"Farm Chores"

I want to apologize now, this post is going to be closer to a novella in size than a blog. The piece you see here is the very first watercolor painting I ever attempted. In my first year of art school we were told to take extra credits from outside sources, so I signed up for airbrush. I know this isn't airbrush, those damn second year kids had the class full, so I got stuck with watercolor. After taking my little lists to the art supply store (luckily I worked there part time and got a hefty discount) I was finally ready to start my class, lets paint. Not quite yet, we are going to start from the beginning and learn every single step, wow am I lucky. She teaches us how to soak our paper, stretch our paper, dry our paper. She teaches the pre-wash color scheme with the light source determined at this time. We start with a quick pencil sketch and work from back to front, building intensity as we go. I forgot to tell you that in the meantime of building to our big finish, she teaches us all the gimmicks of watercolor: rock salt, sea sponges, razor blades, pipe cleaners, tooth brushes and so on and so on. I actually did learn how to paint with watercolor in this class. After this painting was finished, I quit, I knew everything there was to know, why keep wasting her and my time. I don't think I ever painted another painting in this fashion and I don't think that any of my paintings since this one have the same vibrant and free look. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I can tell you that I still use the same palette, same brushes and some of the same gimmicks that I did 30 years ago when this was painted. I like to think that I have gotten better as an artist and evolved since then. By the way I can use an airbrush pretty well too. This print is available at my gallery link: Fine Art America, Kirby Crow and Full Contact Art. Enjoy!