Eclosion...

We Are So Fragile   watercolor/mixed   12.5 x 20

Tom is retired from his responsible job.  Now he paints.  And he goes at it with an unequivocal energy and work ethic.  He plays with different responses to each week's assignment and often comes up with more than one painting which he compares.  He is struggling to release the "Tom Within".  And, I might add, he hopes that this self-definition will happen soon.  This struggle for self-definition has continued for me throughout the years.  There is no formula.  No secret for success.  Just lots of work.  Tom was elated with his work "Luna Moth" and, for him, describes the way he wishes to paint....the Tom.  It has become the yardstick.  I can see why.  It is a beautiful  contrast of the seen and the unseen.  The solid and the ephemeral.  The organic and the straight. A beautiful play of color temperatures, shapes and values.  We all need a measure for success....the painting that magically comes together.  And if it happens once, it can happen again.  The emerging moth.  Eclosion.

We Are So Fragile...

We Are So Fragile   watercolor/mixed   12.5 x 20

My own response to the big bug assignment is a zebra butterfly seen in the Florida Everglades.  Dangerously, I had a preconceived notion as to the outcome of the work and could actually see it in my brain.  Vibrant silky blue.  And I followed suite, only to realize that from a distance, the work did not read at all.  I know so many butterflies....fragile people on whom the workings of the world are very very hard.  Sensitive feelings.  Thin skin.  And so I proceeded with this idea in mind, first by painting a "hole" in the wing and by printing a leafy band.  The artists in my class evaluated the work at that point and offered various suggestions.  Most liked the feel of the work but validated the readability problem.  My solution became the opacity of the printing medium done on top of the vibrant silky blue.  I like the way that this application implies foliage which was Marian's solution.  It added a bit of decoration on the right side to balance the leafy band which was Mo's solution.  Carl noticed the "face" on the top of the butterfly head....as nature intended in order to ward off predators.  Push and pull.  Transparency and opacity once again.  Fragility.