Fall Leaves 11.30.10

Fall Leaves 11.30.10 One-Four   5x5
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This series of four miniature paintings are similar to ones I have painted before. I did many small paintings like this several years ago, only they were painted in gouache on paper with a gessoed surface. Here I wanted to try  it again in watercolor as an exercise in creating these textures. The gouache method tends to have more contrast within each color when applied, as it is more opaque than watercolor, so I needed to build up several layers of colors to establish a similar appearance. These leaves were collected yesterday with my daughter on our walk home from school. She especially liked several we found near a bradford pear tree.

Deep Pool Shadow Study I & II

Deep Pool Shadow Study I & II  5 x 5

At McKinney Falls State Park near the Lower Falls where Williamson Creek and Onion Creek converge, is an area of interesting rock formations. Just below the bluffline of terraced limestone, you can peer into a labyrinth of stone pools that are deep and mysteriously dark. The entire formation is currently only a few feet from the surface, but the bright sunlight, when at low angles, casts these intensely dark shadows into the clear water. When we first saw them, our daughter of course wanted to know "what's in there?", "how deep is it?" and "how far does it go?" All good questions that could only be answered by fully exploring with scuba diving gear. As for the image above, I was inspired by the contrast of shade and shadow but also to the formations that were worn smooth yet created sharp hard edges that are anthropomorphic with a resemblance to animal bones. I did these studio watercolor studies to work with an abstract quality of the compositions and variation of hues in the colors.