"The Wall - 06/05"

“The Wall - 06/05” has an interesting tale behind its creation. This painting is a small work measuring roughly 10’ x 13’ between paper edges. The painting was worked exclusively with traditional watercolors on 300# Cranson 100 watercolor paper rough side up. I never intended to paint this picture the way you now see it. I had thought to paint a grove of leafless trees in silhouette with a lake in the mid ground. Thanks to a fortunate slip of the brush the idea of a lake was sunk and I had to come up with a way to make the painting work or toss it.

Fortunately this was one of those paintings that took on a life of its own and painted itself requiring little more than 3-4 hours to complete. A very fast painting for me.

The moon was masked out. This allowed me to apply two washes wet in wet of paynes' gray and indigo without having to worry about the moon getting in the way. While damp I dropped in dilute wet white to create the misty clouds. I don’t know of another painting where I have done better clouds nor this easily.

The rest of the painting was done in traditional western form top to bottom and back to front. The wall itself I laid out as a band of muted colors and later brushed in the mortar and lines of the wall.

In completion of the painting session I dropped in shadows and lifted pigment where some brighter areas should be. The painting was allowed to dry overnight.

The next day I removed the masking fluid from the moon and very carefully painted with water to draw some of the color from the sky and clouds to bring a cloud across the face of the moon. Some dilute white and the painting was allowed to dry for a second time ready for signing and sealing with UV resistant spray coat.