Relaxed Play with Watercolor

"An Afternoon near the Dragon Stones",
watercolor, double letter format

 After painting many water color pictures with painstakingly fine structures, I felt like taking a rough paper quality and paint in a swift and more spontaneous manner.

"Broken Column", watercolor, double letter format

It is an amazing experience to paint with a French watercolor brush. I did not pay that much for it, I got one from the kind people with the art material shop for whom I write a blog.

Field, Boulders, Sky.

Another watercolor picture finished, size: double letter. Title: "Three Boulders in a Field"

How many UFOs?

Another version of the UFO theme. Could be a quilt, couldn't it? Painting is faster.

Avoid a Landscape

Sure I did not want a landscape, but okay, it is a hill and the sky -- inevitably. You can't keep human eyes from seeing what isn't there. We are no robots. Yet, something works out fine, and that is the "transperancy" of the "boulders". Are they heavy or light? Solid or translucent?  Or can you see through the layers of the soil? (I am very fascinated by acheological methods of research without disturbing the ground.)

And now something completely different

Quilting can be so boring sometimes. I guess I'll continue my work on the Bauhaus quilt while watching TV. -- In the meantime, my favourite painting technique -- watercolour -- keeps me from going to bed. I'm a night painter. My surprised remark "oups! Four in the morning!" wasn't heard by anyone. Fortunately.




What got me into this painting mood to finish no II and paint the complete no III? It was the wonderful narrative language of Adalbert Stifter in his short novel "Bergkristall". Listening to audio books like this and painting without the breaks the day brings, gets me into a trance that replaces sleep.

The result was this series of 3 submarine scenes. Here they are. And I'm working on no 4, but not more shall be said.

Let there be color

Bringing color into our lives is an urgent task. Now that Washington DC is flooded with loads of snow. I'm working on the issue of the radiant pyramid. This is not a finished picture; I mirrored the finished half in order to give you an impression of the plan.
I used a triangle grid which I created on my computer and printed out on watercolor paper.

Oh, forget the boring things I wrote on our winter! I just heard that the East of the USA is being afflicted by a blizzard. Hope you are all unter cozy roofs with well-filled fridges, and remain online.

Due to our climate, temperatures move around the freezing point all the time, up at days, down at night. The roads get sanded, that's a matter of safety, and so should the ways for pedestrians. House owners are under strict obligation to sand their paths in front of their houses.
On public walks, the situation is different.
I have to cross spaces of blank ice. 4 years ago, I fell on the ice and had a ligament rupture which meant I had to wear a support for 6 weeks. As I don't drive, I walk vast spaces -- if possible. Now, I'm under arrest.
I guess I'll have all food from the supermarket sent home to me until the ice melts.

Working in Series

Another Variation of the "Courts & Towers" theme. Watercolor, 5.9x6.3".
Background still white. I found I rather spoilt the last one by adding a background. It looked okay before I did, but yet it seemed a bit cluttered. So I painted a new version and tried backgrounds by alternating the picture with photoshop el.
These paintings look very quilty indeed, but I have to paint them because it is faster, and I cannot sew yet, that hand just won't get better, and my elegant glove (which I still like because it prevents pain) is rather a nuissance if I try to sew.
That's why I have to renounce on cloth which is a shame. There is nothing like a hand quilted surface. When I lie under my bird quilt, I stroke it, thinking, okay, I did that, and if I will never hand quilt again.
Painting is fun. I love it. I'm working on another piece already.
If I could paint the backgrund as evenly as my electronic brush does, it will look either like this or like this. Would you like to tell me your choice?