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Watercolor

Initially, I found watercolor to be an extremely unforgiving medium. My earlier watercolor paintings are uptight and in my opinion I did not use enough water. I spent 6 years away from the medium after I felt I couldn’t progress anymore. When I returned to it I had a different perspective and pushed myself to converse with the medium.

My philosophy on drawing styles loosened over the years and carried into my approach with watercolor. Being less precious, by working quickly, made a tremendous difference.

I would encourage people to put more effort toward this medium even though it is frustrating and one of the more challenging. I believe it gives much benefit in your other areas of creative output - if you put the time in.

Self-Assessment

Watercolor become a focus of mine in 2022 because I saw it as the most portable of all the painting mediums. I then started ‘sketching’ with watercolor in public and put less pressure on myself. I gained momentum and built confidence quickly through fast-paced observational exercises.

Having a watercolor set and paintbrushes on me at most times is an affordable means of expressing myself in public which is necessary to survive the moment. The immediacy of visually expressing yourself on the go is a perk I see in water colors over any other painting medium.

Acrylic

I prefer acrylic to oil simply because I feel like I have more control because it dries faster.

The below paintings are from 2015 and earlier.

Oil Paintings

Oil painting is messy and expensive.

The below paintings were all created before 2012. It has been over a decade since I’ve revisited this medium and I have no current desire to revisit it…

Bleach Painting

I absolutely love the immediacy of this medium -

I love how cheap it is - and how challenging it can be to control the results.

Layering Watercolor

Unlike most of my paintings, this was not painted from life.

The painting is a replica of “Man On the Bed: A.A. Number Three”

I used a projector to trace the image in a faint wash and then built the scene up over several sessions. This is not my prefered method of painting - but I am happy with the results.