canal 9.8.16
one more canal
canal 9.8.16
Art
canal zone 2
canal zone II 6.8.16 in progress.
canal of the day
canal zone I 4.8.16 final
canal zone
canal zone I 3.8.16 in progress
When you arrive in Venice, who wants to leave.
I think I’ll stick around for a while.
Return to Venice
It’s the beginning of a new month so who wouldn’t want to return to Venice.
Here is the view from the bell tower of San Giorgio Maggiore.
journey’s end
landscape from the immagination 31.7.16
So here we are at the end of July, the last day of World Watercolor Month, and the end of my journey through Tony Smibert’s Painting Landscapes from your Imagination. As a finale I thought I would revisit one of the images you may remember from my post, “encapsulating the essence,” a drawing of the Sino Himalayan Garden at VanDusen Botanical Gardens here in Vancouver.
I made a monochrome print on Arches watercolor paper (11″ x 15″); took this to the studio;
mixed my bowls of color and let the washes do their work.
Worldwatercolormonth Day 31
I wonder what August will bring…
a mini retrospective
“A studio is not only a place, it’s a state of mind” Tony Smibert
On July 1st I set out to work my way through Tony Smibert’s Painting Landscapes from your Imagination, and as those of you who followed my progress know, yesterday I completed the project that I had set myself. July was also World Watercolor Month thanks to Charlie O’Shields, so this was the perfect fit.
It’s always fun to look back sometimes so I thought today I would give myself a little
mini retrospective for the month of July.
My thanks to Charlie and to all of you who joined me on the journey, and of course a big shout out and thank you to the great Australian artist Tony Smibert whose books are a source of such great inspiration to so many.
Tony dedicated his book to his two children, so I would like to dedicate my “retrospective” to my beautiful granddaughter who is really the greatest inspiration of all.
“become an original”
landscape from the imagination 29.7.17
Having worked my way through Tony Smibert’s Painting Landscapes from your Imagination throughout this past month here is the final paragraph of the book, which will explain the origin of today’s painting, my “original” variation on the book’s last exercise.
“I hope this book has encouraged you. There’s room in the watercolour world for you to take any technical and aesthetic direction you choose. So become an original! Work with the medium in your own way. Adapt, absorb, modify and utilize my suggestions or anyone else’s in any way that works for you!Great final words in an inspiring book from which I have learnt so much.
Thank you Tony.
simple is best 2
Evening Light II 28.7.16
Back to the drawing board today with a second visit to the third and final exercise
in Tony Smibert’s book Painting Landscapes from your Imagination.
simple is best
Evening Light 27.7.16
“Here’s an opportunity to apply some of the most traditional watercolour techniques
to painting a valley landscape suffused with warm evening light.”
This is Tony Smibert’s introduction to the third and final Project of Part IV in his
Painting Landscapes from your Imagination.
I decided to stop at this point even though the exercise had a number of further components to it. I liked the lightness of the painting, which reminds me of the wonderful vistas we experienced a couple of years ago in the Land of Enchantment that is New Mexico. I also was thinking of Tony’s words later on in his introduction:
“I think I could (maybe should) have stopped a number of times when the painting was working well…
because I do believe that simple is best.”
Stay tuned as I’ll finish Tony’s exercise, and his book, with another painting tomorrow and keep this one as it is, i.e. sometimes the best advice is to quit while you’re ahead.
thechangingpalette 