Why watercolor?
People ask me this all the time… like I have a choice [grin]
Don’t worry… I’ve asked myself this question a number of times over the years and still can’t come up with a decent answer.
I mean… it’s not like I’ve never wanted to quit. I have. And I did once… for a whole year!
During my year of self imposed [watercolor] exile… I painted only in acrylic and oil with the occasional charcoal sketch tossed in. But I never got over that empty aching feeling whenever I picked up a brush!
Something about watercolor keeps me coming back for more. Like a moth to the flame… the brush to the paper… the water to the paint *sigh*
The best explanation I can come up with is that watercolor has a certain magic that other mediums lack. There is something intangible about it. Something you can’t quite put your finger on. You know what it is… but you just can’t quite explain it.
There is a fluidity in the watercolor process… an expectation of the unexpected… an excitement in the impossible challenge.
This is a serious addiction I know [and watercolor artists the world over will agree!]
Watercolor is the quintessential challenge.
“If you can’t handle me at my worst…
then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best” – Marilyn Munroe
It has a well earned reputation for being difficult. But to me… watercolor is clever and brilliant and challenging and rewarding all rolled into one. But that’s not to say that just because it might come across all sophisticated and sassy… it can’t also be cruel and terrible and unforgiving and flat [and downright awful] all at the same time… and I might take a moment to focus on that.
Florida artist Jean Grastorf has described it like this… “every watercolor painting goes through an ugly stage” and I believe her. There comes a time in the making of every watercolor when the painting begins to look flat and uninteresting… tired and overworked [note: I'm talking about the painting here NOT the artist - the artist is never tired - and ALWAYS interesting - grin]
You start to second guess yourself… and wonder if you should toss it in and start again. But the beauty of watercolor is the number of times a perfectly good watercolor is discovered on the easel the morning after the night before… after it has had the chance to dry. Magic eh?
“Some people dream in technicolor… others dream in watercolor”
Watercolor requires us to trust the process more than any other medium. It demands that we submit to the paint… and the water… and the chemistry of both… and to allow what will be to simply BE.
We have to get out of the way and let it do it’s thing… and sometimes that’s the hardest thing to do!
This is where I think WATERCOLOR and LIFE have a lot in common.
Maybe that’s why I like it so much?
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Cartoon Pen & Watercolour
Cartoon Pen & Watercolour 
Exercise from the 2008 workshop – Taking a Line for a Walk
