Fat Tuesday...the use of dark values to enhance...Mardi Gras

Fat Tuesday   Watercolor   9.25 x 13.6

 Recently in watercolor class, we designed paintings around the theme of Mardi Gras.  Here in the north, this rambunctious holiday passes relatively unnoticed.  My sister-in-law Ann lives in Louisiana and is involved in the preparation and celebration of this notorious fete.  She decorates her home for Mardi Gras as one does for Christmas or Easter.  This theme provided the opportunity for painting both sequins and feathers.  My sequins were painted with a round pretty much one-by-one, then later smushed together in spots and glazed in others to avoid a speckled appearance.  My original feathers (few of which are seen in the finished work) were painted with a new split-hair brush, a gift from mon mari.  Although I really liked the looseness and watery appearance of the work after the first session, I wanted to go for the gusto...the darks.  My work is all about the "feel" of the subject, the mood.  I wanted to include the darkness of the night and a bit of the raciness of Mardi Gras.  The darks were added by painting negatively and rhythmically.  Fat Tuesday.  Drama.