Sunday, November 30, 2008

Time for Watercolor Hibernation


The fog is back and the light is homogenized into grey blandness. Welcome Walla Walla winter.



I went out watercoloring yesterday for the first time in over a month and remembered why I stay inside to paint this time of year. Colorlessness aside, the temperature is too cold to allow paint to dry outside. Instead of building many layers I usually end up with a blended, muddled mixture of color, pretty in it's own right but not my goal. The second problem is the light. When Sol finally peeks through the narrow horizonal crack between grey and more grey it's usually to moon the valley with gold and red for 5 minutes before dashing beyond the mountains. Trying to capture that is problematic since I believe art should be luxurious, intentional, and, as such, SLOW. The sun setting at 4:00 encourages only a mad dash of mixing and slathering paint before all memory of light and color vanish. Getting out earlier is difficult with my Sabbath routine in place. Maybe I'll convert to Sunday worship.

3 comments:

Josh said...

You could always give up goat slaying all together, regardless the day. Commit your time to painting fog and mist and move with the seasons to the densest locations. Start your own religion based on the Fog, the Smog, and the Holy Vapor.

Mike Lawrence said...

You could always paint from the inside of your car. I'd hate to see you stop these wonderful paintings just because its cold outside. Prop your board against your steering wheel, put some water in the cup holder, pallet on the passenger seat, and have at it!

Nothing said...

I want to see you post that picture of the poor confused boy being chased by a bear.