intended to convey the sense of a fork in the road with a choice of direction between the light and the dark.
The Right Road 14.7.16
When I was a young boy my beloved grandfather said to me:
” In life Andrew there are always two roads, the right road and the wrong road.
Make sure you always choose the right one.”
His advice has stayed with me all of my life and echoed in my mind over the years whenever an important decision has needed to be made or a life-changing direction to be followed. It has been the best advice a young boy could have ever have hoped.
To complement this week’s Discover Challenge, and particularly as this month I am working through Tony Smibert’s Painting Landscapes from your Imagination, and also painting as part of Worldwatercolormonth, I thought I would continue the exercises of Chapter 8 in the book with imagined images that reflect the spirit of my grandfather’s advice to me.
Tony suggests making small loose drawings and washes as notes, and not to worry about the consequences. Some are very abstract but some became quite specific and more detailed as they developed, as you can see. Each was intended to convey the sense of a fork in the road with a choice of direction between the light and the dark.
This last image is perhaps the darkest of all and reflects what might have been.
Dedicated to the memory of my wonderful grandpa from his grandson,
now a besotted grandpa himself.
down to the seas again
“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by…”
from Sea Fever by John Masefield 1913
A revisit to this day last year on Day 9 of my journey through
Tony Smibert’s Lessons from the Great Masters,
another inspiring book of his.
“practice, practice, practice”
“You can learn from teachers, fellow painters, books, videos, seminars and so on. But you won’t really understand the medium until you can use it. Hence, the key to understanding is
practice, practice, practice.”
Tony Smibert, from Chapter 1: Painting Landscapes from your Imagination
Taking this advice to heart today was just that, as I finished Chapter 8
with more of Tony’s exercises in composition, color and confidence.
empowered by freedom
Today I’m back on my journey through Tony Smibert’s
Painting Landscapes from your Imagination, my project for July.
Chapter 8: Color Confidence.
“The decision making processes for a painting should remain with the artist,” writes Tony. “When you can rely on experience and intuition to guide you, you set yourself free to experiment. And the truly creative person is empowered by freedom. Your color choices are your own.”
Definitely feeling empowered by freedom today, and what a good feeling it is too 🙂
return to the dunes
A section of the sand dunes posted this day last year on Studio 365: Day 191
for Worldwatercolormonth Day 10
a summer bouquet
I couldn’t resist painting this summer bouquet of
lavender, margaretas, cosmos and photinia
picked from the garden today.
Looking up on the Admiralty Trail in the Pacific Spirit Regional Park in Vancouver on a beautiful Spring day in April this year. You can see more photos of these spectacular leafy canopies from our trail walk in spring forward fall back, and the same trail decked out in glorious autumnal colors last October in Boundaries.
the crying poppy
A watercolour painted this morning listening to the news from
Dallas, Minnesota and Baton Rouge.
In remembrance.
thechangingpalette 