The End of a Series and the Start of a New One

I have painted about 20 impressionistic pictures of my aunts from a photo taken at a picnic in 1945, and I think my most recent one may be the last of that series. It captures everything pretty much to my satisfaction.

Many thoughts of nonobjective paintings have occupied my brain lately, so I started with these two. The first was painted with Mijello Mission Watercolors, and the colors are very intense, mostly transparent and staining. The second was painted with Daniel Smith paints, including several granulating colors. Both are based on grids.



















These two were much fun to paint, and I could have kept doodling on them for hours. I had to force myself to choose a stopping point. While I love the effect of the granulation in the second, I think I prefer the luminosity of those transparents in the first. 

It was also fun to get samples of new types of watercolors at Watercolor West, and in addition to the Mission and Daniel Smith paints, we tried Golden's new QoR watercolors, too, and they were beautiful. Although Christopher Schink always tells us that materials aren't that important, that our artistic intent is what's important, I love new paints and brushes!