Watercolor, the Blank Page & Life

I’m starting a couple of new watercolors, the first two of twelve new paintings I plan on having ready for an exhibit in September.  
In my mind, I can conceive of how I want them to look, but I know once the painting starts and the watercolor starts to do its own magical thing, they will turn into something a little different than the imagined.  I start with a solid drawing, which I then transfer to my blank stretched paper, and then I start painting.  Just like it’s a good thing to go forth into your life with some sort of plan, I find it’s important for me to start with a good drawing, one that is drafted well, and follows compositional rules – it’s important to start with solid bones.

The beauty comes when the painting starts.  Adding the color, fleshing out those compositional bones, taking on the challenges of the unpredictable that watercolor presents, gives the painting life.  The painting becomes an organic amalgamation of vision, chance, and irony, resulting in what was meant to be, and what I’m meant to learn.

And that’s alright with me.