Years, no decades ago, lol! I used to read lots of bio stuff ‘bout the impressionists. One detail I remember about artists working (painting) during times of political stress was of Renoir. I don’t remember the book, but with sieges by both the Prussians and French Army at differing times upon Paris, there apparently were numerous instances. In this one I read decades ago, Renoir, who lived in the tenement houses where the Tuileries are now, would sneak out of Paris through the barricades to paint in the surrounding forest. Being a friendly man, a good man, he’d made many friends, and both the defenders and the attackers recognized him as a friend and allowed him passage!

Now evidently this wasn’t always the case. In searching for where I read the above account, I came across this one – https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/02/24/renoir/ – where, painting in the forest, Renoir was accused of being a spy of troop movements in the forest, and taken to a nearby town to be shot. There, he was recognized by someone who himself had been saved once by Renoir. I’d never heard or read that story, but it’s pretty fascinating! 😊

So what’s this to do with my to-me-overworked watercolor above?

Painted during the stress of our recent crisis.

Politics gone bad 😏

Like the expressionists in Nazi Germany. Or Renoir during the siege of Paris. Only thankfully not nearly as dire as those events. And as long as we stay vigilant for our democracy, should never ever be.

I did get to re-work a few bits yesterday, and I like this a lot better ☺️

I added some violet top of the green top of the bridge, refocused parts of the top of that bridge, softened a few edges, and added a few highlight.

My use of white is via gouache. I felt kinda guilt ’bout it til I read that John Singer Sargent used white extensively on his watercolors! Thank goodness 😊

The above Google search has lots of good info, and I especially found this review of Sargent’s exhibit at the MFA Boston (from a few years back) by Marc Taro Holmes particularly helpful and detailed, with lots of sample images —
https://citizensketcher.com/top-posts/jss-watercolor/

My detail shot of my re-worked watercolor immediate above seems to bring across what I often try to do, or end up doing, in almost all my work, from oil to acrylic to watercolor – include a mix of wash like spreads of color and texture.

Finding that right mix of the two, washes (or semblance of) and texture, are what I enjoy doing most when I paint, regardless of medium.

This then tends to create an abstraction into the work.

It is then, when I can then keep ‘ mix my abstract compulsions with something identifiable, that I feel my most satisfied.

Seems easy enough, but I almost nearly always find it a struggle, lol!

I’m either really not very good at this (distinct possibility many days 😏), or don’t know when to quit soon enough 😯, or just plain get lost in exploring 😊

I’m guessing it’s itself a mix of all three in varying degrees on varying days in varying works.

That should cover me ❤️

Take care everyone, stay healthy and happy and free!

Adan

Twitter / Instagram / FB @FelipeAdanLerma
Amazon Author Page – https://amzn.to/2YpgyUf
Fine Art America (FAA, Pixels) – https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/

Direct link to the image in above tweet at Fine Art America –
https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/featured/monets-garden-april-rain-in-giverny-digital-felipe-adan-lerma.html

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My general Google search for Renoir and the siege of Paris –
https://www.google.com/search?q=renoir+during+the+seige+of+Paris&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

— Direct link to blog post in tweet above 😊
https://felipeadanlerma.com/2019/11/03/adans-movie-reviews-renoir-via-prime-video/

Serial Painting, my Google search

My Related Amazon Affiliate Search Products
https://www.amazon.com/shop/felipeadanlerma

My Amazon search for Renoir (books, videos, wall art) –
https://amzn.to/38mELTm

My Amazon search for Impressionsim –
https://amzn.to/3nitGHg

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My Related Posts Here On My Blog

My Latest Posts On My Website!

• October 20, 2021 – Sold! At the Old Bakery and Emporium (across from the State Capital) Austin, Texas – Paris Dreams (Dreaming of Paris)October 20, 2021
  I’m very grateful to my buyer at the Old Bakery & Emporium in Austin Texas! 🙏 With as few months as the Old Bakery’s been reopen, and all the precautions needed to be taken recently here in Austin, it’s a miracle to be able to share my art a this time 💕
• October 19, 2021 – Turning 71 Feels Like Turning on the Spigots!October 19, 2021
  I’ve meandered around what to write for my birthday post this year, probably reflecting not exactly the chaos (though there’s enough of that, lol!) but the whirl of activity in my life right now – fitness activities, art – of all kind, family, and the stutteringly slow but certain shift from unbearable 6 month summer in Austin to, well, breathable walkable art-doable weather ❤️ Weatherman says the weekend days’ highs into my birthday (Tuesday) are the coolest temps since mid-April. That’s a very long time, lol! 😅
• October 18, 2021 – A Good Problem, Lots of Interesting Pics and Posts Developing in My Blog Pipeline! Part 3, 1st Completed Work of 5 – “Playtime, Mother and Child”October 18, 2021
  I’m also breaking a bit of tradition in terms of my routine and going ahead and posting my completed image, not as good a resolution etc as I’d like (yet), and also not yet uploaded to Fine Art America. It’s simply a time choice. Paint and create. Or paint less but massage the photo capture & upload to FAA more. It’s not really a win-lose thing.
• October 17, 2021 – My Most Viewed Image For a 2nd Week @FineArtAmerica, Abstract Study 1, #watercolorOctober 17, 2021
  Though I’ve had some of my images repeat a 2nd week or more, or return again after awhile to place top of my views for the week at Fine Art America, it’s still rare for an abstract of mine to do so. It’s sorta ironic for me, since I began painting in earnest in the 80s creating acrylic abstracts (after fooling around doing clouds and Dali-ish dripping clocks in my 20s 😊), and then….
• October 16, 2021 – My Idea for Promoting My WordPress Blog Posts on Twitter (Besides My Pinned Tweet), Part 2October 16, 2021
  Knowing me, I doubt this’ll be my final tweet format I can use on Twitter to let folks see & know what my most recent blog posts are. I of course tweet the individual blog posts themselves out, often using them here in my posts. But I felt the need for a more inclusive, easy to change to keep up-to-date format and after some earlier incarnations, this tweet above may work for me for awhile, changing the screen shot of my current blogs as needed 😊
• October 15, 2021 – 2nd Time Out Sketching with Austin’s #UrbanSketchers Group! Still a Treat! #PeaseParkOctober 15, 2021
  Though immensely more challenging this time around for October’s outting with Austin’s Urban Sketchers chapter (heat indexes near 100 – hopefully a forerunner to an expected cool front; traffic challenges due to Austin City Limits festival), and, not particularly enamored with my resultant efforts this time around — — it was so good to talk with other artists! Be out among so many folks and families, and, “try” my 2nd time out painting plein air since (I think) the early 2000s!
• October 14, 2021 – My Idea for Promoting My WordPress Blog Posts on Twitter (Besides My Pinned Tweet), Part 1October 14, 2021
  I have my pinned tweet on my Twitter timeline of course, where I show images of my work on Fine Art America, with link to my site there of course, and, also list my blog site here on WordPress. But as you can tell above, the latter, my WordPress website, gets not that much focus. Though if you’d like to retweet it, please do, lol! 😊 So basically, I asked myself, how – beyond a 2 short lines in the text – can I better promote my WordPress site, along with my Fine Art America site?

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Thanks again, everyone! 😊

Adan

Twitter / Instagram / FB @FelipeAdanLerma
Amazon Author Page – https://amzn.to/2YpgyUf
Fine Art America (FAA, Pixels) – https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/