Previously, in Part 3 of this mini series, I showcased my 1st watercolor (seen below) keyed off an original oil of 2001, itself keyed off an original photo of the same year. I know I’ve got the version numbers reversed in terms of when I painted them. A goof up uploading the pics of the paintings to Fine Art America on my part 😏 But, maybe, for the lesson for me I’m writing about in this post, just as well, lol!

Though, when I practice repainting the same figure in my sketch book, like a person on a surfboard, I’m first trying to get the image to look decent 😊 and second seeing what surprises arise as I do each variation. These surprises are usually in the realm of posture or gesture suggesting some emotion or feeling, and those often become more important to me than accuracy to the original image (often a photo or old painting).

Similarly, I’m doing a short series of hearts I might offer closer to Valentines Day here locally, if anything’s open or available (if not, I’ll hold them for next year), and I’m seeing a similar lesson, but in slight variation.

Like my figure practice work, I need “something” that looks at least a little like a heart, lol! ❤️ Yet, I also want them slightly different from each other – in color, texturally, and in some intangible manner. What I’m finding with these is niche visual patterns I like and think work well yet are repeatable with variations. Some variation-ideas are presenting themselves to me slowly, with each new variation, suggesting shapes and forms I hadn’t contemplated to begin with at all! I’ll eventually show them later into February I think 😊

Now, with these two watercolor samples, themselves variations off a 2001 oil of mine, which is off a 2001 photo I took in Giverny, France, what’s emerging is something entirely different and unexpected.

From a probably predictable sense of boredom, repeating the same motif, I’m forced to improvise my technique to stay interested. I thought just switching from oil to watercolor alone would be enough. It’s not. And I still plan on doing a gouache (in-progress) and an acrylic! So we’ll see how far this goes.

But the interesting surprising thing to me is – as I loosen up more and more in implementation, I’m reminded of – visually and with memories – how I painted with oils in the early to mid 2000s.

Layering, scumbling, scrubbing, stabbing, layers over layers. Of bridges.

What’s different is, this time, I’m varying my images with varying mediums – watercolors, gouache, acrylics, and maybe even eventually oil.

I think, when I next post again in this little series, I’ll have my gouache, and it’s beginning to look more and more like Walking Bridge Zilker Park above, at least in terms of texture & expressiveness.

And I do think too, as I get past the rustiness of old painting habits + combine that with the innovations I’m discovering in all the above mediums I’ve been trying since oil, there may be some interesting pieces. I hope so anyway 😊

Plus, as per the tweet below, my digital image work off my originals will also give rise to new physical art work I can do. It’s a nice interactive loop —

And then, I believe, I’ll be ready to do something combining my new love of figure work, with new expressiveness particular to all these wonderful mediums now so abundantly available (in numbers of colors and forms, ie, brush pens, tubes, pans etc) not available to me even a couple decades ago.

It’s an exciting time to be creative I think 💕

Take care everyone, stay healthy!

Adan
This series – Monet’s Garden April Rain in Giverny –
https://felipeadanlerma.com/tag/monets-garden-april-rain-in-giverny/

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Direct link to the image in above tweet at Fine Art America –
https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/featured/monets-garden-april-rain-in-giverny-watercolor-v1-digital-felipe-adan-lerma.html

Monet’s Garden, my Google search

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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/