she loves me, she loves me not…she loves me
With all the dandelions about at the moment I couldn’t resist
one final submission for this week’s Photo Challenge: Details.
she loves me
Weekly Photo Challenge: Details
Palettescape 20.7.16
The details of today’s palette demonstrate how serendipity
can so often create the best landscapes of all.
Worldwatercolormonth Day 20
encapsulating the essence
“I’ve always loved the dry landscape gardens of the Zen Temples. In these tiny gardens a small rock in a raked area of sand may represent a mighty mountain in a vast ocean,
which in its simplicity encapsulates the essence of all mountains.”
Tony Smibert in Chapter 11 of Painting Landscapes from your Imagination.
This second exercise in Chapter 11 was entitled “Using rocks to suggest mountains.” Tony describes how he developed a great affection for Japanese gardens during his travels in Japan and suggests using interesting rocks to create imagined mountainous landscapes. It just so happens that some years ago I produced four drawings of the Sino Himalayan Garden at VanDusen Botanical Gardens here in Vancouver.
Inspired by Tony’s exercise today I thought I would create an imagined landscape of mountains, sky and water using the drawings as a starting point.
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Fortunately I didn’t leave these drawings behind thirty four years ago and it has been a treat to revisit them today, thanks to Tony’s exercise.
Worldwatercolormonth Day 19
voyage of discovery
“Watercolor is a voyage of discovery and, as corny as it may sound, the most satisfactory results are often achieved by taking what comes – not only in terms of painting technique,
but also in terms of your individual creative energy”
Tony Smibert from Chapter 11: Idea Starters, in Painting Landscapes from your Imagination.
Back in the studio after a wonderful weekend with our beautiful granddaughter, Tony Smibert’s exercise today was all about creating an original landscape from random blots. The blots were first created using crumpled plastic wrap painted with a wash of paynes gray and indigo pressed gently onto the paper.
Land forms magically appeared from the blots which were further developed with different coloured transparent washes. Finally, “dry-brush” work created the effect of rapids flowing through the imagined valley and the rock faces darkened to provide distance and depth.
Welcome to my Monday “voyage of discovery”
Worldwatercolormonth Day 18
No studio time this weekend so instead an excerpt from Day 12 of my journey through Tony Smibert’s Lessons from the Great Masters last July for Worldwatercolormonth Day 17 today.
all you need
On another day of tragedy taking place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a message from our beautiful granddaughter whose radiant smile is lifting all of our spirits this weekend.
If only love was all you needed, but it certainly is a start.
palettes de jour encore
Weekly Photo Challenge: Details
These close ups of my watercolour palette become
unique pieces of abstract art.
Palette de Jour 16.7.16
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.
thechangingpalette 