Magical Mists: Monday Watercolors
Monday morning. ‘Magical Mists’ rise from the shoreline thinning to veils of vapor. With a mere blink, a flicker of an eye and they have vanished. Watercolor’s Cobalt teal blue teases, upon water and sky. While the peach tinted umber settles deep into the paper’s tangled textures.
Magical Mists watercolors
Magical Mists, Watercolors
This delightfully colored and textured abstract watercolor seemingly creates the mists by magic!
Material Used
Cold Press Watercolor paper
Rekab 320s Watercolor brush size #2
Watercolor Painting Process and Techniques
The Fun Part!! Molding paste!
I prepared the watercolor paper by slathering on molding paste using a palette knife and then let it dry for about 8 hours. I did several at time, so I could be ‘choosy’ and pick the one I liked best.
Next, debating, what colors to use.
Its kind of like choosing which outfit to wear out to dinner! What fun! I chose a limited palette in cool colors: cobalt teal blue, cobalt violet, burnt umber.
Music played.
The tempo was soothing but not slow. Not rough, nor jarring.
I applied the cobalt teal first on Dampened paper.
Then, while all was still damp and movable, added cobalt violet next, last was the burnt umber in a Darker tone. That had to be quite dark in order for there to be Depth in the scene. As it is, I can see Light, Mid, and Dark tones…. so all is good there.
Last, while still on the damp side – I grabbed a Skewer. Using the skewer like a little fragile drawing stick, created curving, twisting, leaning trunks and branches.
Just, not too many. For this scene to work out, Less IS More.
Inspired by these!
I often wonder, “WHAT, makes the artist tick?
What prompted this response from the artist? Why did they choose that color? That texture? What was their day like? What was their life like? What books had they been reading? Do they enjoy strolling out in the forest?”
Do you wonder these things?
Its because I want to know the artist. To try to sense just a little of what they were feeling in order to understand their method of expressing their voice more fully.
My Inspirations for the Magical Mists of Watercolor can be summed up in these: color, mood, expression, walking outdoors.
*I want to make the viewer feel something.
Magical Mists watercolors
Stranger to Blue Water
dark and dusty
painted on the sky
misty taste of moonshine
teardrop in my eye
My musical inspiration – “Take Me Home” – John Denver
As I write the post, its Sunday evening.
We’ve just gotten back from a lovely Scandinavian restaurant, where we celebrated a lovely anniversary.
The lone musician played. And as we left, he heard my request……….. and sang, “stranger to blue water, dark and dusty, painted on the sky, …… country roads, take me home.”
More Inspirations
I was also inspired by my recent Violet purple creation. I wanted to now reverse the intensity, to desaturate.
To try an attempt at subduing and desaturating bright bold color, ie the purple in Vibrant Violet to see how I could manage it. Can I? Did I?
I was inspired to try to create a sense of delicacy and Gentleness.
A sense of ephemeral, of floating and mists upon the water.
Then, I was inspired by the massive web like weaving of foliage I’d experienced –
the tangles and patterns of foliage seen on my most recent Dry Bushland walk.
Bushland Tangles
Foliage Misted Tangles
Was Magical Mists a REAL ‘touchable’ place? Done on location?
No.
Does the beauty, truth and value of a thing, diminish if it is intangible?
Conclusion
What has been the most important element here for you? I’d love to know.
The specific materials I have used?
The specific steps and processes I went through?
Or is it what drove and motivated me to create this specific, one off, piece of art work?
This was one of my most favorite posts to create.
Not just painting the art image, or taking the photos out in the bushland; but the entire and long….process of this post was extremely enjoyable.
And I would LOVE it, if you shared it and spread it around in your ‘social networking’ travels.
My Appreciation. Thanks! Debi