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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Aging Beauty Queen

Aging Beauty Queen  watercolor & gouache   20.25 x 12
On trips to see our family, I never include huge plans for art-making.  So many loved ones to visit.  So many new things to see.  On this recent trip, my one teeny weeny goal was to sketch our new granddaughter....and then maybe to turn it into a small watercolor.  The sketch is dear but unfinished.  Walking through the streets of the Mission district in San Francisco has its rewards, however.  The top half of this aging Victorian home became my first subject back in the studio.  Much detail was distilled and subdued in order to put focus on the fire escape and its shadow.  I used body color in the sky and a few strokes within the structure in order to contrast with the remaining transparency.  I believe that this process makes the transparent passages even more so...even more powerful. 

While urban life within can, at times, seem romantic and magical, I can honestly say that I am quite satisfied with life inside my quiet studio.  I have become a curious onlooker.