I have tried to love shadows.....,

Garden Bench   mixed/paper   20.5 x 27

those areas of soft transparency where cools and warms play together and the reality of the moment is defined by the arc of the sun.  In fact, I love paintings by other artists where the story being told is about the shadows themselves, the objects that cast them being forced into supporting roles.  I also love back-lit paintings by other artists.  I just don't love doing them.  For me, the transparency has a place at the center of interest, in the story I am telling.  For me, opacity must play a counter-movement.  And so, "Garden Bench" started out as a pure watercolor.  It remained in my studio unresolved for a year or more.  I wanted an overall feel of chalkiness, of layer upon layer.  I relish the unexpected play of paint on the surface....the spattering, the marring, the dribbling.  Further work in gouache helped, but the resolution was still out of reach.  The work was satisfactorily completed in pastel.

"Garden Bench" is a mixed media work.  It simply had to be done.

ah, the best laid plans...

Garden Bench   mixed/paper   20.5 x 27

We need to be flexible.  No painting ever unfolds exactly the way we see it in our minds. Sometimes there isn't even a plan. For some unknown reason, watercolorists have a difficult time adding other mediums to the mix, as transparent watercolor, the pure way to work, is considered by some to be preferable.  But sometimes the limitations of the medium snag the progress.  "Garden Bench" started as a large watercolor.  I didn't have a preconceived notion of its appearance.  But I knew that I wanted the end result to have a sun-parched, chalky feel.  At some point in its evolution, I added gouache.  That helped, but I seemed to spiral on and on without arriving.  Enter Christmas season and the painting was put away for reconsideration.  Come February, I had had it.  What did I have to lose? Pastel was added, and washed down with water and a large brush.  The resultant painting had the feel that I wanted.  I arrived.....through the back door.