(…for the most part)
I made the deadline, at least for one of the watercolors that I started. (The landscape is just going to have to wait a bit.) I find out on Saturday whether it gets accepted into the VWS show.
This is the first painting of a series that I’ve been ruminating about for a couple of years. It took me that long to get thoroughly burnt out on tack and harness details permeating through my draft horse series. I love those paintings but rendering all that brass and nickel was killing off my sense of humor.
This series is a complete pivot. Instead of quiet, bucolic Vermont horse life, I want to explore the gritty, high energy of working urban neighborhoods. Cue in Philadelphia’s South Side. The whole feel of the place intrigues me, from the plethora of languages yelling over traffic to the plethora of foods whose odors cascade through an entire range of pleasantries (summertime in particular). It is the quintessential opposite of my brave little state, which is probably why I’m so captivated by it.
I originally titled it First Apartment but we had a Vermont Pastel Society hub meeting last night (I know…this is a watercolor…VPS is very forgiving.) where someone suggested Moving Day and I think it’s perfect.
My intent was to create a textured background using a limited palette of cool colors that would weigh heavily on the man in the corner. I painted the man in warm colors because:
- It contrasted with the cool, heavy, pessimistic background, making him look optimistic and hopeful (though maybe a little skeptical)
- He was wearing a really cool leather jacket.
The inspiration comes from a photo I took of Holden in front of his first apartment, the one that had squirrels break into his kitchen cabinets and a housemate break into his room to sleep. Had I more time, I would have taken greater care to make the guy look like Holden. (Holden is much better looking than this.) However, by the time I realized that this long-faced, prognathic-jawed portrait didn’t look anything like him, it was too late to fix. It felt decent enough to enter into a couple of juried shows, so that is its purpose. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to buy this for their living room, so I’ll hold off framing until there is a desperate need.