Watercolor?!

Every artist faces stumbling blocks and has to choose whether to let those blocks stop them or inspire them to push forward into new growth. Watercolor is one of my stumbling blocks and this week I decided it was time to get busy and figure out this tricky medium. Most artists I know will say it's one of the hardest mediums. if you create a mark you don't like, it can be very hard to cover it up, or hide. 

So "this here barn" is my first attempt at a more realistic watercolor approach (as opposed to the washes and fun color I usually use it for). There's a lovely red tractor in the barn, but the photo doesn't show it.

There are definitely things I would change if I could do it over...BUT I CAN'T because it's watercolor -_- (If it was oil paint, I could just keep pushing forward) 

11"x14" watercolor on paper

"I Like the Tree, the Horse, the Barn and Especially the Clouds" 

(How's that for a title?!)

"Who Got the Last Word?"

     It used to be that I became uncomfortable when a client would ask me to create something outside of my usual style. Mainly because I worried that I might be pushing my luck as far as my ability to match their vision. Some part of me has developed more of a sense of adventure with my art which is infinitely more fun because the same challenges that used to cause hesitation now bring excitement. So much of creating a piece of artwork is about being willing to see where the idea takes you and how you will respond to its challenges.

     This painting was created to accompany another "Dali-esque" painting, surreal in style, that my client had and wanted a companion piece (in ink and watercolor) to hang in the same room. Surrealism is most definitely a far stretch from my more realistic comfort zone. 

     I played with some different ideas and ended up with a tree that had somewhat of a facial structure. I really can't pinpoint what made me think of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but I liked the idea of capturing it as something other than an apple tree. Eve at this moment might be pondering whether she should listen to what God told her or give into the temptation to choose otherwise. Outside the Garden of Eden story, there is a tension that alludes to similar choices we individuals make on a daily basis. The butterfly hovering by the tree is symbolic of the resurrection, reflected in 1 Corinthians 15 (MSG):

Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?

It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!

Trio of Boots

     My client snapped an endearing photo of her husband's and sons' boots all lined up together - being a mother myself, I knew just how she felt looking at those smaller boots next to her husband's and thinking "How fast they grow!" Wanting to capture that moment, she asked me to paint the trio of boots as a Father's Day gift. These are not fancy, cowboy boots...they are working, exploring, feet protection for guys and it was important to me as an artist to reflect that in their texture and worn feeling. I'm sure lots of great father and son memories were made in these boots!

“When you see someone putting on their 

Big Boots, 

you can be pretty sure that

an Adventure is going to happen.”

― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh