September 07, 2021 – “Figures in a Landscape Study” – I’m Calling it Done! (but I know it’s not)

Detail horizontal crop, Figures in a Landscape Study ©Felipe Adan Lerma August 2021
Detail horizontal crop, Figures in a Landscape Study ©Felipe Adan Lerma August 2021

About two weeks ago, I posted, “Tiptoeing Back Into Art with Prep For Potential Watercolor, Mother and Child” – about a new watercolor on paper I’m now calling, “Figures in a Landscape Study” – and I’m calling it done! Finished! Outta my sight! 😊 But, as per this post, I know, I know – deep in my creative heart, and not even necessarily too deeply when I feel rested, that, yes, okay – it’s really isn’t done….

But it’s still a study, even if it does end up finished, lol!

Why? ‘Cause I’m learning too much from it, regardless it’s final status….

It began like this –

Line art for Mother and Child, potential watercolor on paper ©Felipe Adan Lerma Aug 2021
Line art for Mother and Child, potential watercolor on paper ©Felipe Adan Lerma Aug 2021

Went off base like this —

Figures in a Landscape Study ©Felipe Adan Lerma August 2021
Figures in a Landscape Study ©Felipe Adan Lerma August 2021

A good beginning, even with the figure got out of control but, for me, at my current level, with watercolor, something I couldn’t correct it, at least the figure by itself; so I began adjusting the surroundings

Figures in a Landscape Study ©Felipe Adan Lerma August 2021
Figures in a Landscape Study ©Felipe Adan Lerma August 2021

Which was better. But by this time, my initiating image in my mind wasn’t recoverable, and I asked myself what went wrong, what could I do differently “next” time. How so could this image be salvaged more?

Several answers to the latter were the use of cropped variations —

Detail vertical crop, Figures in a Landscape Study ©Felipe Adan Lerma August 2021
Detail vertical crop, Figures in a Landscape Study ©Felipe Adan Lerma August 2021
Detail horizontal crop, Figures in a Landscape Study ©Felipe Adan Lerma August 2021
Detail horizontal crop, Figures in a Landscape Study ©Felipe Adan Lerma August 2021

Maybe most importantly, I realized I’d tried to replicate on paper, good 140lb watercolor paper, via a much smaller sized figure, what I’d discovered and created on light molding paste very recently, with acrylic, on light molding paste, on a larger, 16×20, canvas —

Testing the Water ©Felipe Adan Lerma 16x20 acrylic on canvas over Golden's light molding paste https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/featured/testing-the-water-felipe-adan-lerma.html
Testing the Water ©Felipe Adan Lerma 16×20 acrylic on canvas over Golden’s light molding paste
https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/featured/testing-the-water-felipe-adan-lerma.html

The paint-handling-shift on differing surfaces caught me off guard. Not to mention one of the 2 works on canvas with light molding paste was via acrylic. Self sabotage? Naw. Just different 😊

At some point I’ll probably “lean” toward one or other paint medium and one or other surface support.

Right now I’m looking at how watercolor & acrylic work differently for me for figures, and both work very differently on paper vs light molding paste covered canvas.

I haven’t given up working “Figures in a Landscape Study.” I thought I had, lol! But looking over it again as I tried and tried capturing a good pic, with several days past when I’d given up on it and declared it dead, uh, a study, lol! I think I might could find myself tinkering with it some more. As I imagine the 8 year old would say, “Well, it is a study….” ❤️

Once I do some more on this study, for better or worse, I’ll post again.

Stay well everyone! 😊

Adan

Direct link to my blog post above 😊
https://felipeadanlerma.com/2021/08/28/august-26-2021-experimenting-developing-a-figure-sketch-continued/

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Thanks again, everyone! 😊

Adan

Artist self portrait - photo of Felipe Adan Lerma on converted railway track bike ferry for the Island Line Trail connecting mainland Vermont to South Hero on Lake Champlain.

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7 comments

  1. […] I went back to a blog post about one of my watercolors on paper I’d titled, “Figureshttps://felipeadanlerma.com/2021/09/07/september-04-2021-figures-in-a-landscape-study-im-calling-it-… in a Landscape Study” – I’m Calling it Done! (but I know it’s not) – knowing it […]

    Liked by 1 person

    • Totally agree! It’s been an interesting shift for me, doing a few small full focus figure paintings, but mostly inserting/including a small figure or two within what I’ve been doing for decades, landscapes, to focussing more and more on the figure, the person. I just realized/remembered, the only full size (30×40) canvas figures I’ve ever done were two of my wife in acrylic in the early 80s! 😊

      Like

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