Aging Through Covid-19, May 03, 2020 – Watercolor Still Life Painting Updated

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New Black Absorbent Ground Watercolor 6x6s from Late April 2020
Moonlight Goblet

So I debated whether to share some more +/- Covid related articles, or put up some of my more recent watercolors on absorbent ground paintings, and considering I was picked as May Artist of the Month by Creative Arts Society in Austin, I chose the latter 😊

Then, I debated whether to post 3 or so at once, or one at a time. Typically, pre-Covid19, I’d have chosen the former, too busy to leisurely stretch things out, take the time to enjoy posting/talking a bit about one particularly piece. But, only thing pressing at the moment is wondering when we’ll have a vaccine, lol!

I realize I’m in a fortunate place right now. Healthy. Not working the frontline like so many, including my oldest girl, So my semi-jokes are a move to add levity to a situation that weighs on us daily. I watch the city’s stats (Austin) and I watch our country’s (USA) stats, hoping for a true flattening, much less a downward trend, in deaths and hospitalizations. Mindful at the same time of what’s appeared to be a resurgence in a country with a huge success story, but chose not to pursue total testing and appears to have relaxed its control measures too soon – Japan – (source, BBC) .

That all said (did I really say I wouldn’t mention anything Covid related this time around?) —

Here’s my 1st of three watercolors I finished late April, with maybe a dab or two this month 😊 on black absorbent ground For watercolors —

Moonlight Goblet

Taking a cue from my work on Kissed by the Moon earlier in the month, I used white watercolor (vs acrylic) gouache to create a layer to either leave as is, or add color to.

White gouache is water soluble, and in the watercolor version, is rewet-able and can mix with any color added, depending on the moisture and pressure used to apply the new color. Kissed by the Moon (referenced above) had one side by heavy applied with white gouache, and the other side faintly so.

This time around I wanted to see how subtle I could get with it, but not spend a huge amount of time doing it, realizing that “learning time” would extend what I might be able to do with it in the future, and let me do it easier/quicker.

I also played with how intense or soft I could get applied color on white gouache to look.

I did need to go back to this over a few days, getting the floral setting in the goblet to look less like a wild eyed genie accidentally let out of its bottle, lol! 😂 And, I needed to balance the more and less intense segments til I liked what I felt.

I can’t always control the final effect or feeling the results, but I can control (or chunk) the feeling that seems to stick. Chunking a piece is something I fight off long as I can as long as I keep feeling there’s something I’m just not quite getting right. If not, the piece is usually covered over for a complete start over – very rare.

I’m not fully satisfied with Moonlight Goblet, but I like the dance of light, even if a little heavier than a lighter playfulness I prefer. And I like the various intensities of glow maybe the best, especially as a promise of being able to modulate more confidently in the future, though I’m already aware it’s still gonna be a well fought result vs an easy skip of the brush so to speak 😊

Tomorrow, all going well, I’ll show a much more risqué but definitely barely R rated finished work. It has much less work on it in terms of modulation. The line work is much more defined, and I really like the look – Nude with Robe Night ☺️

However you choose to stay positive, please remember, that includes remaining both healthy and kind – I know, challenge at times! ❤️

Adan

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Series link – Aging Through Covid-19

Do you have good, positive, useful or encouraging info to share? Please post in the moderated comments below 😊

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Thanks again, everyone! 😊

Adan

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