Saturday, February 2, 2008

A Productive Evening

Tonight I finished this watercolor that I have sloooowly been working on. It is unlike me to start something and not finish it in a few days...because I am impatient. I just wasn't feeling motivatecd. I read my new watercolor book Making Color Sing before I started it, and although it inspired me to start something, I think I was so wrapped up in doing everything by the book that I wasn't having fun.

Today on my lunch break I ventured into Barnes and Noble and saw that they had the BIG Chuck Close book that I've been wanting for a while. It is huge and heavy and has every painting he ever did. I bought it...I just had to! I couldn't make myself put it down. Luckily I am a Barnes and Noble Member and saved 20 %!

Although his artwork is completely different from the piece I was working on...just reading about him inspired me. He faced so many challenges, figured out how to make things work for him and did what he was good at. I like to see how his work progressed. From monochromatic to color and then beyond.

After reading my new book for a while I couldn't wait to create something myself so I finished my watercolor in a matter of hours. I still referred to my Making Color Sing book, but I was much more relaxed for some reason and let loose a little. I think that is the best way to go about it for me. I went from almost giving up on it to actually kind of liking it. There you have it. I'll leave you with a neat Chuck Close quote that I found that reminded me of why going by the book doesn't always end up the best-

“If you ask yourself a personal enough question, your response is more likely to be personal, and that means that if you get yourself into trouble, no one else's answers are going to be applicable, and you'll be flying by the seat of your pants and you'll have to come up with something.”- Chuck Close

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow Em! I'm so proud that you are painting! The colors really do "sing" as Ms. Dobie says... neat! I like it! We went to Houston today to the fish store and to TA. I needed some of the colors she recommends also. Thought I had them all, but was mistaken. Now, I am ready to set up a new palette to try her colors. You are ahead of me! Maybe I will have something to post for you soon.. U R AWESOME!
Love, M.