Roots: beginnings

Roots

60"x40" (152cm x 102cm)

300lb watercolour paper

Roots

I am distracted. Definitely. I ran into a problem with one painting so I hung it on the wall to incubate. It is still incubating. I prepared four other canvases. They are patiently waiting at various stages of preparation. An idea had come along. It is amazing from whence ideas venture forth. This one came from disappointment. Someone had asked me to do a workshop on negative space so I looked through my photos and discovered the perfect clump of trees. Not only could we explore negative space in the background but the image lent itself to foreground adventure as well. The workshop was cancelled. So I had this image and an idea. Resistance set in. This was not the way I had imagined it to be. Having no idea when I would use the lesson I had prepared I put it aside to concentrate on the five works waiting for me. Resistance is futile. The more I thought about it the bigger the idea got. Watercolours were a must. I have such fun playing with watercolours and negative space. I toyed with the idea of a full sheet size. No. Too small. What was the plan for the other two sheets of 40”x 60” watercolour paper I had stored? I forgot. Perfect. First of all I looked for the original image on my computer to make a few other copies….. Lesson #135: do not delete images for which you may have a use. Off to the photocopying machine before I took a felt pen to discern the spaces I would use. Grid out the image and transfer it to the paper. What you see is the first play of watercolour. This is another in the series for “The Many Faces of Eve” so it will be mixed media…. Stay tuned!