Experiments and Disasters

Camellia from March 2012

The first winter I spent in Portland, there was a simple camellia tree by my bus stop.  I was living on disability, needed to move and was getting training through vocational rehab to get a clerical job.  I had an hour long bus ride to my school and had to be there by 7 a.m.  Every morning, I grumbled my way to the stop at 5:45 and that camellia would offer me beautiful red blossom and pad my path with petals. 

I was not very familiar with camellias, since they don't thrive in Memphis, where I spent my first 46 years.  The winter blooms became little beacons for me and I've loved attempting to draw them over the past six years.

Monday's journal page testing colors & misspelling camellias

I've been experimenting with watercolor and yupo, synthetic plastic paper, so when I sighted my beloved camellia's earlier this week, I thought it might be fun to do a loose painting of them on yupo.  The main thing with yupo is that it sits on top of the paper, doesn't absorb, so the colors should be vibrant and the textural possibilities are infinite.  I think it was this infinity that ruined me -- the paint was too watery and the forms didn't pop like I wanted.  I decided to go back over them with my colored pencils and just made a mess with some semblance of flowers:

Watercolor and colored pencil on yupo -- The Great Camellia Disaster

Oh well. 

The other project this week was to draw a winter tree.  It started with an idea in my journal:

The Tree in the Seed

But as I was out walking on a rainy winter day, I marveled at the energy within the trunks of trees. I was attracted to the way dark green mosses gave the trees an emerald glow. But it also seemed there was something going on inside them.

I enjoy drawing trees but haven't quite mastered their spindly branches and shape relationships.  It doesn't matter so much, the more I draw or paint them the more I understand them. 

I was still obsessed with my yupo paper and decided to do a winter tree with a warm core, trying to show the energy that seems to be radiating  within the old giants as we get closer to Spring.  It wasn't entirely successful, but it was easier to work with the way the paint flowed since I was not looking for precise shapes.  So this was my most successful project this week:

Spirit Tree watercolor & colored pencil on yupo 9x12"

Next painting will be on paper.  I may paint a larger  Tree in the Seed -- the journal entry is just a thumbnail.

I'm posting this at the Paint Party Friday site, if you want to see more artwork, there's a lot there along with an interview with Denise Thewissen.  It's always a very inspiring site.

I have joined a picture book challenge and hope to have a draft/dummy of a picture book drawn by June.  My assignment for the week is character development, not just in the narrative but in the illustrations.  This is a totally new and exciting project.  I hope to develop my ability to draw and paint people and keep them consistent throughout a series.  I also have to learn to create scenes.  I may fail spectacularly, but I'll learn a lot and have fun along the way.

 Thanks for stopping by and keep creating.   

Remember, an artistic disaster is easier on the soul than an unmet need to express yourself.