August 21, 2021 – Tiptoeing Back Into Art with Prep For Potential Watercolor, Mother and Child

I’ve a relatively short post today, mainly to show the culmination of some preliminary prep steps toward a new watercolor on paper, Mother and Child.

Much can be made of course of my mom’s very recent passing and the effect that has had on the development of this image, and of course the title – and it’d all or mostly would be true. That’s ok….

The process of picking choosing new components, then sizing them, to “fit” into what is basically the top 1/3 or so of the Barton Springs watercolor line art poster series I started developing back just before summer. This new top third itself has some digitally hand drawn line extensions, plus – the top left side and the cloud like lines top right – were clipped then reposted into the digital file on their own layers, letting me “size & stretch” them more appropriate to this potential new work. Here those two layers are seen with the rest of the scene’s box “unchecked” thus making it indivisible —

The “mother” is line art I developed from a photo, and the child playing in the water was created the same way, but I don’t have a post on it at this time. I will add the child figure was drawn with a lighter color digital brush, and when I added it (after flipping it horizontally) into a layer among those for this work, it was too light, so I “burned” the lines to more nearly match the mother. Though neither figure fits the density or intensity of line color (dark) of most of the landscape, I intend them to standout from that landscape, to some degree. I just don’t know how much yet. One experimental work I like, with acrylic, with the same female figure, is Testing the Water. A blog post on that work is here – https://felipeadanlerma.com/2021/08/10/august-10-2021-my-newest-art-upload-fineartamerica-testing-the-water-acrylic-on-canvas/ .

Though I realize I’m not firing full strength yet back into my creative work with paint, I do feel I am inching my way back in at a pace that’s allowing me to assimilate what I’m doing with figure work now, and the feelings I having lost my mom, at least here on this earth ❤️

I am working on some parallel figure work I’d thought to serialize over several posts, but just not ready to move past such preliminary work it wouldn’t make much visual sense yet. Especially since I haven’t shown myself I’m on the right track to begin with, lol!

Essentially I’ve taken 3 shots of a walking figure. Readers may recall I posted ( in 3 parts ) about how quickly the light changes from shadow or full sun into dappled light then back again. So these 3 shots I’ve chosen to experiment with are – in shadow, in strong light, and in dappled light. I want to know (I know it can be done), but I want to know, can I do a semblance of that, creatively, but painting (digitally or in pigment, but preferably both) convincing pleasing dappled shadows into the sun blown shot, convincing pleasing dappled light onto the shadowed shot, and make them as pleasing to look at as the dappled light shot. Once I have enough to show, whether I succeed or not, even if it’s just the beginning of the learning curve for me, I’ll post about that. I don’t though, have a timetable for that yet. I’m still asking myself, “What Makes Dappled Light Work? It Almost Always Looks Good!” And, while still searching for the answer, tiptoeing, literally it seems, into the above project, Mother and Child —

Wish me luck – stay well 😊

Adan

My Related Posts Here On My Blog

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

My Amazon search for “how to paint figures” –
https://amzn.to/3soHPXu

My Latest Posts On My Website!

• New Painting Series – Island Land Trail Sunset Vermont 2026 – Gaining Perspective About My Experience of Painting Doing Series of SeriesFebruary 9, 2026
  It’s a welcome surprise to realize how rich one’s life experience can be, even within seemingly single short time frames themselves! I feel this new small study, with its misty soft blues and distant vistas is a nice reflection of that.
• Voter ID – ReVisiting John R. Lewis’ 2021 Voting Rights Proposal That Failed – What’s Different Now – And Why Not Debate it With the Current 2026 Voting Rights – Together?February 3, 2026
  This is a short post I seldom write up. A political post. Understandly so. There’s a lot of the usual “they” don’t want this or that now talk from this or that political party.
• Are We at Our Kent State Moment? – One by One the Women Came and Said, It’s Time 2026 9×12 acrylic on canvas panel – by Adan – @SaatchiArt 😊January 31, 2026
  “I still vividly remember the images on TV 1970 of students my age shot and on the ground during a demonstration against the Vietnam War”
• 1st Cabin Light Finished Painting 2026January 28, 2026
  Saturations of sky and earth roll and rest spin like a first slow dance in junior high – middle school the grandkids laugh and tell me they think I make all this up just to be funny 😊
• 1st Cabin Light Study 2 2025January 24, 2026
  Yes. The new day has begun….
• 1st Cabin Light Study 1 2025January 22, 2026
  I wasn’t sure when to stop but my own waves of self, conscious of the need to rest joined the earth before me, an image shaped by pigments from itself.
• I was born at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius and I’m Very Angry, but….January 19, 2026
  I now see a wonderful opportunity and challenge in creating series of captured memories from my photos, and exploring/mining them for what I both remember, feel, and discover new ❤️

*
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/