October 01, 2021 – Sunflower in Dappled Light Study 1, #Watercolor on Paper – 4th Rendition; Lessons on the Evolution of This Painting Study

Sunflower in Dappled Light Study 1 turned out to belie itself in one important regard – it shoulda been a larger canvas work.

Where it did shine, for me, creatively, is the dazzling combination of styles I managed to squeeze out of me and onto paper to try and get the expression I wanted for this small floral study – with watercolor! Even the thicker textured whites, usually all done in M. Graham’s white gouache, was via Sennelier’s Chinese White.

Though ackward for what I’m used to, in terms of selecting a style to paint – having masking fluid stripped washes surround one of my printed line art drawings, then encasing that drawing with layered washes, textured overlays, and outright oil-like dabs of paint, well, sincerely – I was flashing stylistic memories from the 80s (acrylics) and early 2000s (oils) – and – still had the lovely watercolor washes around it!

So what was the main lesson I learned from this study?

That I can relax and let-flow and combine my creative impulses far more than I’ve allowed myself so far – and – make it work! At least in the sense that I like what I see happening and at the finish.

Will that always be the case? Doubt it, lol!

Will any future work done along those lines ever be as good as some of my previous work?

Don’t know. But, would be very surprised if one or two didn’t in turn surprise me by being so ❤️

So, no denying this 9×12 watercolor study sure took the long train round getting there, especially compared to my previous (also 1st) watercolor study in this series ( see pic below ) but this new image combined, somewhat successfully at least, lol, quite a variety of creative impulses I like. Can’t complain about that – kinda like a mixed media of my favorite styles ☺️

Gotta admit though, I like the dappling on Walking in Dappled Light Study 1 below better than in my Sunflower Study.

But if I can squeeze out a decent image with as many styles and textured as I used in Sunflower, there’s gotta be hope this (dappled-ness) will get worked in eventually too – but on another sunflower study. This one is done, lol! 🙏

Not sure how often I’d want to be driven going this far down the experiment road, lot of bumps and ruts along with the amazing scenery! But glad I pushed myself to go ahead and do this one ❤️

Stay well everyone! Have faith in your creative abilities. Having faith means you can see the finish intuitively. And anything else you can add to that effort is, I think, one heckuva big bonus!! 💕

Adan

ps – my series of posts detailing the process for creating Sunflower in Dappled Light Study 1 can be seen at – https://felipeadanlerma.com/tag/sunflower-in-dappled-light-study-1/

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Thanks again, everyone! 😊

Adan

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