Painting as Research
November 9, 2014
“Paintings are but research and experiment. I never do a painting as a work of art. All of them are researches. I search constantly and there is a logical sequence in all this research.” — Pablo Picasso, from The Artist in His Studio by Alexander Liberman
I believe these are my sixth, seventh, and eighth watercolor paintings of a squirrel made in the last couple of weeks. After making botanical-themed sketches for so long, I find myself drawn these days to animal portraits. Can I learn to be more expressive in my work? Will these latest experiments be a precursor to human portraits? (Oh, how I would love to become good at painting people! But at the moment I am intimidated by people portraits and landscapes.)
For now, I am not on any deliberate path of lessons and improvement. I’m just following my urges. And having fun. I am pondering the advice of Julia Cameron, writer and artist coach, who says, “When we are fixated on getting better, we miss what it is we already are — and this is dangerous because we — as we are — are the origins of our art. ‘We’ are what makes our art original.” (from Walking in This World)
November 9, 2014 at 7:41 am
I love your work and I love squirrels.
November 9, 2014 at 11:35 am
Thank you!
November 9, 2014 at 6:07 pm
I’d say you’ve got the expressiveness down pat. When I look at your watercolor sketches, I see the very essence of squirrel. They’re wonderful.
November 10, 2014 at 4:29 pm
I am really loving your squirrels! You capture their personalities perfectly. How many do you paint before you succeed in getting one you like?
November 11, 2014 at 9:24 am
What you see is what I’ve been painting. I’m not more prolific than that. I will admit that I tore up one attempt before I finished it. I usually start with a light pencil sketch, and I do erase lines until I get a fair drawing. Then I paint. The drawing helps the finished painting, I think.
November 21, 2014 at 11:10 pm
These are great! I love how squirrely they really are 🙂