Painting What You're Drawn To

"Beverly's Flowers"
Ink and w/c
Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbook, 7.5" x 7.5"

I’m still getting mileage out of Emily Weil’s advice to paint what I’m drawn to, in a style that feels right. For both of these paintings I first made a simple contour drawing with my Sailor calligraphy pen and then used minimal colors, to get to know more about how those limited few colors behave.

For the top image, I used Daniel Smith phthalo blue for the sky, which is a very dominant color in what I’d say is a medium value (tone) range. I allowed the paint to puddle and bloom, thinking the blooms (fuzzy round circles) would add interesting texture. Then I added the yellow and yellow-green trumpet flowers in mostly a light value range, and then I painted the leaves and background palms in light, medium, and dark ranges.

It took several days to decide whether or not I liked this painting, but the more I look at it, the more I do like it, especially the contrast between the yellow flowers and blue sky. 

As far as the painting just below, it's the opposite: I liked it at first more than I do now. 

But I still learned a couple of things. First, I learned I’m not crazy about the way cerulean blue granulates, at least not in this painting. Second, I learned that purple is such a dark color that it can overwhelm a painting. That is why I cropped the painting. As you can see in the version below, there's a little more to it, but the full version has an uninteresting sameness, I think partially because of all the dark purple. For that matter, the greens have a sameness, as well, so I’d better add “learn to mix a fuller variety of greens” to my list. 

I write this as our area begins to follow at least a three-week “shelter in place” order requiring nearly 7 million people to stay in their homes, in an attempt to slow the COVID-19 outbreak. I keep thinking of Simon and Garfunkel’s song, “I am a rock,” and especially the lines “I have my books and my poetry to protect me.” The line is meant ironically, as the song is about the danger of isolating ourselves too much. But as we enter this time of sheltering in place, I truly am grateful that I have my art "to protect me," in the form of already having this stepped-up drawing and painting practice in place. 

May everyone sheltering in place have some kind of deeply satisfying daily, meditative practice during this strange time.